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Although the stories in this book don't match the menacing power of Faber's Under the Skin, it's still a decent collection. Faber is clearly not afraid to take risks. There is quite a range to these stories, but they can be loosely grouped into three (roughly equally represented) categories:

# stories set in a vaguely dystopic future
# stories set in the present with a setting or premise that is unusual or a little extreme
# stories set in the present with a completely quotidian setting

An example of the second category is "Finesse", in which a totalitarian dictator needs to undergo a risky operation to survive, and finds that the doctor most capable of performing the surgery successfully is a woman he consigned to a "detention camp" years before, Another example is "Flesh Remains Flesh", a story about an over-zealous taxidermist who comes to a bad end. The stories in this category explore the same territory favored by Roald Dahl in his stories for adults.

Many writers have a tendency to stick within a single, relatively narrow, category, so Faber's willingness to stretch is admirable. All of the stories in the collection are accomplished; four or five are exceptional. Interestingly, it was the least flashy stories that were most successful, in my opinion. A recovering drug addict tries to reconnect with her son who's been placed in foster care ("Serious Swimmers"); a new mother is overwhelmed by parenthood ("The Smallness of the Action"); a computer gamer's horizons are extended by an encounter with a tiny neighbor ("Mouse") - in each of these stories, and the title story, Faber reminds us that even the quotidian dullness of everyday existence has its moments of unexpected grace.