One evening, Tru Lockhart gets a bizarre visit from his father Argus, who has escaped from an institution for the criminally insane. Tru is certain that murder is on his father’s mind. Instead, Argus performs a bizarre ceremony that will trigger a startling chain of events, plunging Tru into many oddball worlds, and into the hands of many outlandish villains. They all want to develop and use Tru’s hidden powers for their own dark purposes.

For Tru, wondering why devils and hooligans want control of his destiny is a matter of survival. Is he just some stooge in some sinister plan, or does he have a choice that can set him free?

The truth will bring him further from reality than he’s ever been, and deep into a mystery more terrifying than he could have imagined. Tru’s world is built on secrets – but secrets of murder, chaos, magic and madness don’t stay buried.

Tru’s story is allegorical to Derek Clark’s – his nightmares are Derek’s nightmares.

As a child, Derek suffered unthinkable child abuse, abandonment and emotional distress before being turned over to the psychiatric hospital at age five. His 13 years in the San Francisco Bay Area foster care system reflected an early life of aggression, emotional distress, overwhelming anxiety and being wrongfully labeled.