Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, the stories here show us how murder can arise out of boredom, perversity from adolescent curiosity-and how sheer evil can become the solution to unbearable loneliness. These short fiction pieces from the early career of the New York Times-bestselling and Man Booker Prize-winning author of Atonement and On Chesil Beach are claustrophobic tales of childhood, twisted psychology, and disjointed family life as terrifying as anything by Stephen King-and finely crafted with a lyricism and an intensity that compels us to confront our secret kinship with what repels us.