The most impressive achievement in these nine stories might be their range. Farish, who teaches writing and literature at Webster University, writes of men and women, first person and omniscient narrator, big city and small town, teens and adults, sadness and a little silliness, with a depth and polish that readers will appreciate and even marvel at.

Finding turns of phrase, depth of emotion and engaging plots like those in “Inappropriate Behavior” is rare, particularly in a first book. — Dale Singer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

You’ll want to talk about the characters — some of them expected (unhappy spouses, struggling parents and difficult children) and some unexpected (assassins, would-be assassins and assassination buffs). You’ll want to talk about the violence, despair, dark humor and lurid amusements. And you’ll want to sort out what these stories say about our times. — Nick Healy, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

 

The title of this book doesn’t beat around the bush. As it suggests, this collection pulls together a variety of stories linked by its characters running the gamut of bad behavior. The full spectrum of inappropriate is included, from little white lies that spin out of control to full-on premeditated murder. And it starts before the end of page one[.] — Tiffany Turpin Johnson, Bookshots

 

These stories zig and zag like a game of Chutes and Ladders; characters who have painstakingly worked their way up the rungs come sliding back down with single despairing choices. There are undeniable shades of George Saunders and Sam Lipsyte here—only perhaps bleaker. At times, Farish even manages to channel the absurdity of Kafka (see “Ready for Schmelling,” which reads like a cross between The Metamorphosis and Office Space) into his stories. For all of that, hardly a tale seems superfluous. Each story is a slow burn, a fractal of the book as a whole[.] — Derek Harmening, Curbside Splendor