 While the "Washington Post" considered it in slightly harsher terms...The dark devices Self relies on still bring gasps of admiration and shock, but for a successful author who has long since navigated the thicket

of pubescent self-loathing there is a risk that they also serve a cynical purpose, providing cover for a failure of sustained imagination.Two of these stories, "Design Faults in the Volvo 760 Turbo