But something...something was off' says an anxious father, in Dream Feed, the second of the eight stories in Dark Steps, and this wary note of concern strikes a chord, for this reader at least, exemplifying as it does the voice of trepidation which characterizes many of the episodes in this memorable, if rather sombre collection of short stories.

The author has a good eye for details; the `flowers of rust' around the wheel of a car, the injured child's trainer's red LED flashing as she lies in the road, the `sibilant hiss of the baby monitor' and the `wheezing, arrhythmic parody of a laugh that again descended into a cough' - brilliant observations all, and part of the charm of this powerful collection.
Although there are moments where it feels like the reader is being led to a foreseeable resolution (particularly in The Inheritance) this is a minor plot issue, and the writing within the stories, the actual narration, is almost uniformly striking and very memorable. I come back to these stories again and again to remind myself of the gratifying arc of tension, suspense, and relief demonstrated in Dark Steps, as well as the intelligence in the writing, the observant eye in the narration and the terrible moment of realization that something is not quite right, something...something is off.