Slippery figures in anomalous situations – ghosts, spies, bodyguards, criminals– haunt these stories by Javier Marías: the characters come bearing their strange and special secrets, and never leave our minds. In one story, a man obsessed with his much younger lover endlessly videotapes her every move,and then confides his surprising plans for her; in another, a ghost can’t stop resigning from his job. Masterfully, Marías manages in a small space to perplex and delight. “The short story fits Marías like a glove,” as Le point noted. His stories have been hailed as “formidably intelligent” (<em>The London Review of Books</em>), “a bracing tonic” (<em>The Chicago Tribune</em>), and “startling” (<em>The New York Times Book Review</em>).