Montreal Noir (Akashic Noir) by John McFetridge

Montreal Noir (Akashic Noir) Reviews

• 
  Carolyn Walsh

  This terrific collection of short stories was published in 2017 by Akhasic Noir publishers, with collections of short stories in separate volumes from various cities all over the world. This book is centred on different locations in the city of Montreal. Their books are valuable resources for familiarizing readers with some award-winning authors worldwide. There are 15 short stories in this collection; only three were already known to me: Martin Michaud, Melissa Yi, and Catherine McKenzie. The book contains a variety of styles; police procedural, detective investigations, thrillers, stories of psychological suspense, and hard-boiled crime.
  
  Having recently moved to Montreal, this book interested me. I wanted to become familiar with its crime writers. These stories are set in different neighbourhoods throughout the city. I don't know these locations yet and suspect they may be more meaningful to those who know Montreal well, but I was mostly entertained. I thought this collection succeeded better for me personally than other collections of mystery/thriller short stories I read recently. The majority of its stories appealed to me.
  The stories are written either in English or in Quebec French, with excellent English translations.
  
  I will not list all my favourite stories, as many are high on my list. It contains a short story by Martin Michaud translated from French. He has been among my favourite writers of thrillers, but so far, only three books have been translated into English, and am anxiously awaiting the rest of his series. Other favourites include a writer new to me, Patrick Senecal, a tense, suspenseful short story translated into English, and a dark and delightful story 'Wild Horses' by Arjun Basu. Short descriptions of each of the fifteen writers are a welcome addition, focusing on a short description of their literary achievements and book titles.
  
  I would classify only a few of the selections as hardcore crime, but these were far out of my comfort zone. One author was described as a fan of dirty realism, noir, punk. and hardcore, and he hopes to mix all genres in his books. Other than that, I found most of the stories to be above average in entertainment value. I have already been searching the internet for some of the books by authors I have just enjoyed.
• 
  Maxwell

  This was a fun reading experience because I just recently visited Montreal and picked this book up there. But on their own most of these stories were not that great. I do appreciate that this publisher gives local authors the opportunity to contribute to a collection about their city though. 2.5 stars
• 
  Catherine McKenzie

  My first ever short story has been included in this awesome collection!
• 
  Dave

  Akashic Noir has published nearly eighty volumes of short stories, each centered around a geographic location, and has another half dozen already in the pipeline. Each volume such as DC Noir, Brooklyn Noir, Los Angeles Noir, Mumbai Noir, features writers familiar with the local terrain, the local flavor, and an editor from that locale. The locations include not just American cities but exotic international locales as well.
  
  The unique aspect to Montreal is that, although it's a North American city, it is both England and French speaking. This volume features writers who write in both of these languages and does a real good job of capturing the essence of Montreal, including many familiar geographic places therein.
  
  The stories by fifteen different authors exhibit a range of styles and approaches. Few are classic police or private eye procedurals, but all touch some aspect of the darkness, the throat-slitters, the homeless vagabonds, the men hiding on nearly deserted river islands, the perverted television producers (echoing a current scandal), the hoodlums, the desperate, the ones who've all but given up hope, the ones trying to escape, and of course the midget wrestlers. Not all the stories are completely successful, but overall it's a strong and worthy collection.
  
  Thank you to Akashic for providing a copy of this book for review.
• 
  Anya

  Just reviewing "Joke's on you" by Catherine Mckenzie.. a good short story, masterfully written, with wonderful characterization for such a short story and a chill ending that made sense (not that common in short horror or noir stories). Be sure not to miss it !
• 
  Diana

