The pier falls and other stories

From the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Superbly gripping. (Sunday Times). Terrifically compelling. (Guardian). A brilliant collection. (Daily Mail). An expedition to Mars goes terribly wrong. A seaside pier collapses. A thirty-stone man is confined to his living room. One woman is abandoned on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean. Another woman is saved from drowning. Two boys discover a gun in a shoebox. A group of explorers find a cave of unimaginable size deep in the Amazon jungle. A man shoots a stranger in the chest on Christmas Eve. The real redemption in these superbly gripping stories comes from their canny human detail, and the vivid, unsettling clarity they bring to our lives. (Sunday Times).