America in the 1970s. We follow the highly intelligent Jack through five incidents and are introduced to the murders that define Jack’s development as a serial killer. We experience the story from Jack’s point of view. He views each murder as an artwork in itself, even though his dysfunction causes problems for him in the outside world. Despite the fact that the final and inevitable police intervention is drawing ever nearer (which both provokes and puts pressure on Jack) he is—contrary to all logic—set on taking greater and greater chances. Along the way we experience Jack’s descriptions of his personal condition, problems and thoughts through a recurring conversation with the unknown Verge, a grotesque mixture of sophistry and an almost childlike self-pity, and in-depth explanations of, for Jack, dangerous and difficult maneuvers.