Can a person receive genius as a gift?
Chad Melton graduates from an art academy and fears he’ll end up just one of many ordinary artists. Unexpectedly, he learns about a patient who has been in the London psychiatric hospital Bethlem for four decades. The patient has created hundreds of paintings recognized as masterpieces, but they also horrify—and can be dangerous to ordinary people.
Chad decides that, no matter what, he must break into the locked Bethlem to see the works of the mysterious master and learn to create paintings just as astonishing. However, these paintings—hiding a secret of genius—contain something frightening that Chad doesn’t even suspect. And it may turn out that the price of gaining the highest mastery is higher than he’s able to pay.