Review by Booklist

by Michele Leber
Vol. 102, No. 11
February 1, 2006

"Imagination takes flight in these 12 stories set in Lake Oswego, an affluent suburb of Portland, Oregon. Rust begins each story with a snippet from the local newspaper's police blotter, from which spins a tale--sometimes edging on the surreal. A report of food thrown at a garage door spawns "Vital Organs," in which a woman's kidneys simply disappear, affecting her only with profound sadness; media attention disturbs her neighbors, and canned kidney beans are thrown at her garage door before she finds that her body emptied for a reason. In "Rich Girls," a report of a fire started in the high school boys' bathroom is embedded in the tale of a man who takes part in increasingly intrusive medical research studies to get extra money for his wife and daughters. A report of a vicious cat near a resident's back porch starts "Moon over Water," in which the full moon becomes frozen over Portland (and nowhere else), leading to fertile animals, fast-growing plants, and obese people. Rust's prose is crisp and precise."

Booklist Review
Vol. 102, No. 11
February 1, 2006