JOE CONNELLY

Frank Pierce is a very good paramedic. He is also burned-out, reeling from his recent marriage break up and from the theatre of death he sees on every shift. His colleagues are as tired as he is, but while they are all bored, desensitised and robotic it is only Frank who sees the ghosts of those he did not or could not save. One such lost patient is Burke, whose spirit accompanies Frank throughout the novel, and who may just stop him from really cracking under the weight of the mayhem and death.

Don Reedy, just out of jail for a robbery he didn't commit, is involved with the making of a film based on his own life--and he has a burning desire to change the script. His plan is to steal the money he wishes he had stolen before, and then take to the road. But as the line between reality and drama blurs, he isn't sure whether he is now a full-fledged criminal or if he's just part of an endlessly rewritten movie.