David Menear is most often described as an edgy, urgent, gritty and sometimes ‘transgressive’ short story writer with a soft heart and a sense of humour. You find him at that place where Salinger meets Cormac McCarthy for bourbon and biscuits. In the random and weaved stories of “Swallows Playing Chicken,” Menear surveys the world around him with an eye for the selfish motivations of the people near and dear to us. His character portraits can be dark, funny, smart, and uncomfortably sexual in the space of a few pages; what holds them together is the unflinching honesty of their presentation. This is truth-telling as a potent, explosive force.