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Loading... The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authorsby Jonathan Santlofer (Editor), SJ Rozan (Editor)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. The Dark End of the Street is a good collection of short stories. Some of them are dark and bloody, while others are almost innocent and fluffy. Several of them had me hooked and I had to stay up a few minutes late just to finish reading. My favorite is probably the last: The Creative Writing Murders by Edmund White. Like some of the other stories, it is unclear until the end what is going on and where the characters are headed. I won a copy through First Reads. I love that goodreads supports my reading addiction with periodically providing me free books. Alright, I finally finished this. Even though I love collections of short stories, it's much easier to stall. Anyway, I really enjoyed this collection. Some weren't great, some were wonderful and truly surprising. great for mystery lovers. Jill, I'm mailing this to you later this week. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Christa Faust, author of Money Shot made a distinction between crime noir and some other noir but for the life of me, I can't recall the distinction. But it got me thinking, what defines crime noir? It's easy to say Raymond Chandler or James Cain; they pioneered the genre. But otherwise, what is it? There are 19 examples to ponder in The Dark End of the Street. I don't know if they make the cut so to speak, but they are intriguing stories by some of today's most well-known writers of crime fiction. We've got a few stories where the hunter gets captured by the game (Tricks--my favorite--by Laura Lippman) and Me & Mr. Rafferty by Lee Child. There are the unnerving stories of murders planned and carried out (Salon and Scenarios), delicately explained by the psychopath. And there's Dragon's Breath, a story about a journalist who's already slid down to the dark side many times and is trying to NOT make those mistakes again, although you can feel how flimsy his hold is on life legit; the ever-nearness of harm is palpable in this tale.Those are just a handful of the stories presented. Of course, some are better than others. But there are enough stories here to satisfy all tastes for the crime fiction lover out there. The only missing thing is a list of contributors at the end, but the authors are so recognizable that it isn't a necessity. I give this one 3.5 stars. I'll keep it for re-reads. A couple of these stories are quite good and would make excellent night caps. This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Circumstances and books that kept me more interested than this one did prevented me from finishing and reviewing The Dark End of the Street in a timely manner. I suppose I am just not a fan of short stories, even those by some of my favorite writers. I could not keep reading these stories without a break for some real whodunnits. A couple of the stories were entertaining, but none of them were as satisfying a full length mystery from the likes of Connelly (my favorite), Child, or McDermid. Two stars and a "bleh". no reviews | add a review
Contains
A strong, aggravated man fingers the knife in his pocket while considering a pretty woman at the bar. But what becomes of his prey when they move to the bedroom? Elsewhere, a man discovers he visits the same hair salon as the victim of a gruesome murder. And a modern-day Don Juan has a hobby of marrying vulnerable women, getting access to their bank accounts, and then robbing them blind. A glittering line-up of our best writers (including Lee Child, Michael Connelly, Val McDermid, Edmund White and Patrick McCabe) weave fresh and memorable stories from a pair of classic themes- sex and crime. This tantalising collection abounds in dark-haired vixens and crimes of passion. Some stories are brooding, others twisted; some offer righteous satisfaction while others linger long in the mind. This innovative, exciting and intriguing book is a rare treat for fans of great fiction, whether it's high literature, good old-fashioned suspense, or anything in between. No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumJonathan Santlofer's book The Dark End of the Street was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers. Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.087208Literature English (North America) American fiction By type Genre fiction Adventure fiction Mystery fictionLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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Val McDermid surprised me with an unexpectedly gripping story about an old lover returning for a bit of blackmail. I'd read one of her crime novels years ago, and hadn't been impressed, but I see that I'll have to read something else by her after all. The stories by Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block and Lee Child were all serviceable, but not up to what some of the authors came up with.
I read this as a palate cleanser between other books, and for that it served its purpose well. There were no unreadable stories and they were all recognizably noir, although if you were looking for a book of short crime stories, Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives would be a better choice. ( )