Joe Slade is a detective with a hot lead and no idea where he is. Fallen from the world of fiction, Joe journeys through a hellscape of conflicting happy endings. There, he must confront the story–and the life–he left behind. His last chance to escape his fictional existence is to navigate an impossible labyrinth of genre tropes and reunite with his mentor Ellodrine, a wizard who suffers from reinterpretation. Their quest will take them through genres dark and deadly: Treacherous Spy Fiction, Gothic Horror, Gritty Cyberpunk, Urban Fantasy, and others too terrible to tell.

But can Joe and Ellodrine change their story when the plot betrays them? And how can Joe choose between an old love and a new life?