Summary

In Chapter 1: The Letter, Shelia Bonsaint LeClaire writes a letter to Charlie Keen, her brother’s best friend in high school, telling him that she believes her brother, John “Johnny” Bonsaint, died by suicide even though the death was ruled accidental. She includes the manuscript of Bonsaint’s meetings with one of his patients, referred to as N. She asks Charlie’s opinion of the manuscript, which she describes as disturbing.

In Chapter 2: The Case Notes, N. has been suffering from insomnia for ten months. N. reports that he counts things, like shoes and the number of times a phone rings. N. does not believe he is counting to maintain order, but to keep the situation of disorder from getting worse. He believes he disturbed the order of the universe when he went to Ackerman’s Field. N. tells Bonsaint that his other OCD...