Inspired by Neil Gaiman's The Sandman series, Phonebook of the Dead focuses on the personification of Time. The embodiment of Time across universes shifts from person to person, when the time is right, like passing the baton during a relay race. Christopher Hinsen, an office secretary, finds himself daydreaming on the job. He becomes obsessed with finding a book in which all people, dead or alive, all people who have ever lived in the world are documented as entries, which can be "phoned" and summoned. Little does he know that the reason why he suddenly develops this curiosity, is because the embodiment of Time is in the process of shifting to someone else... and he has been chosen to play his part within this shift. As multiple timelines are unlocked, the story takes us into black holes, ghoul-infested churches, old Nordic warriors, serial killers, bullied little children who are avenged by their Pictish ancestors, the Middle Ages, terrible warlocks and necromancers, traumatized detectives with drinking problems, and dreamlike love that expands through time and space.