A cabbie with a booze problem pities a murderer and helps him flee into the desert. A homeless woman teaches a businessman how to dance. A bank robber on the run does the only compassionate thing he’s ever done in his life when he encounters a band of wild horses. A man hunts and kills his romantic rival, then presents the love of his life with a token of his affection. The desk clerk at a fleabag hotel blesses the dead. The short stories in Animal Heart pay attention to raggedy characters in need of redemption—whether they realize it or not.