I'm not usually a fan of sets of short stories that feature the same characters, and this slim collection features two of these sets. The first set concerns Clare and William, who are both married to what seem like perfect spouses, and yet Clare and William are drawn to each other. Fans of Olive Kitteridge will enjoy this linked set of stories featuring characters who are not exactly in the prime of life. Unlike with Olive, I wasn't really interested in any of these characters and especially couldn't understand what it was that Clare saw in William. The second set of stories is about a mother and the relationship that develops with her step-son after her husband dies. Parts of this were incredibly creepy and unbelievable and might really rub some people the wrong way... I was able to get past this, and although the characters were interesting, there were too many lesser characters that weren't as interesting as the others, and by the end of the last story I just didn't care about what happened to them.

The real gems in this collection are the stand alones. One is about a hospital social worker who becomes particularly interested in the case of a young girl with necrotizing fasciitis. The other one that really stood out was about a young woman whose roommate is murdered.