A dark novel centred around an obsessive-compulsive young Vancouver man, Daniel struggles to maintain his own fragile sanity while those around him fall apart. Also an activist, Demers skillfully weaves in lesbian parenting and free-speech arguments, aging activists and neighbourhood politics, seeming sincere and not forced---the way politics entwine our real lives. Demers' Vancouver settings are evocative without the pretensions of neighbours like Douglas Coupland. His sharp writing recalls other Canadian authors---the wry humour of Mark Anthony Jarman and Lynn Coady comes to mind, and an early party scene in the novel bears odd similarities to an updated, male-penned version of The Edible Woman. It's refreshing to read a book by a writer under 30 who seems like a grown-up.