  MONTREAL NOIR is one of the latest additions to Akashic Books Noir series. Each title is an anthology of stories, each story set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the respective city. (or state, as in MONTANA NOIR)
  Each anthology follows a similar format - a map (love the map); a Table of Contents; an Introduction by the editors; and information about the authors - About the Contributors.
  The Introduction is an integral part of the anthology - it is written by the editors and sets a tone; a sense of place; some historical context about the city or area/region.
  The stories reflect noir qualities - cynicism, fatalism, moral ambiguity - a very bleak, pessimistic view of life.
  MONTREAL NOIR consists of III Parts with 15 stories.
  Contributors include Patrick Senecal, Genevieve Lefebvre, Samuel Archibald, Michel Basilieres, Arjun Basu, Ian Truman, Catherine McKenzie, Brad Smith, Peter Kirby, Robery Pobi, Johanne Seymour, Melissa Yi, Howard Shrier, Tess Fragoulis, and Martin Michaud.
  The editors of MONTREAL NOIR are John McFetridge and Jacques Filippi.
  Several stories are expertly translated from the French.
  Highlights (for me) always include the Introduction and the map.
  My reaction to “Such a pretty little girl” was Wow - what a story.
  I loved the reference to the music of Les Cowboys Fringants blasting from the speakers at the Bar Saint-Laurent. This reference is from “The haunted crack house”. (I quite like this music and have several of their albums. The music reminds me of the tone and atmosphere of Montreal.)
  There are 8 chapters in “The joke’s on you’. A great line on the first page of the story “He never wanted to be a bother, but he was a man worth making a bother for”.
  Reading “Coyote” made my lips curl in disgust. A great ending for Boss-Man Ben Dubois.
  “The Crap Magnet” by Peter Kirby. Just desserts was my comment.
  Thank you to Akashic Books for making this ‘Advance Reading Copy’ available to me.
  A great series. A great title. Great Noir.
• 
  Vera

  Another fine noir collection from Akashic Books! These are always fresh and interesting and I always enjoy reading them!
• 
  Lisa Ladd

  One of the best collections of gritty short mysteries I have read in years. All set in Montreal, spanning different neighborhoods and different eras. I appreciated the balance between men and women investigators and perpetrators as well. I am grateful that there are bios of each author in the back, as I definitely plan to read more of these writer's works in the future.
• 
  Mélyssa

  I enjoy this series of collections of noir stories set in specific locations. As this is the only one set in Quebec, I was especially looking forward to reading it. Like in all such short story collections, I enjoyed some stories better than others. Those I enjoyed most were mostly from authors I was already familiar with (such as Catherine McKenzie, Patrick Senécal and Martin Michaud), but I also discovered an author I’d like to read more from in the future, Johanne Seymour.
• 
  Joy

  I need to stop with the Noir series! I liked Boston Noir, but all the others have been disappointments. This one, like Orange County Noir, was too graphic and gross and pointless for me. If I read a whole lot of dark books like this, I won’t be able to sleep.
• 
  Tonstant Weader

  Montreal Noir is a collection of fifteen short stories centered on or around Montreal. Montreal is the center for Francophone Canada and this collection reflects that with a mix of stories written in English and French, It is one of the latest in the outstanding Akashic Noir Series of short story anthologies that takes readers to the cities of the world on a noir world tour.
  
  Editors in these series sometimes go out of their way to include stories that are outside the conventional idea of noir, stretching the boundaries of noir as far as they possibly can. Editors Jacques Filippi and John McFetridge did not. Their stories are faithful to the noir tradition filled with murder, mayhem, and mystery.
  
  There are some stories that will break your heart. The Suitcase Man, The Crap Magnet, and Milk Teeth. There were a couple of stories that were a bit too easy to figure out and Milk Teeth was one, even though it was heartbreaking. There were a couple that attempted misdirection but were too obvious. Other People’s Secrets, for example, is pretty obvious and the reveal was not that revealing. Poppa, too, was not surprising, but I still liked the story.
  
  Montreal Noir is a great collection of short stories. There was not one story that I disliked, though some were grim and disturbing. Noir should be grim and disturbing. What made me most happy about this collection was the sure confidence of the editors. Some Akashic Noir editors make an effort to include non-mystery stories. I suppose they want us to understand noir is an aesthetic, a mood, not a genre. But sometimes it feels as though they think genre fiction is lesser fiction and that is wrong. There is nothing lesser about genre fiction so long as the writers of genre fiction write with honesty and integrity, and why would they not?
  
  I received an e-galley of Montreal Noir from the publisher through Edelweiss
  
  https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
• 
  Woody Chandler

  This was one of those instances where I wish that Goodreads would allow us the option of fractions of stars, vice whole stars only. I liked this at about 2.5, but I would not give it a 3.0 so I had to go with the lower option.
  
  Why? It was an uneven entry in the series. The editors begin by telling us that it took longer to assemble this anthology than they had envisioned, but it did not seem like the extra time paid any dividends.
  
  Part 1 was especially disappointing, eliciting reactions from me of "What the f**k did I just read" to "A waste of my time as the writer noodled around like a jazz pianist, accomplishing nothing". These are not how I like to come away from a reading.
  
  Part 2 was much better, but the first story of Part 3 was another let-down. This collection never seemed to gather and sustain the same steam as other entries in the series. Onward to the next one!
  
