Swordfish Strips is told by a server at a swanky restaurant, as she low-key obsesses about a fashionable couple at one of her tables. The story surprises, and Brooks captures so many subtle details that are revealing about each character.

Emily spots her strutting up to the hostess stand: a willowy curl of a woman, Asian and raven-haired, white blouse tucked into a black pencil skirt at her narrow waist. Her eyes are sharp as blades, bright as the silver chain about her neck. She grips a Prada handbag that fins from her side and points with a slender finger to a table at the wide bow window, in Emily’s section. Nothing in her face or posture wavers.