The Comfort of Strangers (CS), which was published in 1981, was Ian McEwan’s second novel after two collections of short stories and his novel The Cement Garden. Although it caused quite different reactions among critics, CS was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. CS still owns a lot of the short story, especially with regard to structure and characters’ drawing. The short novel is not exclusively about the frenzies of sadomasochism, but about sexual power and submission.