Dr. Spradlin in a wonderful allegorical tale of international intrigue, death, sex, and romance poses the questions we all ponder about life-its meaning, who are we, what is the ego, and the place of the reverent. In this fast-paced and unique story, a naive psychiatry resident is confronted by three frames of reference-intellectual, emotional, and egotistical-as everyone is throughout life. Dr. Spradlin adroitly intertwines the action-packed tale set in a psychiatry ward in a veterans' hospital and rural Virginia with the psychotherapy process of mutual exploration by patient and therapist dealing with philosophy, religion, psychology, and also mysticism. The interplay of these basic concepts of self-exploration in this at times violent tale not only captures the reader's attention but leaves the reader to ponder these inevitable human questions long after finishing the book."