The excerpts follow Jack Susko, a secondhand bookseller, as he gets entangled in a dangerous plot involving his wealthy client, Hammond Kasprowicz, and Kasprowicz’s estranged family. Jack is initially hired to find specific poetry books by Kasprowicz's brother, Edward Kass, a poet, which leads him to discover that Kasprowicz may be burning Kass's books due to a long-standing family feud involving money and an affair with Kasprowicz's wife. Jack develops a relationship with Kasprowicz’s daughter, Annabelle, while simultaneously investigating the book burning, which is tied to the poet's murder and a complex network of deceit involving Annabelle, her ex-husband, Ian Durst, and a corrupt police detective, Peterson. The narrative climaxes with Jack being abducted and caught in a violent confrontation where multiple characters are killed, revealing Annabelle and Peterson as the conspirators, while Jack ultimately survives the ordeal.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.