Sidney and Alicia Bartleby, a young couple, reside in a small cottage in the English countryside, he writing, she painting. They have been married for several years and lead a very isolated life. Sidney is writing and trying to sell some scripts for a television series, which would allow them to alleviate their financial difficulties, while he continues waiting for the response from an American publisher about the publication of a novel that has already been rejected by several publishers. The relationship between the two deteriorates and Alicia, to relieve the tension, decides, as she has done on other occasions, to go spend some time in Brighton. Although on this occasion they agree that the separation will be indefinite, until she feels like returning... Sidney, whose imagination works tirelessly, fables about what would happen if he had murdered Alice, instead of it being simply a temporary separation, and begins to behave strangely... And, by dint of imagining horrible things, horrible things end up happening that will leave the reader breathless.

"It leads us to shudder, to terror and to blink" (Change 16).

«One of Patricia Highsmith's best novels. She has all the ingredients to be able to conceptualize a small masterpiece of the genre »(A. G. M., ABC).

«An excellent novelist who moves freely through hell» (Robert Saladrigas, La Vanguardia).

"One of the greatest modern writers" (Gore Vidal).