Author:Andrew Davies
'Coming a little nearer to Scannell's own situation, au pairs have a long, well established and respectable tradition as persons into whom it is OK, even de rigeur, to dip the seigneurial wick. But cleaning ladies. Cleaning women. Deeply suspect to have to admit to employing one, but to look lewdly upon, to have a bit on the side with, to, oh God, fall in love with...'
A middle-aged professor is thrown into confusion when his cleaning lady offers an unusual service; fellow travellers on a train make some intimate connections; a respectable writer's life is invaded by obscene communications from a rogue fax machine; a man loses his lover unexpectedly, only to find that she has left him a distressingly tactile souvenir. Even the page on which a computer prints out can be infiltrated by alien parasites with a startling lack of warning.
Almost all the stories in Andrew Davies' brilliant collection are about the black comedy of people's - or writer's - insecurities, imaginings and nightmares.
—— The GuardianSimon Kernick writes great plots, great characters, great action.
—— Lee ChildSimon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!
—— Harlen CobenSimon Kernick uses every trick in the book to keep the action breakneck.
—— Time OutFrom the first line, Simon Kernick knows how to get a thriller shifting, and he doesn't let up until the very last
—— Daily MirrorExtremely funny... Keret’s stories understand the plasticity of narrative and the importance of imaginative acts
—— The TimesThe ingenious and original master of the short story overflows with absurdity, humour, longing and compassion... Keret's most mature and most playful work yet, and establises him as one of the great international writers of our time
—— GQDistinctive, surreal and intelligent
—— Antonia Charlesworth , Big Issue in the NorthSublimely irresistible
—— Tim Samuels , theholbornmag.com