Tigers of Subtopia

Eleven tense, polished, and brilliantly conceived tales of passion, deceit, and danger by a contemporary master

Julian Symons's vision of our world is witty, ironic, and savage. All these stories have twists in the tail: In the suburbia of the title story, a respectable businessman helps to organize a small lynching party. A middle-aged man's infatuation with a beautiful girl leads him into a deadly double-cross in "A Theme for Hyacinth." How to plan the perfect murder— and dispose of an unwanted wife—is freshly considered in 'The Best Chess Player in the World."

In this collection of subtly detonated tales Mr. Symons exposes the bizarre that underlies the ordinary, the secret identities hidden beneath our social skins, the sudden violence that cracks our calm, safe world wide open.