In a Las Vegas hotel room, a man awakes to confront his destiny
Dreaming, Jack hears voices: a frightened child in a hospital, a woman cheating on her husband, a death-row inmate. When he wakes, the voices recede, but they do not vanish. He is in a luxurious hotel room on the Vegas strip, and his body is covered in scars. Jack Strong is a patchwork man, his flesh melded together from dozens of men and women, and his mind is the same way. Countless lifetimes are contained within him: people whose time was cut short, and who see their place in Jack as a chance to make things right.
On behalf of one of them, Jack reignites a feud with corrupt casino bosses. Drawing on the skills of another, he beats the life out of two bodyguards. Jack fights for control as he lurches from impulse to impulse, certain that somewhere within him exists a soul. The answers may lie with whomever is tailing him in a sleek black car—if Jack can somehow confront him.
<DIV><B>Walter Mosley</B> is one of America's most celebrated and beloved writers. A Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America, he has won numerous awards, including the Anisfield-Wolf Award, a Grammy, a PEN USA's Lifetime Achievement Award, and several NAACP Image Awards. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. His short fiction has appeared in a wide array of publications, including <I>The New Yorker, GQ, Esquire, Los Angeles Times Magazine,</I> and <I>Playboy,</I> and his nonfiction has been published in <I>The New York Times Book Review, The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek,</I> and <I>The Nation</I>. He is the author of, most recently, <I>Down the River unto the Sea</I>. He lives in New York City.</DIV>