However, it soon becomes clear that despite Busner's failing health he is determined to exact his calculated revenge upon Dr. Mukti.

A young boy on the run from a local gang enters the flat of an old man whose sight is failing.

A return to the world first established in Self's prior novel Great Apes and its protagonist, Simon Dykes.

The Guardian newspaper said of the collection: "Like most of Self's work, these stories detail a massive loss, a misplacement, of humanity.

Perhaps one day he will recover the form which made the outrageous Cock and Bull and, in a more sombre vein, How the Dead Live, so readable; but for the moment, he is floundering.