Stories from a novelist can seem slight and even incomplete, which may account for the weak effect of the first entries in this collection. However, strength builds, until the last terrible story, for which the collection is named, takes the reader by surprise, or perhaps by shock. More thinking and some looking back over the collection is necessary before more can be said. For those who don't want to commit to a novel by this powerful writer, these stories are a good introduction, which if one is lucky, will lead to The Film Explainer, Luck, and Lichtenberg and the Little Flower Girl. ( )