Dr. Harlan Didier, a sociopathic psychologist from Paris, has lost his beloved Shadow. The year is 1999, and after nearly a decade of relative peace and quiet in San Francisco, a letter arrives in PO Box #650, addressed from his childhood rapist in France, an older woman whose motives remain as ambiguous as they are distressing to suppose. The looming figure who stole his Shadow in youth has aroused correspondence for the first time in years, and it makes him vomit like no one has ever vomited before. Determined to annihilate his trauma, Didier decides that a return to Paris is the only remedy for reclaiming his Shadow and kindling a sense of closure. With his rapist's unopened letter in hand, he departs for a brief holiday in Monaco before returning home. While onboard the plane, a mysterious woman named Angela-a fellow psychologist-resuscitates his repressed and impoverished sexuality. From the very beginning, the naïve Angela's loving intentions are swallowed by the spiderlike Didier's predatory instincts-the devious journey to reclaim his Shadow is soon relinquished for a much simpler task in weaving a new one from scratch. Regrettably, the recipe to create a new Shadow demands a crucial ingredient as collateral: Harlan must imitate his abuser if he is to ensnare a puppet of his own, and so the chain of trauma transcends its host and trickles ever downward through successive victims, spreading is tendrils like a maniacal squid that infects each soul it constricts. From a hypnotic holiday cruise in Malta to a drug-fueled honeymoon in Nippon, the despicable Dr. Didier succeeds in the despoilment and utter decimation of numerous lives through the process of discovering whether he is capable of pulling the strings or is just another incurable victim whose Shadow is forever lost.