A gripping tale that takes the reader on a midnight odyssey in the erratic life of one: Hector Iorio. Encouraged by his parents to pursue a degree in Mathematics at a leading university, Hector chooses to stay his cherished ambition of making a career for himself as an artist. Embarking on his freshman year, outside forces are pulling him in numerous directions as he struggles to reconcile the fate he has chosen to accept with the life he believes is his destiny. Closest to him is a sinister group of companions from his South Philadelphia neighborhood from whom he cannot - or will not - detach himself. Next, there is Gretchen, an outcast Manhattan socialite who relentlessly urges him to break free of the social norms that confine him and to do the work that he was put on this Earth to do. Finally, there is Leah - the broken doll - an emaciated drug abuser who is prone to violent outbursts and with whom he suffers a lengthy and stormy relationship. Hector's parents believe him when he c