VULTURE HOUSE

An experimental treatment helps a man recover from stroke but also segregates his memory into compartments of paranoia and treachery – but when he discovers eighteen million dollars in his bank account, the conspiracies become deadly.

Jake Sifers’ life is a shambles after suffering a stroke, but an experimental, accelerated recovery program allows him to quickly resume work as a safety inspector. A cautious, wary man by nature, he takes his medicine, visits a physical therapist and shrink daily, and has the support of his wife, Margolas.

And yet, day after day, he seems to wake up in a private hospital. The door out leads to his apartment, or the psychologist’s office. He can’t seem to leave his apartment – the stairs go back up.

Then he starts to recall another timeline, one in which he discovers eighteen million dollars in his bank account. The mysterious deposit spurred Jake into hiring a private eye to help him distinguish reality from paranoia, a paranoia partly fueled by his neighbor, brother-in-law Dimitri, who sometimes wears a latex facial prosthesis as he checks for bugs outside Jake’s apartment. He also insists his name is Tobias. Jake is also haunted by persistent dreams that his wife is cheating on him with her own brother, Dimitri. Dreams that seem so real.

Reality goes to war with paranoia when Jake is shot at after the private eye reports that Jake has a tail. Jake’s questioning of his own mental health hits a crisis point when two thugs kill his wife. Jake barely escapes with the help of the unsavory Tobias.

But, the next morning, Margolas is there in his hospital room. No sign of blood, no police or news reports. Jake’s grip on reality is nearly gone when the private eye brings in a drug expert and he learns that one of the medications he’s taking is a legendary mind eraser from a CIA program.

As more mysterious forces attack, the understory becomes clear as FBI agent Nancy contacts Dimitri, Margolas, and the Russian thugs. They have set up a con to consign Jake to a life sentence in a sanitarium and give Margolas power of attorney over his estate. But it’s not working – there’s an encryption key to the bank account that they haven’t been able to shake loose from Jake’s mind.

Pushed into action, Jake takes fate into his own hands as the world around him collapses. His shrink is shot dead and the private eye barely escapes a hit. Jake begins to believe he never had a stroke. And unknown to him, the Russian mob interests have turned on Nancy, creating a vicious circle of deceit and death.

A big double-twist ending will have everyone guessing until the final moments, when Jake finds the key that has been there all along.