Summary

Nothing But the Night tells the story of one day in the life of a troubled young man named Arthur Maxley in which he is reminded of a traumatic incident from his childhood after meeting with his father. The resurgence of these distressing memories has a catastrophic effect on Arthur’s behavior during the course of the night.

The novel begins with an unnamed man awaking from a dream state to discover that he is at a crowded party. The dreamer observed a man at the party who was separate from the other guests and not interacting with them. The dreamer remembered that he had seen this man before and that the man always behaved this way: standing aloof from others and occasionally interrupting their conversations to provoke bitter arguments. After such arguments, the man would suddenly and inexplicably stop talking and would...