A late-night accident on a San Francisco subway platform has altered Nat Idle's reality. But then, there are no accidents.

Disoriented and bloodied after a near-deadly fall onto the subway tracks, freelance journalist Nat Idle discovers that a beautiful stranger has come to his aid . . . and that the burly man who barreled into him had intended to do Nat harm. What he doesn't know is why-and his quest for answers leads him to uncover a handful of mysterious deaths, and a bizarre neurological disorder plaguing Bay Area children . . . as he ventures ultimately into the Cloud.

In a brave new world, the Cloud is where we store data, secrets, dreams. But it is something more-something insidious with the power to change not just how we interact with the world, but our behavior, and brains. Nat, in search of the truth, finds himself lost in a psychedelic maze, discovering things that cannot possibly be, realizing there is no one and nothing he can trust . . . not even his own mind.