Los Angeles. There are two seasons, day and night. Toyer. He is a natural response to Los Angeles. There has never been anything like Toyer, but of course, each time there never is. Each time, the newest cutting-edge lunatic has the same refreshing aspect: he is unimaginable.

Maude Garance. She is a doctor, thirty-six years old. Her face is complicated by woven scars of fatigue, she is on the brink of a breakdown caused by a disorder in her patients - Toyer's victims - that she cannot cure.

Doctor T. Chief-of-service at Maude's hospital. Married too long to the wrong wife. All he can do now is to love Maude without mentioning it.

Sara Smith. A reporter. A story, any story, is sent from God and God has sent her one. Maude dislikes her on sight.

Jim O'Land. Sara Smith's boss at the Herald, a man easily followed. He publishes Toyer's thoughts. Unprecedented in journalism, he says, a first.

The Uncastables. Three comfortably unemployed actors. Telen Gacey came to Hollywood on a whim and is ready to leave. Peter Matson has star quality but cannot act. Billy Waterland, a would-be comic, ex-gymnast, dreams of stardom.

Jimmy O. A pale ginger cat with a direct stare, humble. Maude called him a savior in cat's clothing who'd come to rescue her. She was right.

These are the players in Gardner McKay's first novel, Toyer. Their lives intersect and intrude on one another with terrifying results to produce a novel that is as compelling as it is rewarding.