Safe Return Doubtful

Short Stories – Published in 2010

Five stars on the strength of the best stories in the book. There are some weak ones, but the best are so good that they will not be hard to forget.

Fjord of Killary is my favourite, originally published in the New Yorker and available on their podcast, read by Douglas Stuart. It is perfect in its gentle unfolding, rhythm, and timing. Almost every line of the story is quotable.

Ernestine and Kit is Barry at his darkest, and he can be pretty dark. Two ladies in their smart car are anything but day-trippers. Disturbing, verging on horror, and shows us the power of literature.

Beer Trip to Llandudno It was a pig of a day, as hot as we’d had, and we were down to our T-shirts taking off from Lime Street. This was a sight to behold. – we were all of us biggish lads. It was the Ale Club’s July outing, a Saturday, and we’d had word of several good houses to be found in Llandudno. Barry at most humorous; real ale and trains..

The Girl and the Dogs Dark again.. These dogs don’t bark but silently fix their yellow eyes on the dying protagonist, a drug dealer on the lam whose sadistic boss locks him into a trailer with no food and water in order to force him into having group sex.

My GoodReads score 4 / 5