SOURCE: “Umbrella Rage,” in Times Literary Supplement, November 12, 1999, p. 24.

In the following review, Baker offers a generally positive assessment of Midnight All Day.

“What could be more beguiling than other people’s stymied desire?” asks the narrator in one of these ten short stories [in Midnight All Day], bitterly sure that the tale of his romantic misfortunes is going to do the rounds among his friends. Stymied desire is the constant factor in the collection, which circles relentlessly around non-communication; toxic relationships and the bloody-mindedness of other people.

Frustration piles up excruciatingly, in “Strangers When We Meet”, when Robert arranges a romantic break with his mistress. Florence, only to find that at the last moment she has to bring her husband. They check into the same hotel, where he can hear Florence and Archie in the next bedroom. He talks to Archie in the bar about his situation...