The novel plays out during an evening meal at a fancy restaurant, while two brothers and their wives attempt to resolve a family issue. It's a masterclass in the unreliable narrator and the slow reveal, as we are lead to conclude that the main character is a cranky misanthrope with a long-suffering wife, a failure with a humiliatingly-successful sibling, a sociopath with violent tendencies, and worse... and worse... until the true natures of the individuals gracing the dinner table are revealed. It's impossible to like anyone in this novel, but it's equally hard to stop thinking about them after it's finished. Brilliantly judged, whenever its exceptional darkness threatens to turn the stomach, a wicked dash of humour cleanses the palate.