On the face of things, Carl Richards should be a happy man. His theatrical career has taken off and he has been proclaimed a wunderkind director for his innovative and gory stagings. He is the envy of many for his storybook marriage to "America's Sweetheart," superstar Diana Lee Taylor, who captured the nation's heart with her long-running (but now defunct) TV show. And he has just embarked upon his most ambitious and challenging project, a production of Buchner's Woyzeck. But Carl is anything but happy.

His marriage is developing serious problems as they argue over Taylor's post-television theatrical career; his production of Woyzeck has been plagued with problems; and he finds himself inextricably drawn to actress Angelica Winters, whom he finds oddly familiar. And he is having strange nightmares. Nightmares that take him out of himself and show him even stranger things.

As Carl further explores his out-of-body dreams and becomes increasingly involved with Angelica, a woman with a dark and mysterious past, he finds himself at the center of a love triangle that leads him through a dark journey of the soul and to a terrifying trip through Hell itself.

A compelling novel of obsession and terror, Fantastique is a chilling tour-deforce.