This novel brilliantly portrays the claustrophobic atmosphere experienced by a formerly working woman marooned in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, when her husband accepts a position with a construction company. Despite making the aquaintance of her neighbours, the Pakistani Yasmin and the Iraqi Samira, and meeting the local expatriatiates, Frances' sense of isolation grows. The ominous atmosphere centres round the ostensibly 'empty' flat above the one where Frances and Andrew are living. Gradually disturbing details are built up and the sinister nature of its use confirmed, but not exactly clarified, after the dinner at home with the long-awaited air-conditioning engineer, Fairfax. The fact that the mystery is not completely resolved serves to accentuate the lingering atmosphere of menace.