First published 2023
A young linguist travels to the remote forests of Irian Jaya on a research mission. There she encounters a ruthless pastor who manipulates her into betraying everything she came to accomplish. In New York, a deaf maid discovers her wealthy employers are abusing her and decides to fight back with their own weapon: blackmail. A psychiatrist in rural England finds herself drawn into a dangerous love affair that could end her career. Vacationers in Oman witness a murder and become targets themselves. After a tsunami hits the Andaman Islands, an entomologist uses a corpse to advance her study of insects. Osborne places his characters in situations where they must navigate between ordinary life and extraordinary violence. Each story pushes people beyond their limits, forcing them to confront how far they will go to survive.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, thriller, psychological-thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Irian Jaya, New York, England, Oman, Andaman Islands
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
Paperback · Hogarth
Content warnings: abuse, violence