Someone like you is a collection of eighteen short stories written for adult audience by the author who is mostly known for his works written for children. The stories vary in their themes, most notable being of murder, abuse, revenge and hypocrisy, but the main touching point between all is that they are structured to make the reader uncomfortable and disturbed.
The story "Taste" portrays a pompous gourmand and a father, who is ready to give his daughter's hand for a simple petty gamble. The story "Lamb to the Slaughter" shows a meek housewife killing her husband because he asked for divorce and devising an intricate plan to get away with it. "Man from the South" shows a peculiar individual who is obsessed with gambling for other people's fingers.
In the story "The Soldier" the theme of dementia and mind deterioration is explored as a result of trauma presumably in war. "My Lady Love, My Dove" is a somewhat comical story that shows a couple deciding to spy on their guests out of boredom. "Dip in the Pool" shows human foolishness, stupidity at its worst, where a man loses his life to win a gamble.
"Galloping Foxley" is a story of abuse. The main character, Perkins, suffered horrible abuse in his school days by the hands of an older boy called Foxley. "Skin" is a story that connects art and body grotesque, and raises a question how far can art go. "Poison" is a story about racism. "The Wish" portrays child imagination and how real it's imagined reality seems to the child. "Neck" is a story about a "horned" husband taking brutal revenge on his wife. "The Sound Machine" explores the possibility of man actually being able to hear the pain he inflicts on the nature. "Nunc Dimittis" is a story of petty revenge and humiliation which comes back around.
"The Great Automatic Grammatizator" portrays the possibility of having literary works written by a machine. Its creator is at first trying to convince himself and others that he has the creative urge, but later admits to doing it all for profit. The collection of four stories of one character's adventures under the title "Claud's Dog" shows adventures of Claud and his attempt to make money at a dog race to be able to marry his girlfriend.
