Better Living Through Plastic Explosives - Zsuzsi Gartner

There's always been something sinister about Vancouver, something dark and disturbing underneath that sheen of natural beauty and high livability index scores.  Gartner taps into this weirdness in this collection of short stories. Houses disappear, taking people and dreams with them. Civilized, home-owning males takes a few steps back on  the evolutionary chart to deal with a interloper into their suburban enclave. Angels take possession of teens and homeless junkies get publicly funded plastic surgery to boost their self-esteem.

Under the hyper-acute prose, filled with tangled sentences and cultural references, beats a heart. A dark one perhaps, but one that you can identify.