by Michael Ehrenreich

He placed his large hand atop her small one. Felt its utter fragility, its unquestioning pliancy yield before him. He traced the lay of her hand, threading with his forefinger a translucent line of blue vein against impossibly white skin, until it intersected a plastic tube now continuous with flesh.

“Liza,” he whispered, bent low to her ear. “Liza. I'm so sorry. Not for now. Not only for now, but for all of the years that brought us here. It's so easy to let the sorrow trap you. It's the easy way out, to mourn forever. It takes courage to continue…”

When Dr. Bing Denton's daughter, Liza, becomes involved in a seedy underworld, it threatens the existence of his already fragile family. Faced with estrangement from his wife, Rebecca, and the haunting of a distant tragedy, he must grapple with the loss of his surgeon's gift and a frightening descent into madness.

As he struggles to comprehend the soulless workings of the world, he finds himself increasingly involved with a former patient. Can Bing save himself and his family, or is it too late?