Cirrus@Austlit

'Lars Yenin is an overworked family man, who never gets enough sleep. When he loses both his job and family, he lies down to sleep and doesn't wake up. The mysterious coma continues for years. Two weeks into the sleep, another man who looks identical to Yenin arrives and takes over Yenin's life. Within a short time, he becomes a world-famous occultist. This new Yenin never sleeps at all.

'Chaz Darf is a sorrowful emigrant whose only enjoyment in life is art. Most of his days are spent smoking cigars on the front steps of the block of units where he lives. Nobody knows anything about his life before he came to Australia. When Chaz goes missing, and murders of seemingly supernatural circumstances take place, the police are left with only one clue: Chaz's paintings, which clutter up his unit. Every painting is of the same subject: a beautiful but deformed woman. That's not much help, though. What the police need is the help of an expert in the occult - they go to Lars Yenin.' (Book jacket)