As his country is torn apart by social and political anarchy, A Void's protagonist, Anton Vowl, a chronic insomniac, is unaccountably found missing. Ransacking his Paris flat, a group of his faithful companions trawl through his diary for any indication, for any faint hint, as to his location. All that it brings to light, though, is Vowl's liking (uncannily similar to his author's) for parody, wordplay and dazzling fictional constructs, constructs which continually risk spiralling out of control. And, gradually, insidiously, a ghost from Vowl's past starts to cast its malignant shadow...