Urban Purdy knew everything about hypnotism.

He knew how it could heal. How it could help. How it had long been a sinister sister of the sciences, a black-sheep brother of the arts. Knew it was both the most misunderstood and the most promising form of mind-control yet devised.

Why then did he use his special power for his own personal pleasure? Why did he embark on a desperate sensual experiment with his beautiful young assistant? Why did he share this potent force for good or evil with others who could not understand it? Why did he risk a scandal that would drag hypnosis through the mud and leave its advocates charged as Svengalis of sex who used their power to corrupt?