Reviews

Irish writer McCormack's debut collection (he is winner of the Rooney Prize) is a dark meditation on life and death and the states of existence that fall somewhere in between. The title story is a disturbing battle of the wills between two brothers, neither of whose inner psyche matches his outward persona. Several stories incorporate Christ figures and reincarnation of one kind or another. The pages are populated with ax murderers, self-mutilating artists, stalkers, and pre-teens who give us step-by-step instructions in building pipe bombs but also fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, and troubled young men torn between love and hate. And underlying the macabre plots is a sense of humanity and subtle humor. Recommended for literary collections.‘Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Idaho Lib., Moscow, ID