Mystery Mike's: A Pyrrhic Education (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798990443426)

Art, a 29 year old scuba rep from Indiana, is floating through life, rudderless and apathetic. One day, when he leaves work in order to avoid an office birthday party, he stumbles across a sign for Mystery Mike's Bookstore. What was first mere curiosity grows into an obsession when threatening notes and mind warping illusions prevent Art from finding the damn place.

Art impulsively disregards his responsibilities at work and home to get to the bottom of the mystical bookstore. He soon teams up with Lenny, a Middle-aged Granite State Schlub and his celebrity dog, Schubert, who were former clients of the store before being shut off from access right when they needed it most.

Schubert is dying and Lenny is desperate to keep him alive. Lenny is also wracked with guilt that Schubert's illness might be a side effect of the training knowledge obtained from Mystery Mike's. During their search, the team encounters some peculiar people, including a brash cult leader, a ventriloquist couple with a supernatural secret, and angelic super race of humans with ulterior motives. Some will become friends, some will become enemies, but everyone seems to be in it for themselves. What are they willing to do to solve their problems?

At Mystery Mike's, knowledge is never free.