The words dropped, very precisely, like pebbles into a pool. They spread ripples of menace and foreboding . . . Ruth Rendell hasd the extraordinary faculty of summing up life in a single phraseor sentence . . . A mesmeric collection

Disturbing, atmospheric, inventive and surprising . . . Rendell's capacity to enter the souls of the emotionally bruised is a marvel

Rendell's consistent talent for creating plot, combined with her uncanny grasp of contemporary experience, makes this a winning volume

Wonderful at exploring the dark corners of the human mind, and the way private fantasies can clash and explode into terrifying violence

Chief Inspector Wexford is Rendell’s most enduring and best creation

The prose is crisp and elegant, light on its feet but resonant with pathos, and flecked with acute observations that never fail to strike a vivid chord with the reader.... It all makes for a diverse, entertaining collection, alternating between plangency and playfulness

Constitutional is Helen Simpson fourth collection of short stories and shows some fine developments in one of the Short Story forms more accomplished practitioners

A writer of dizzying ambition and variety, each of his stories is a fresh adventure into the possibilities of fiction

Rose Tremain is a prolific and much lauded writer but here she is at her best

Painful moments of self-revelation are expertly drawn

Striking collection of stories

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny