After the suicide of his best friend, historian Stephen Setter is haunted by a tormented presence that upends his sense of self and his concept of the past. TW: self harm and suicide * Stephen Setter is a meek, directionless historian, constantly overshadowed by his more talented best friend Eugene. After Eugene unexpectedly commits suicide, Stephen finds himself surrounded by memories of his past and strange apparitions in his present. Dealing with the luring appeal of the Catholic church and the oddities of Mesopotamian antiquity he and Eugene explored as professors together, he must uncover Eugene's final thoughts in order to free himself of demonic torments.