Abandonado por su novia, insatisfecho con su trabajo, Adam decide escapar a Italia para dar clases particulares de ingles al adolescente Antonio. A su llegada, no obstante, descubre que el muchacho ha dejado embarazada a la hija de su criada, y que los padres han optado por enviarlo al extranjero. Pero la suerte de Adam parece mejorar cuando Gordon Crace acepta contratarlo como asistente personal. Crace, autor britanico responsable de una exitosa novela sobre las perversiones del mundillo universitario, es un excentrico personaje que jamas abandona su casa pero que tampoco tolera la soledad. Pese a tales exigencias, Adam decide que la mansion del escritor quiza sea el lugar mas adecuado para redactar su primer libro. Y ese libro bien podria ser la biografia de su empleador, ya que este es dueño de un pasado donde los abusos sexuales se dan la mano con el asesinato. / Fresh from finishing university in England, Adam Woods arrives in Venice to begin a new chapter in his life. He soon secures employment as the personal assistant of Gordon Crace -- a famous expatriate novelist who makes his home in a dank and crumbling palazzo, surrounded by fabulous works of art, piles of unanswered correspondence and the memories of his former literary glory. Before long Adam becomes indispensable to the feeble Crace, and he finds himself at once drawn to and repelled by his elderly employer's brilliant mind and eccentric habits. As Adam comes to learn more about the scandal that brought Crace to Venice years ago, he realizes he has stumbled upon the raw material that could launch his own literary career and makes a bold decision: He will secretly write the famous author's biography. But outsmarting Crace is easier said than done, and the two soon find themselves locked in a bitter contest over the right to determine how the story of Crace's life will end. Against the haunting backdrop of the serene city, the two men engage in a ruthless game of cat and mouse that builds to a breathtaking and unexpected conclusion....

Una noche de octubre, cuando tenia diez anos, Tyler Dupree estaba en el patio de su casa y vio salir las estrellas. Hubo una gran brillantez que luego desaparecio, sustituida por un negro vacio. El y sus mejores amigos, Diane y Jason Lawton, habian visto lo que fue conocido como el Gran Apagon, que paso a formar parte de sus vidas y afecto al mundo entero. El sol es ahora un disco sin rasgos - una fuente de calor, en lugar de un objeto astronomico. La luna se ha ido, pero siguen habiendo mareas... / One night in October when he was ten years old, Tyler Dupree stood in his back yard and watched the stars go out. They all flared into brilliance at once, then disappeared, replaced by a flat, empty black barrier. He and his best friends, Jason and Diane Lawton, had seen what became known as the Big Blackout. It would shape their lives. The effect is worldwide. The sun is now a featureless disk--a heat source, rather than an astronomical object. The moon is gone, but tides remain. Not only have the worlds artificial satellites fallen out of orbit, their recovered remains are pitted and aged, as though theyd been in space far longer than their known lifespans. As Tyler, Jason, and Diane grow up, a space probe reveals a bizarre truth: The barrier is artificial, generated by huge alien artifacts. Time is passing faster outside the barrier than inside--more than a hundred million years per year on Earth. At this rate, the death throes of the sun are only about forty years in our future....