Mistaken identity

After an uncomfortable flight leaves him with a pounding headache and ears stopped up, traveling salesman Connor is relieved to discover that his business trip has ended for the day. Hungry after midnight, he searches the unfamiliar town for a quiet place to eat, but finds only noisy hotels, closed dining rooms, and a night clerk who seems oddly suspicious of his questions.

A careless joke about his eating habits, made simply to unsettle the clerk, takes on a life of its own. Soon Connor is directed toward a little-known restaurant said to cater to people on “special diets,” and the strange attention surrounding him becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss. In a town where a nod, a whisper, or a glance may carry unexpected meaning, Connor must work out why strangers appear to recognize him—and whether his impaired hearing is shielding him from danger or keeping him from understanding it.