About This Book
This book has been withdrawn. The Wrath-Wraith (a novella) now contains the first part, and The Fire-Bird Syndicate (a novel) is the main part.
Here is the old Synopsis: Synapses are the nerve endings. This is where it all happens, a neurological connection where neurotransmitters pass messages from one nerve to another. Occasionally a junction gets damaged; if the victim is lucky, no critical wires short, allowing the victim to lead their own perception of a normal life. Really lucky people have no short circuits, and generally conform to the rules of society. These people lead stable, routine existences, their way of life an equilibrium which is hard to disrupt. Disruption will come from the external environment, where the short-circuited ones seek their own equilibrium. This disruption, if large enough, may provoke instability in normal people, starting an internal pendulum, which builds its own momentum. Murder is such a disruption; but can you blame the murderer with the short-circuited mind, trying to find his or her own stability? Are they themselves victims, slaves to a chemical imbalance, or damaged synapse? Dundee's pool of mentally unbalanced souls increases when Algernon moves to town, where the waves of his disruption threaten to rock even the most stable vessels. Darkest blue Dundee is a dangerous place to go swimming. Algernon Dearly is a pyromaniac who has friends on both sides of the Law. He acquires enemies while climbing the gangland ladder; enemies who make big waves. Not big enough, Algernon hopes, to interfere with his ardent pursuit of the tennis star Patsy Love. Life turns sour for Inspector Hal Gow when a friend is killed in an act of arson. This brings him into contact with Algernon, and events of the past rear their ugly head. Algernon may be insane and delusional, but Hal finds him to be a clever, almost likeable person, interesting as well, especially when Algernon gets excited at the sight of Patsy Love playing tennis.
