Axel Bocanegra, the 40-something year-old divorced writer and narrator of this novel, is not exactly in his best moment. He meets 2 supposed brothers and admirers of his work at a bar but is soon dragged to an abandoned part of town called the Kingdom of Ruin. Protagonist in an induced hallucination, Axel traverses Kafkaesque territory full of conspiracies, body doubles, and of course the Rey del Juego who pulls his strings and transforms Axel into a puppet.