Twenty-year-old breath-stopper Flare has spun a web of extortion around a Wall Street banker, squeezing him into financing her high-end lifestyle on Boston's hedge fund row.  When Flare lets college-quitter and wanna-be writer Kurt into her lush life, it doesn't take long before Kurt's über-sister Karla drops into her brother's fragile romantic setup like a wrecking ball.  A dazzling, charismatic and successful criminal entrepreneur, Karla is everything Kurt is not and all Flare wants to be.  Under Karla's tutelage, Flare hatches a crazy plan, a self-destructive shortcut to sudden riches, which Kurt is determined to stop.

"Does human intrigue always collapse upon itself?"  This haunting question and the fact that someone spilled blood in his house, locks up the mind of the Phenome-Man, Spirit-Snuffer, Eraser-Boy and Soul-Snatcher: the self-proclaimed incarnate manifestation of Bardo, known to his friends as Zootster, Zooty-Fruity, or simply Zoot.  His spinning mind mushrooms into an all-consuming vortex that forces out everyone's hidden agendas. With friends and foes either three feet deep in desert sand, or at the bottom of frozen cesspools, even Karla begins to feel the sucking drain herself.

Crime is the ultimate game for smart people.  For Caltech drop-out Karla, crime has become a post-graduate obsession. From toppling speed lab empires to mentoring her Killer Pups, financially squeezed college students, in their after-school kill jobs, Karla starves for these kinds of intellectual challenges. But, Karla is in love! And for someone who always gets her way, it is frustrating that Flare simply won't play along. After all, Karla has invested a lot in constructing her relationship with Flare. Worst of all, Karla neglects her work, risking the respect of her beloved "Killer Pups." They get restless watching their guru fumble a simple murder plot and trapping herself in a hopeless romantic labyrinth. They want to clean the stable and worship again at the altar of Karla's perfection. It's a no-win situation and someone has to lose.

Feeling the lift from Karla's fortune, Kurt inhales pure hubris and attempts to reverse history. He must re-conquer Flare, now that he could pay for the sort of lifestyle Flare studies in "Vanity Fair."  But first Flare must pass the ultimate loyalty test in a remote stretch of the California desert.  It could be the beginning of their honeymoon, or the deadly end to a twisted love affair.

Pinch is more than the Zombie-Punk killer with greasy leather jacket, ripped jeans, dyed black hair, and a pencil thin body tied together with enormous key chains. Pinch is in love and must elevate his persona by demonstrating a new-found sophistication. After sniffing out Kurt's comfy hiding place, he is eager to showcase the new and improved Pinch to our wanna-be writer. But, while Kurt can glimpse the impossible, Flare only sees Pinch the old way. To her, Pinch is her loaded weapon, with the perfect mix of hair-trigger anger and explosive violence she needs for her ultimate showdown with Kurt.