Peak

The chapter introduces the main character, Peak. He is in Tibet, writing from the back of a truck.

The chapter is addressed to Peak’s English Literature teacher and mentor, a man named Vincent. Vincent has two novels that are out of print and is presented as an influential presence in Peak’s life. Peak writes that that morning they encountered a boulder in the road. Chinese prisoners surrounded it, chipping away at it with pickaxes and hammers. He writes that Vince tells him every story needs to have a hook: the irresistible thing that draws a reader into the story.

Peak recounts a dangerous climb when he was stuck against a cliff face near the top of a summit. His cheek is frozen to the ice, and the sleet above him is starting to slide. He takes a stencil out of his bag and sticks it to the mountain, then fills it in with blue spray paint. Just as he pulls his face off, leaving bits of it stuck to the ice, a helicopter zooms in. Through a bullhorn, a voice announces that he is under arrest.