Writing as Phildy Hackball, McCabe presents to us, the readers, the stories of over a dozen residents of the small Irish town of Barntrosna. These vignettes vary from the only mildly odd to the extremely eccentric and feature many interesting characters, to put it mildly. Take into account Declan Coyningham who aspires to be a priest from a very young age which only alienates him from his fellow classmates and makes him a target for severe abuse and one particularly nasty prank gone very awry. Or, my personal favorite entitled "I Ordained the Devil" about a priest who feels that he is responsible for allowing Satan to be an ordained member of the ministry. However, for every one good story, there were three that I just could not get into. I found myself very bored very quickly and wishing for the more well-written accounts of the darker side of humanity like that presented by Ethan Coen in Gates of Eden.
