In his debut story collection, Kevin A Couture creates a world where the veneer of humanness stretches thin and often cracks, while burdened characters take on a variety of beast-like traits. In his desperate survival plan, a pre-teen "rescues" dogs in order to sell them back to their well-off owners. A hare-like marathon pacesetter reflects on the pace she sets, for others and for herself, both on and off the race route. A man confronts his drive for alcohol and the deadly and isolating consequences that leave him to risk his last scrap of control. And two kids, for different reasons, execute their plan to capture a bear cub. The book combines the murky sensibilities of Lynn Coady's Hellgoing with the finely rendered, precise prose of R W Gray's Crisp and Alexander McLeod's Light Lifting. The writing is gripping, with metaphors and similes that are as startling as the harsh choices the characters make.