I love Ms. Jackson's comedy, she has a wonderful eye for it but I really found this book dull, primarily because I saw through it very quickly. Dull characters make for dull books, and strange or not these characters plodded along on a well worn path, both lifeless and unimaginative(and I mean that). Strange or diseased is not always that imaginative because it's too easy. Jackson is always a good writer but she needed something with a bit more meat on the bone to flourish.