[2] The short novel deals with the experiences of poet Joe Jacobs, when his family vacation is interrupted by a fanatical reader.

Isabel is a foreign correspondent whose work has repeatedly taken her away from her family, and who has grown to tolerate Joe's constant infidelities.

[6] The Guardian's John Self found the central characters of the novel "perfectly presented", and also noted that it "has repeated passages which gradually mesmerise the reader.

"[7] Philip Womack of The Daily Telegraph claimed that "[a]nyone who's been on a villa holiday will recognise the tensions that permeate Levy's stealthily devastating book."

He lauded the "hallucinatory quality" of the book, concluding that "[e]verything has significance...This is an intelligent, pulsating literary beast.