In twelve dialled-in and exceptionally honed short stories,
Terry Doyle presents an enduring assortment of characters channelled through
the chain reactions of misfortune and redemption.
A construction worker’s future is bound to a feckless and
suspicious workmate. A young woman’s burgeoning social activism is constrained
by familial burdens. A wedding guest recognizes a panhandler attending the
reception. Ana a man crafts a concealed weapon with which to carry out his
nightly circuit of paltry retribution.
Through keen-eyed observation, and with impressive economy
of statement, Doyle conveys these characters over a backdrop of private
absurdities and confusions-countering the overbearance of a post-tragic age
with grit, irony, and infinitesimal signs of hope.
