The killing of a mammoth obstructing the tourist routes in the Scottish Highlands, and the death of a Red Brigade terrorist in an attic overlooking the Venetian lagoon. Desperate negotiations with an architect in Iran, and the beating of an aid worker for failing to deliver rain - these are some of the startling scenarios of Jonathan Falla's second collection of stories.

"Falla's harsh, precise and constantly sensual portrayal of a cruel world is partly offset by his evocative descriptions of its extreme climate and landscape, and still more by his sensitive handling of the characters." Sunday Times (London)

"A writer who has a natural ability to capture the essence of an individual in a few brief lines." New Statesman (London)

"Falla is no longer to be described as a promising novelist, but as an accomplished one." The Scotsman (Edinburgh)