When I Set Myself on Fire

Jim Drewry’s world becomes disorienting and surreal after he rescues Eve, a university lab monkey modified by human gene-splicing experiments. His problems are already more than he can stand-the recent loss of a son has damaged his marriage and forced him to question his most fundamental beliefs.

At the university where Jim works as a lawyer, he has discovered that Eve weeps when she is alone-a uniquely human reaction to suffering. Determined to save her from her miserable existence, he takes her home. Soon jarring changes in reality occur, changes that put Jim’s career, family, and sanity at risk. He finds that deja vu not only repeats, but transforms the world around him-relentlessly. Yet Jim has no one to help him understand what is happening, no one who sees precisely what he sees, except for Eve, who becomes an unlikely ally-but in the end, pursues a quest of her own.

When I Set Myself on Fire draws the reader into a deeply provocative exploration of what it means to be human and asks a hard question. In a scientific age, how do we deal with spiritual questions that defy answer?