Arlen Bennett was born in 1988 - or so they told him.
Haunted by memories of a decade he never lived, Arlen can't shake the feeling that something is deeply wrong with the world around him. As culture collapses into noise and the people he loves begin to vanish, he discovers a hidden truth: the world may have begun the day he was born... and everything since might be a simulation designed to keep him asleep.
When a silver cassette leads him down a path of soul rebellion, figments begin to awaken - some to stop him, some to guide him. But if he doesn't act soon, the loop will close forever.
Back to 1988 is a mind-bending, heart-pounding, riff-soaked novel about memory, meaning, and the sacred power of waking up before it's too late.