I can't really say that I enjoyed this book of short stories very much. The first story, The Octopus Nest, has won a prize but I found myself picking at it. Two of the stories I enjoyed very much but the other eight were a let down. I have read the first two of Hannah's novels and compared them to Nicci French novels slightly less favourably but was hoping that this book of short stories would be better. The final story in the book was my favourite, simple but shocking.
I'm afraid that I can't really recommend anybody buying this book and would instead turn them towards the last short story collection I read, Robert Shearman's book Tiny Deaths. As well as being more believable even though he deals with some very surreal subjects, it has more charm and likability and is IMHO a by far a superior book. ( )

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I’m going to surprise those of you who know me well by telling you that I’ve just read a collection of short stories. Many of you know that I’ve been promising to do this for at least the past year but I’m afraid I have to be honest and admit that I wasn’t motivated in my decision to finally capitulate by the desire to do the honourable thing and keep that promise. No, what finally tipped the balance and got me out there into the short story community was the publication of a volume by one of my favourite writers, Sophie Hannah. I’ve posted about both of Hannah’s last two thrillers, Hurting Distance and The Point of Rescue and anyone who’s read my thoughts on those will know that I think she’s one of the most exciting writers about. The Fantastic Book of Everybody’s Secrets simply confirms that, and coming from someone who has had to have her arm twisted to read anything that doesn’t extend to at least a 250+ page plot that is praise indeed.
In this collection of short stories, Hannah has focused in on the impossibility of our ever really knowing the people around us, often the people to whom we are closest. Time after time the characters in her tales are forced to reassess either someone they thought they understood or, even more worryingly, what they thought they knew about themselves. What is more, we as readers are also frequently brought up short and put in a position where we have to alter the perspective we have taken on a character or situation. The first story in the collection, The Octopus Nest, sets this pattern up nicely as both protagonist and reader suddenly have to rethink everything theybelieved they knew when a situation, frightening enough as it is, suddenly becomes truly terrifying.
I read this story and then found that I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I had to put the book down and move away for a while to give myself time to think about the implications of what I’d read and each of the stories has been the same. I have never managed to read more than one a day because each has provided me with so much food for thought.
Take You are a Gongedip. I started out really empathising with the first person narrator.
There ought to be a word to describe the person we most wish we had never met. I won’t invent one - I shudder at the thought - but somebody should, so that we know to expect that person in our lives, even if they haven’t arrived yet. Such a word, such a concept, might help us to recognise them while there is still time to escape, before they have shattered our calm and orderly existence.
Yes, I thought. I could do with just such a word and I know precisely to whom I would apply it. I was on side with this narrator all the way. Well, for about the nest two pages, that is, during which time it gradually became apparent that if there was such a word it would best be applied to him. And if that was the case, might there not be someone out there in my life who would really like to describe me that way? Long pause for thought! If so, I just hope they don’t exact the same sort of retribution that Maria thinks up for William. As a language researcher let me tell you that it brought me out in hot sweats.
I’m not prepared to say at this point that I am now converted to the short story as a form and will forever turn my back on the full length novel. But, after reading this excellent collection I can now see where the attraction lies and I will certainly be more willing to wander down this literary avenue again - especially if Sophie Hannah can be persuaded to publish another such selection. Disturbing though I found them, they also offered considerable food for thought and will linger in my conscious for a long while to come.