Grotesque ulcers that grow infinitely in a cemetery in Austria; giant cockroaches, resistant to all insecticides, taking over a New York apartment building; a UN mission that ends brutally in Africa; whales, the Pope, a gun-loving US president – all of these form the fabric of modern (natural or unnatural) disasters. In Patricia Highsmith's work, horror arises from the fact that people behave exactly as they do, without the involvement of supernatural evil forces.