Marvin Waller is a script writer living in New York City and trying to get his big break. Thus far, he hasn't sold anything he's written but his mind is constantly flowing with ideas, which he diligently puts to paper with his typewriter. He uses the typewriter rather than a computer because he LIKES it. If it didn't take him such a long time to write his work by hand, he would probably do that, except that directors won't even look at scripts written in long hand.

Marvin has some amazing ideas for movies and plays. He waits patiently every day outside of various apartment buildings hoping to see someone like Woody Allen or Brian De Palma coming out so that he can personally deliver his work to them. The doormen of these buildings are tired of Marvin hanging around and do their best to get rid of him.

One day as Marvin is working in his tiny apartment, two police detectives show up. They warn him away from the buildings and then start asking him questions related to recent disappearances of women. Marvin knows his rights and finally sends them on their way.

Something else about Marvin is that he's a genius with an IQ of over 180. He knows how to do certain things like beat lie detector tests. So when Detectives Lisa Marcinko and Ed Turner haul him into the police station for more questioning and strongly suggest that he take a polygraph, he agrees. These two are so positive that Marvin is abducting and killing these women that they spend a lot of their time harassing him.

Detective Marcinko develop a bit of a connection with him but Marvin knows that it's only because she thinks he'll confess to her. Detective Turner, on the other hand, is hostile to Marvin from the beginning and makes no secret of the fact that he despises Marvin. This is something that Marvin is pretty sure that he can use to his advantage.

In the meantime, another woman has disappeared. Sarah Hall has two children and a husband that miss her desperately but it's like she's simply vanished from the face of the earth. As the police detectives race against time to get Marvin to tell them where he's keeping Sarah, it's becoming clear that she may also stay missing just like the other women.

This is a very attention grabbing book from the opening sentence. It's also told from two points of view that I can't explain without giving anything away. Just be assured that this book will have you looking over your shoulder all the time. The ending hits you in the pit of your stomach and you'll never assume anything you think you know again. I literally gasped when the ending was revealed. THE BASEMENT is an amazing book and would be an even better movie.