Witty, acerbic and pellucid, McInerney's writing examines worlds in collision, relationships fragmenting and the dark underbelly of the American dream. A transsexual prostitute accidentally propositions his own father; a senator's serial infidelities leave him in hot water; two young lovers spend Christmas together high on different drugs. McInerney's characters are perfectly observed, struggling together in a shifting world where old certainties dissolve and nobody can be sure of where they stand.