Warning that the stories here "do not necessarily occur at the same time" and that they may prove to be "only one story," the endlessly inventive Macaulay challenges readers to unravel an intricate puzzle in the form of four stories--simultaneously presented in the four quadrants of each double spread. Even the type styles, as well as the illustrative styles, are different; but alert readers will note common elements--a masked burglar, escaping cows, newspapers, trains--that serve different functions in different stories but that also serve to link them. They are linked, of course, and Macaulay slips in plenty of visual jokes and asides along the way; but even the most persistent puzzlers may conclude that he's been too clever by half. The journey here holds some interest, but the story concealed within the stories is hardly worth the effort.