• 
  Erika

  A few gems in the collection, but rough otherwise.
  
  Read for PopSugar Rwading Challenge 2019: A book with a two word title.
• 
  Mkb

  I really enjoyed this! I���m not in the habit of reading short story collections very often, but I think I enjoyed this one more because I did it right – I read one or two stories then took a break, then read another one or two stories, etc. Also, since I got to go to the launch, it was exciting to read the stories written by the people I’d met there. It also is always exciting to read stories set in the city where one lives.
• 
  Clayton Porter

  Defiantly a niche audience for this one. Myself being a fan of the "Insert Global City" Noir series and having traveled to Montreal last September, I had this one shipped to my door.
  
  Not the strongest collection of noir stories in my opinion. Almost half of the stories were translated from French (the language of the city), and while I am sure had merit to be good, was lost on me. With that said, a couple of stand out stories came out of the experience with premises that I loved. One in particular got bonus points for mentioning the hotel that my girlfriend and I stayed at while on the trip.
  
  The book kicks off with the fantastic "Rush Hour" (translated from a French author, the exception to my note above). The premise feels like a fun 90's action movie, something that a Canadian film company would produce the year after Speed came out in the States. The story follows a mobile traffic reporter who drives around the city daily, noting where there are traffic slow downs, jams and delays. He does live on the air reports with locals news stations and takes calls from other drivers reporting issues on their commute. It's a mundane day until a caller reaches out to the reporter not in regards to the traffic, but rather reporting on the fact that a bomb has been planted somewhere in the city. With a strict guidance to not involve police or directly alert the public, the reporter must figure out where the bomb is before it goes off.
  
  Another favorite was a Twilight Zone-esq tale where a man wakes up one morning to witness a pack of wild horses galloping down his street in the middle of town. Thinking this will be all over the news, and the talk of world, he is shocked to find no mention of it. Anywhere. As time goes on, through hushed conversation, he starts to find out there are indeed other people who saw the horses. This discovery takes him down a brutal and dark rabbit hole as the mystery starts to unravel.
  
  The last one of note was "Poppa." A story that feels like the villains perspective in a John Wick movie, a man is woken in the middle of the night to news that Tiny Rockatansky was sighted crossing the border. The man must then inform the boys that "Satan" is coming to town. They must find out why he's in Montreal and where he is first, before he starts killing them all. It was also an enjoyable moment as story mentions the famed Joe Beef restaurant, a place I visited while on my trip.
  
  Besides these three stand outs, the collections ebbs and flows with its strength in story, with no other that I was crazy about.
• 
  Melisende

  I read this immediately after "
  Buenos Aires Noir" and found myself comparing the two.
  
  The stories are slight longer than BA Noir, with a more modern feel. These are stories from the streets, with the crimes more in your face, the violence brutal and ugly.
  
  " ... its unsettling, its subversive, its palpable but its never obvious ..."
  
  Loved every page!
• 
  M

  Most of the ten anthologies I have read from the Akashic Noir series have been good, but this one is one of my favorites. The stories feature a variety of protagonists and situations. Who expects to find, among the usual suspects, guys who hunt coyotes for sport in the burbs of Montreal?
  
  Free review copy from publisher through Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
• 
  Dorothy

  Lots of great (dark) stories in this collection. A real treat as well if you know the neighbourhoods referred to in the stories. Several new-to-me authors I will be checking out for my TBR.
• 
  Juanita

  Review: Montreal Noir by Jacques Filippi. 10/23/2017
  
  This is a review for early responders of a book of short stories. I have noticed that most books with short stories, some you like and some don’t make sense. The first story was a leader. I enjoyed it and I thought the writing style was alright. I liked the traffic controller being challenged by a horrific evil person and thought they suited their creative role. Than moving on to the one about a person being accused of a double murder so he went into hiding…do they find him…? Another story was based on two power mobs competing for the same area for their illegal operations. That could have been a thriller if the author wanted to keep creating.
  
  Two men went into a café, unknown to each other but one man gets paranoid and thinks the other guy is following him. He goes home, goes to bed, has a nightmare and hears a woman screaming…he has a fear of dying. Than there’s a plastic surgeon reconstructing a person’s chin I believe while another med student watches. The patient is looked up online and the med student thinks he is being cruel to animals. The ending was confusing but the patient never paid for the surgery.
  
