In another part of town, George Gilmer is experiencing some troubling problems of his own. The talented young carpenter's behavior drastically changes after several bouts of severe abdominal pains, and he begins displaying symptoms such as paranoia, forgetfulness, and violent mood swings. When both men wind up at the same hospital on that fateful October night, the pieces of the crime slowly fall into place-or so it seems. Though he remembers nothing, it was George's knife that killed the man and it's his blood on the dead man's body. With the evidence mounting against him, George is formally accused and must stand trial for first-degree murder. With its dramatic climax, leads the reader into a world where the human capacity for evil extends beyond belief-into a world where it's nearly impossible to draw the line between innocence and insanity.