NINE INCHES (Tom Perrotta) - October 18/13

Another superb effort from Perrotta, though the book does suffer from an unevenness that's part and parcel with the short-story format. Having said that, there's not a single dud here. My favorite's probably "Grade My Teacher" but really they're all good, although Perrotta's fixation on crumbling or dissolved marriages ensures that there is just a little repetition here. It never quite reaches the heights of his full-length work, but it's still awfully good. ***1/2 out of ****