In this literary thriller, Tim Roper and Paul Morel each become a character in the other's narrative: the watcher being watched. Their experiences of childhood abuse and murder are superimposed, one upon the other, to produce a double vision of evil.
Tim tells of growing up in the "Deep North" of Australia as an only child after World War II. Driven to become a serial killer, he marks the Equinox of leap years with double sacrifices to Mithras, the soldiers' god. After 20 years and a botched kill, he takes his leave but will have to strike one last time.
Meanwhile, Paul tells of a sabbatical in Sydney as a retiring Canadian professor who obsesses over tracking down the Equinox killer and his own inability to complete a New Gothic novel. These compulsions awaken repressed memories of growing up in Toronto as an only child orphaned in an evil household.
Tim and Paul's violent, sexual, and artistic experiences are silhouetted against their insistent introspections on a cast of mythical, historical, and literary figures.
