Shameless, deviant, depraved, the characters in Rod Liddle's story collection are just like us--only much, much worse.

Dumped by his mistress, Dempsey weeps on his wife's shoulder, wondering how best to kill himself so that at least seven people will try to stop him. Eddie miserably sneaks off to sleep with his wife's mother--a rather unpleasant situation from which he can't seem to extricate himself. And Christian, despite a terrible train accident and medical disaster, must just make it to Uttoxeter before he is caught in a horrible lie. Disturbingly funny, psychologically astute, and sharp as a knife, this collection of stories reveals the dark heart of human compulsion. "Electrifying. . . . A brand of dark humor that makes one both chuckle and wince at the same time. . . . Among the best fiction published this year.” –Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"Pushing the frontiers of taste . . . with intention and precision." –San Francisco Chronicle

"Wickedly entertaining best describes the collection of short stories in Liddle's book." –The Oregonian

"It's a human pi–ata of a book--grab a stick." –New York Post

"The jokes are crisp, the prose intelligent, the comic energy a potent mix of satire and furious yet restrained snarling." –The Times (London)