Synopsis/Details
JACK HARRISON, a charming and slightly vain Charlotte realtor, is clearing out the attic of a house for sale when he makes an odd discovery: an antique ROYAL typewriter in pristine condition. He takes it home without a word to anyone.
His office manager, CAROL, tells him that an old co-worker, the beautiful ALLISON HARPER, is back in town and wants to meet for lunch.
At home with his wife JESSE and their two young daughters, ERIN and BREE, Jack plays the doting husband. That night he makes love to Jesse while fantasizing about Allison. Later, alone in his home office, he sits down at his secret prize. The typewriter pulls him into a trance, and when he comes to, a typed page sits in the roller.
Chapter One introduces HAROLD JACKSON, the smug, womanizing anchor of Channel Nine News. As Jack reads, we watch Harold charm his way into Allison's apartment, where he brutally RAPES and MURDERS her.
The next day, Jack meets Allison for lunch. She's become a personal trainer, and she presses her business card on him, home address and all. Jack says nothing about the page.
That night, the typewriter calls to him again. Chapter Two takes him inside Harold's mind: a man being pushed off the anchor desk for a younger face, with a trunk full of guns and a plan to make everyone at the station pay.
The next morning, hollow-eyed after another night of lost hours, Jack arrives at FIRST CHOICE REALTY to find the staff glued to the TV. Allison Harper has been raped and murdered.
At Carol's urging, Jack goes to the police with his "vision," keeping the typewriter to himself. But in his statement to DETECTIVES WARNER and RAMIREZ, he lets slip a detail only the killer could know. That night, Jack is arrested in front of his wife and daughters.
From his cell, Jack begs the detectives to check on Harold's wife and to stop him before he storms the station. When LYDIA JACKSON is found smothered and Harold is caught walking into the station armed to the teeth, Jack is released a hero.
But the typewriter won't let him go. When he tries to get rid of it, his hands twist into agonizing claws until he takes it back. And the newest chapter holds a threat: Harold knows someone has been inside his head, and he's coming for Jack's family.
Jack will have to beat Harold at his own game. But the deeper he goes, the harder one question becomes to ignore: whose story is he really writing?
