City of the Beasts

Couldn't get into the story, as the translation was awkward and I don't like Alex, the main character. But check out this description of a character:

... he turned out to be a short, thin, nervous fifty-year-old man with a permanent expression of either scorn or cruelty on his lips, and the squinty little eyes of a mouse.

Way to sum up a guy in just a few lines.