The themes that thread through these nine accomplished stories are drawn from the great tradition of the twentieth-century weird tale, and they are suffused with a distinctly cosmopolitan, European feel. Mark Samuels writes about the fundamental fears of modern life, especially the effects of isolation and the dislocation that city dwellers can experience in their inhospitable, man-made environment.

The Impasse: The Ulymas Organisation was located in a sprawl of dilapidated buildings on the far west side of the city. None of the structures were more than four floors high and the exteriors were of bland, whitewashed brickwork, the paint flaking away from the walls.