Title: The Pier Falls and other stories
Author: Haddon, Mark
Published by: Vintage
Year: 2016
First published: Vintage, 2016
Date reviewed: 01.18
ISBN: 978-1-101-97013-3

This is a book of nine short stories, written at various times and some of them previously published elsewhere. It is impressive that they are all very different: settings range in place and time from mythological Greece to a settlement on Mars, and each story is told in a different voice. Death in one form or another is a prevailing theme but this does not mean the stories are morbid – they are not.

Haddon’s writing has the vivid intensity of a series of close-up camera shots, helped by his extensive use of the narrative present tense. All but two of the stories share this style. Every reader will have his or her own favorite but they are all worth reading. Or perhaps savouring is a better word, like a chocolate assortment where each one deserves to be appreciated on its own merit rather than scoffing the whole box at one go. Recommended.