I wonder if I am not as let down as others who wrote such venomous reviews because I have never read McEwan before? people complained that this book made them feel uncomfortable, but I believe that was the goal of the author, to play with the readers emotions, to shock and repulse. I personally found the book a bit predictable and other than the first story didn't really enjoy it very much, but the subject matter nonetheless is taboo enough and described in such Hitchcockian detail that we are left no choice but to shift from foot to foot, hoping what is about to happen, isn't.