spying on strange men begins as a comedy, 'illuminated by vivien lash's imaginative way of seeing the world'. 'she doesn't so much have a habit of seeking out the grotesquely funny, she just seems to act as a magnet for it. then all of a sudden, like a summer night in a strange city, the reader realises it's getting dark, and the surroundings that seemed amusing a few pages back, are suddenly threatening.'