| Title | : | Exit Wounds |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle Edition |
| Number of Pages | : | 400 pages |
Exit Wounds Reviews
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Dark and twisted tales in small bitesI’m not a fan of short stories by design there is a contrivance that just doesn’t seem to agree with me Short story writers have to deliver a tight narrative believable characters and a solid plot in just a few pages that always feels artificial but somehow in these stories the artifice worked If you’re a fan of short stories or if you’d like to sample the writing style of notables in the crime fiction category this is a pretty good anthology
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Ok here it is This short stories novel are just that short A uick read indeed but some of the stories go nowhere or need elaboration on the plot Some of the stories are fantastic and to the point of no expansion in the storytelling Some of the stories just wonder why are in the book itself? 3 stars I think is fair If you looking something to read or snippets here and there when you get time this is the book but by al means is not a memorable book
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Thank to Sarah Mather from Titan Books for my Advanced Copy RTC
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I voluntarily reviewed this book from the PublisherI will be the first to admit that I don't tend to read many short stories and this is something that I would like to rectify so when EXIT WOUNDS arrived through my letterbox I was delighted to try something a little different From serial killers picking off their prey to those hell bent on revenge this collection of crime stories from some of the best in the business grabbed my attention at the very first story and every one thereafter Dark twisted and with characters that got under my skin in just a few pages EXIT WOUNDS is a must read for short story and crime fiction fans the world over While each and every story is different and fresh there were a few that I favoured The Bully by Jeffrey Deaver Happy Holidays by Val McDermid and The Pitcher by Sarah Hilary All the stories are excellent and brimming with tension but there was just that extra something about those three that made me take a deep breath while reading them Compelling characters sinister plots and crackling atmosphere can all be found in the short stories nestled among the pages of EXIT WOUNDS and I highly recommend it to all fiction readers especially those who are unsure about short stories because this collection is sure to change your mind
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EXCERPT his round head covered with a shaggy blond pelt turns slowly toward me and tips that creepy smile my way He's not surprised in the least to see me It means that oh yeah he knew I was in the Eagle Maybe he got off work and happened to see Larry and me stop by for a fast one Or also possible and troubling he followed me here My jaw tightens and heat swells around my face which often happens whenever I see him This is so unfair I'm a twenty six year old successful web designer a good brother a good boyfriend a genial host at parties I throw for my clients and friends a donor to NPR and animal rescue outfits Objectively? I'm too old and too nice to have a bullyABOUT THIS BOOK A brand new anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre Featuring both original in universe stories and rarely seen reprints this collection of nineteen masterful short stories brings together some of the genre’s greatest living authors Tony Hill and Carol Jordan take on a delightfully twisted killer in Val McDermid’s ‘Happy Holidays’ In Fiona Cummin’s ‘Dead Weight’ an overbearing mother resorts to desperate measures to keep control of her teenage daughter And in Dean Koontz’s ‘Kittens’ a young girl learns the truth about how her pets have been dying and devises a horrible revenge Tense twisted and disturbing Exit Wounds is a visceral and thrilling collection showcasing the very best modern crime fiction has to offerMY THOUGHTS Oh this is a goody This is a collection of stories mainly by authors that I have come to know and to love about nasty people doing nasty things and sometimes getting their comeuppance There's a little bit of creepy stuff but mainly it's crime and murder all served up in tasty little bite sized packages There was only one story that I really disliked and I enjoyed the majority of them immensely Definitely recommended🔪🔪🔪🔪1THE COMPILERS Paul Kane is the award winning and bestselling authoreditor of over 90 books including the Arrowhead trilogy gathered together in the sellout Hooded Man omnibus revolving around a post apocalyptic version of Robin Hood The Butterfly Man and Other Stories Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell Before Arcana and Pain Cages an #1 bestseller He is a respected anthologist editing books such as Beyond Rue Morgue The Mammoth Book of Body Horror Hellbound Hearts and Exit Wounds His website can be found at wwwshadow writercouk and he tweets PaulKaneShadowMarie O'Regan is a British Fantasy Award nominated writer and editor of horror and dark fantasy fiction She is the author of four collections Mirror Mere Bury Them Deep In Times of Want and Other Stories and The Last Ghost and Other Stories and her anthologies include Hellbound Hearts The Mammoth Book of Body Horror Carnivale Dark Tales From the Fairground The Mammoth Book of Ghost Stories by Women Phantoms Exit Wounds and Wonderland She is Co Chair of the UK chapter of the Horror Writers' Association and lives in Derbyshire UK She tweets MarieOReganDISCLOSURE I listened to the audiobook of Exit Wounds compiled by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan narrated by a full cast and published by Blackstone Audio vis Overdrive All opinions expressed in this review are totally my own personal opinions For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreadscom profile page or the about page on sandysbookadaywordpresscomThis review and others are also published on Twitter Instagram and my webpage
