In the following review, McCaffery says that while Boyle's short stories in Greasy Lake are somewhat uneven, they "display a vibrant sensibility fully engaged with American society."

For the assorted politicians, teen-age toughs, baseball players, whale lovers, blues singers and ordinary suburbanites who speak to us in T. Coraghessan Boyle's brilliant new collection, Greasy Lake, life in contemporary America is pretty much a roller coaster ride, filled with peaks of exhilaration and excitement but also fraught with hidden dangers and potential embarrassments. One moment they're clutching a bottle of stolen bourbon, up higher than they ever thought possible. From up there the vista is enormous, gorgeous; the adrenaline is pumping; escape velocity from all that weighs them down is nearly achieved. But just a second later the inevitable descent has begun, and something has gone terribly wrong, the seat belt has disengaged, they're hurtling to a crash...