  The one with the missing nine-year old missing was disturbing but aren’t all stories of that nature horrible. She was bludgeoned to death after a sexual assault. Another story I believe is a fake psychotherapist taking the place of the real therapist who died and is planning on killing the secretary. A grief stricken man carries a suitcase dripping with blood to the cemetery where his wife is buried so they can be together for eternity.
  
  The reader never knows how a short story can end. Sometimes we want more of the story and other times it’s just captivates the reader. However, reading these books of short stories you may come across a great writer in the making or an already published author throwing one out there for entertainment. There were some that could have been created into something exciting, some where right on and some the reader may miss the theme or plot….I enjoyed the inspiring challenge of reading something of interest.
  
• 
  Alison C

  For a long time now, Akashic Books has been publishing a series of anthologies of noir-tinged short stories set in a specific city, and I’ve been picking them up from time to time. Given that I have lived in Montreal for over 25 years now, of course I was excited to receive this volume as a birthday present. By their very nature, books of short stories will yield favourites for me that will not be the favourites of other readers; that said, I was impressed by Michel Basilieres’s “The Haunted Crack House,” a melancholy and atmospheric tale; the very weird “Wild Horses” by Arjun Basu; Robert Pobi’s “Poppa,” about the mobster world; and Melissi Yi’s “The Sin Eater,” which features a physician/sleuth much like Dr. Yi is a physician/writer. My very favourite story, however, was “Such A Pretty Little Girl,” by Genevieve Lefebvre, which is presented as a series of “chapters” each titled with a character’s name, and which completely blew me away (and no, not just because the last scene takes place off an alley which I myself walk quite regularly). It’s always fun to recognize places in stories, and many of the neighbourhoods described here are familiar to me, but even someone completely unfamiliar with Montreal will find something to enjoy here; recommended!
• 
  Andrea Spagnuolo

  Having just discovered this amazing book series, I devoured my first two (Detroit Noir and Toronto Noir) within days. Seeing as Montreal is one of my absolute favourite cities (it is the place where I go to write myself), I had high expectations for this collection. Montreal has long been known as a muse and inspiration to many writers, as there is certainly no shortage of neighborhoods/settings, interesting characters, history and crime to get your creative juices flowing. With that being said, I didn't feel like this was a good representation of Montreal overall. I found a lot of it to be full unfortunately. However, I am so grateful that a series like this exists and love the concept of short story collections based on a given city showcasing its own authors. There are enough published that I look forward to starting a collection that will undoubtedly grow with me. I've already hinted by hubby that this would be an easy gift every holiday. The perfect series for book lovers who have an appreciation or curiosity for authors all over the world.
• 
  Kerry Pickens

  This book is a part of a series on urban noir that features different cities by providing a variety of short stories for each location. Collections like these are often uneven, but I read them to find new authors that interest me. I find one this book is Ian Truman's story about some bar owners who get unintentionally involved with drug dealers because of a childhood acquaintance. The portrayal of a struggling family in the changing neighborhood and the crime inherent in that environment made for an authentic story.
• 
  Nouna

  While I liked the style of this book, I somehow developed a love hate relationship with each story. Yes they are short stories, but some I found very tough reading. The translations were excellent. I know Montreal and clearly recognized the areas and could visualize the scene. I must have lost sight the the key work NOIR while reading, but was quickly reminded by the characters. Would I read more of the NOIR series, I doubt it. But I will definitely seek the individual authors and read more of their books.
  
• 
  Kirtan Varasia

  As I am new to Montreal, this book was a lucky surprise @mordecai-richler bibliothèque. The stories and it’s writers were a breath of fresh air however I came to know of the hidden darkness. Not to say these things don’t happen elsewhere but this is definitely a good read for anyone settling here.
• 
  Meghan Redmile

  Is there anything better than reading great stories set in your city or neighbourhood? A wonderful collection of both French and English Canadian authors, you will "visit" different parts of one of the best cities in the world, seeing the dark and scandalous side of some.
  
  
• 
  Megan

  Fun and really good collection of short crime stories written by Montréal natives. I started it before we traveled there and finished after, and it was even more fun having been and knowing the areas firsthand to give the stories more context.
• 
  Valeria

  A great way to get exposed to Canadian crime novelists. Really enjoyed this collection and I am looking forward to read other books in the series, getting to know different cities.
• 
  Sarah Anne

  Particularly enjoyed Rush Hour, Wild Horses, The Crap Magnet, Poppa, Journal of an Obsession and Milk Teeth.
  
  The French short stories have been translated into English.