This collection of crime fiction slices up the nightmare side of the American dream. In his introduction, William Kent Krueger writes, "Almost every story in this remarkable collection deals with someone on the run. They’re running away from or they’re running back to, but no one is standing still." Barker gives the reader an array of flawed characters, exactly the kind of Every Person his fans have come to expect and love, in tense and unforgiving situations. It is in these situations - from saving exploited children to discovering lost loves, from losing and then re-finding one's own music to realizing the love that wasn't is better left dead - that Barker confronts what it means to be on the desperate edge of life. These are harsh characters living harsh lives, but each has a redemption to which all of us can relate.