Detective Sergeant Rick Zadow is angry, unmotivated, unwashed, unkempt, and almost entirely reliant on his guide dog, Scout, and voice-controlled personal assistant Siri to make it through each day: one a voice without a body, the other a body without a voice.
Left blind after a bullet wound to the head two years before, he is caught up in a workers' compensation battle between two psychiatrists - one acting for him, and one appointed by WorkCover - over how much compo he should be awarded.
Reminders of his former life keep on tripping Rick up. His wife has moved out, and another former passion of his life - a legendary Ducati motorbike he was halfway through restoring - sits abandoned in the back shed.
All of which is the background to the central story: the breakout from jail of the man who shot him, and who is seeking to finish the job . . .
Part laugh-out-loud comedy, part deadly serious study of revenge, part love story, this unique novel from one of our finest writers is also a slow, crabwise journey of self-discovery. As Rick navigates his sense-world (smell, sound, touch, taste . . . and finally, sight), there is a sixth sense he must also learn to trust - his gut instinct - which might just turn out to be his best.
