The first novel by the famous film director David Cronenberg proved that he can keep the reader in suspense no worse than the viewer. Naomi and Nathan are lovers and colleagues, both journalists who travel around the world in search of exciting stories, but only meet in airport hotels or on the Internet. Naomi in Paris and Tokyo tries to understand the fate of the Arostega spouses, philosophers, freethinkers and libertines. Nathan writes an article about an underground surgeon from Budapest, and this story takes him to Toronto. The stories of Naomi and Nathan are intertwined in surprising and even frightening ways. They feature an international conspiracy, sophisticated mind games, and no less sophisticated sex.