The collection pulses with a tragic calmness akin to the writings of Carver or Cheever. Beneath every scene and absurd occurrence lurks a temperate sadness. While the explored themes of isolation, loneliness and death are heavy, the electric tone of the prose persistently enthralls.

what truly unifies the collection is Lyons' impressive ability to capture the voices of a wide range of characters. He's so good that readers may find themselves wishing all 12 stories, rather than nine of 12, had been written in first person.

Just as varied as their settings - Mackey's Corners, Ark.; South Philadelphia; Tlaxcala, Mexico; Fairfield, Iowa; Edo, Japan - the narrators come from all walks of life. One is a snake-handling preacher run out of town by his congregation for turning to antivenin after a bite. Another is a Kwakiutl Indian working dangerously high above the ground on the electrical towers along the edge of Lake Champlain. Still another is a guard for the U.S. Border Patrol whose own mother, before his birth, illegally crossed the Rio Grande into Arizona. The voice of each emerges so naturally that it's easy to forget that only one person, Mark Lyons, lies behind all of them.