Have you ever loved someone who's mortally wounded you? Phineas Poe, disgraced cop and morphine addict has just been released from a psych ward. He meets a beautiful woman and killer-for-hire named Jude in a hotel bar. Red dress. black hair, body like a knife. He takes her back to his room and wakes the next morning in a bathtub full of blood, missing a kidney. Dragging himself from a hospital bed, Phineas discovers he wants to get close to Jude like a hunger--and he wants to kill her. Finding her is a downward spiral. Falling for her is the start of a twisted love story that takes him from the snowy streets of Denver to the high plains of Texas where the boundaries between victim and torturer — killer and accomplice — become nightmarishly distorted.

“I’m awake. Shivering so badly I have to lock my teeth to keep from biting off my tongue. The ice has melted and the water feels oilv, like mucus. There’s a complimentary  bathrobe hanging from a hook behind the door, less than three feet away. It looks warm and soft and I can’t move. I can’t move. I don’t think I can sleep anymore. I have been asleep in the ice for a day, for two days. In my left hand is a piece of paper. Black ink in round girlish script.

If you want to live call 911.

There’s a telephone between the tub and the toilet. I keep reading the note over and over and finally reach for the phone. It takes at least five minutes for me to dial.

Emergency operator.

I need some help.

Please describe your situation.

I’m in a bathtub.

Are you injured, sir?

I was with a woman, a prostitute. Now I’m in a bathtub full of ice and I might be dreaming.

Are you injured?

I’m cold. And there’s blood coming from somewhere.

I’m sending an ambulance right away. You are at the Hotel Peacock, is that correct?

Room 411.

Can You determine the source of the blood? It will help the paramedics.

It’s coming from my left side.

Try to reach it. You may have been shot.

I can feel thin pieces of metal, a half inch apart. Like staples.

Did You say staples, sir?

I’m pretty sure.

Remain calm, sir. Help is coming.

What did she do? What the fuck did she do?

Silence.

Remain calm, sir.

Please tell me. I’ve got staples in me.”