Mister N has checked himself into a hotel. Anyway, heÕs pretty sure itÕs a hotel. His rooms are simple, as are his needs. Meanwhile, on the streets below, there is only the grim pageant of modern-day Beirut: poverty, violence, and fear. Why has Mister N left his comfortable apartment to brave the world beyond? The embarrassing truth is that Mister N used to write novelsÑuntil the very act of writing began to disgust him. If heÕs ever going to overcome this aversion to his vocation, heÕll need to be able to focus on his work, and perhaps this new venue will help eliminate distractions? But it seems Mister N is his own worst enemy: he canÕt get his thoughts in order, let alone tune out his new neighbors, who insist on tormenting him with their endless talk, their dinner invitations, their inconvenient suicides. Worst of all, Mister N has stumbled across one of his own fictional charactersÑa brutal militiaman and torturerÑrunning a seemingly innocuous internet cafŽ. So, at last, Mister N needs to make a decision: Should he arm himself? Or just seek psychiatric help?