Book 1, Part 4 Summary

On the long night drive to New York, Sabbath tells us he thinks only of Nikki, but his thoughts are just as much on his mother. He recalls that his mother only spoke to Nikki a handful of times, despite Nikki's earnest attempts to make conversation with her mother-in-law in the beginning. Nikki's squeamishness about illness provided the appropriate excuse for Sabbath to visit his mother alone. Often, they would spend entire visits without exchanging more than a few words. Now that his mother is dead, Sabbath holds an almost continual conversation with her spirit. He believes his mother is telling him to end his life. His thoughts of Nikki center on death.

Nikki handled her mother's death in a manner that, to Sabbath, was grotesque. He flew to London to join his wife, who had arrived a few days earlier...