Book One of Jonathan Harnisch: An Alibiography, Lover in the Nobody, introduces Benjamin (Ben, Benjy) Schreiber, who has Tourette's syndrome, which causes him to display uncontrollable tics and hops, and to stutter and swear inappropriately. He is bullied through his school years and can never form firm friendships, especially with women. He is simply incapable of happiness. In his late twenties, he plunges into a downward spiral of drug and alcohol abuse, which culminates in an attempted bank robbery using a cell phone as a fake bomb. He is arrested and placed under psychiatric evaluation, where his psychiatrist, Dr C, quickly recognizes Ben's affliction as more than just Tourette's. Ben is not alone: Inside his head lives Georgie Gust, Ben's alter ego. Georgie is obsessed with his manipulative but extremely sexual next-door neighbor Claudia Nesbitt and shares a sadomasochistic relationship with her that is supported only by his obsession--Claudia has no love for Georgie. Ben is desperately searching for someone--Claudia Nesbitt as the Perfect Woman--who will provide him with the unconditional love that he never received as a child. He finds it easier to retreat into his mind to share Georgie's sick obsession with the cruel and abusive Claudia than to deal with his real issues. Dr C senses that Ben is suffering from some form of post-traumatic stress to an event that occurred early in Ben's childhood, and that he uses Georgie as an escape when bad memories start to surface. It is up to Dr C to help Ben face the buried terrors of his childhood so that he can finally let go of Georgie and reduce him to the literary character that the writer Ben wants him to be.
