The Pattern Maker

Paul Slater, whether he know it or not, lives by the book. Once a Green Beret sniper in Southeast Asia, he has done his best to fit into everyday life back home. He married his childhood sweetheart, lives in the house in Furnass where he grew up, works as a pattern maker at his hometown steel mill. But reports of the collapse of the Vietnam War triggers his feelings of futility and drives him to look for he doesn’t know what in nearby Pittsburgh. There, in the city’s Golden Triangle, coincidence—or maybe it’s Fate. Or Blind Chance—take over. Paul’s path crosses that of a local hippie panhandler who acts as a spirit guide to the big city; he becomes infatuated with a pretty, blond intern with a movie company filming in town; and he unwittingly becomes a suspect in a number of recent murders. As Paul’s story interweaves with those he meets— including a movie director struggling to make a comeback, a young actor attempting to break into movies who carries a gun; and a black police detective seeking clues for his investigations and his life— the story reaches its violent conclusion when perception takes the place of reality.