"Mr. Golan has two gifts that relatively few writers have: an ear for the way people really talk (and think). And he can tell a story.

As well, he's smart enough to tell the story that always stands up to the test of time: human relationships. Adult love, lust, and greed. Sometimes in Cheever country, sometimes Carver (his endings, like Raymond Carver's, are often a twist of reality's knife, not deep enough to kill, but deep enough to draw noticeable blood). Oh, and he has another gift: he can portray all his characters with equal affection, regardless of age, gender, and their foibles.

Best line: 'A woman in a pink housecoat looking down from a window decided to light a cigarette.'

This is one of the finest (and most engaging) story collections I've read in the past year."

-- Philip Wagner, The Iconoclast