Dr. Eric Haseltine

And he finds in pursuit of the science of what he's pursuing because he makes a discovery.

He goes into the garage because he wants to sell his dad's collection of Native American art just to get a little money.

And he discovers something there that's like, whoa.

He discovers an artifact that a dealer tells him is priceless, but he can't sell it because of various reasons.

And so his science brain kicks in and it leads him on this journey of external discovery.

But more important, it takes him on a journey of internal discovery.

And I want to emphasize that because what we want the readers to come out of this at the end, and one reason we have so many reveals at the end, is to make people question their own perception of reality in their own lives.

To have a healthy dose of yo, maybe yes, maybe no, because in all of our lives, we see things and assume things that just aren't true.

And so in a sense, the book is about a character, but in a sense, it's about all of the readers too.

Because each reader is going to bring their own needs and wants, their own obstacles.

And we want to leave them with a gift.

We want to leave them with that ability to look at the world very differently than when they started the book.

It's weird.

And you know that gritty texture of reality is how weird it is.

There's a lot of the intelligence world in this because, you know, they say write about what you know.

And I'm a neuroscientist and I was a spy.

And so it's really an espionage novel too.

And the intelligence tradecraft that's in there is real.

Right.

And the way intelligence officers think of problems is