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Great selection of short stories from a plethora of excellent writers Full review to follow
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'm grateful to Titan for a free advance copy of Exit WoundsI love a good themed anthology I find an anthology does several things for me as a reader First if well chosen and the authors in this one are among the best their perspectives what's the right word for a gang of authors? A plot? can shed light – or dark – on a subject than any single writer could Here that theme is the “exit” from a crime – or a criminal situation That exit might be a death or an escape or loosely the winding down of the events It’s perceptive I think to focus on this aspect when a great deal of crime writing deals with the before – the build up – and or the after – the investigation Here attention is mainly on the cusp after one and before the other Although in some of these stories such as Joe R Lansdale' Booty and the Beast the exit may have been long ago Another valuable service anthologies serve is giving authors space to tackle things a bit differently to visit aspects of their fiction that might not be enough for a full blown novel but nevertheless fill in details or illustrate ideas that are useful in understanding the whole So for example here in Steph Broadribb's Fool You Twice we see an early adventure of her hero Lori Anderson I am and always have been a member of #TeamLori a fan of Broadribb’s indefatigable bounty hunter former exotic dancer and mother so it was a delight to read this the earliest story about her showing how she made a start on her own – and that she was form the very beginning capable brave determined and on the side of the angels And in John Connolly's splendidly named On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man 1637 by Frans Mier we see a dark world that might or might not fit with his Fractured Atlas universe having just read Connolly’s A Book of Bones I read out that way though there is no explicit connection but the shadowy demi monde of artists surgeons and anatomists hinted at here could be taking place behind that story In particular the creeping doubt over just what this story is and how it related to the painting being described is delightfully creepyThe final joy of an anthology like this is that you’re certain to pick up accessible writing both by authors you know and those you don't whether the latter are ones you have wanted to try but haven’t got round to and by those you didn't know but can now explore in future Overall a triple win I’d saySo here are nineteen stories most of them published here for the first time and all excellent The Bully by Jeffery Deaver is a neat little story reflecting Deaver’s encyclopaedic knowledge of forensics in which you understand everything that’s happening – until you don’t Dead Weight by Fiona Cummins is a bleak tale in which Lula suffers repeated psychological abuse and body shaming from her controlling mother There are some stomach churning moments of realisation here Were there hints about the mother’s motivations? I wasn’t sure but this really left an impression I really enjoyed Like a Glass Jaw by Mark Billingham Dealing I think with how women and men cope differently with their lives we meet a man of the old school he notes that there were mainly women at his gym session so no pressure on him perhaps a bit of a villain though past his prime A spiral of events leads him somewhere he didn’t intend to be but was the whole thing a result of the male outlook adding two and two to make five? I also loved Sarah Hilary's The Pitcher which reminded me of Roald Dahl or Joan Aiken Marmalade Wine at their very best a deliciously wicked little tale with a decided “aha” moment a very chilling momentI wondered if stretching things to call Discipling by Martin Waites a crime story pure and simple though there is an implied exit as this is I think a story with no victim Or at least no unwilling victim Nevertheless I wouldn't have had it left out The Consumers by Dennis LeHane is conventionally crime y a bitter little story featuring an abused wife and a hitman For a short story it packs in a great deal including reflections on personal responsibility culpability and the sources of wealth The exit sought here looks like an easy way out but life has a habit of being complicated Another of my favourites in this anthologyThe next two in the anthology Voices Through the Wall by Alex Gray and Lee Child's Wet With Rain are both definitely aftermath stories In Voices the offender is wholly absent leaving an echo of dis ease and we're simply left to wonder as we piece together a sad chain of events In Wet With Rain almost a mini thriller we follow a pair of Americans who are clearly up to something dodgy in Northern Ireland with their implausible story about buying up the birthplace of a noted writer but what do they really want? I had sort of guessed the what from a couple of clues in the text but the what next completely blindsided meI will now make a terrible confusion Until reading this anthology I hadn't ever read any Val McDermid I know Now I know what I'm missing Happy Holidays features McDermid's criminal profiler Dr Tony Hill and DCI Carol Jordan investigating a series of murders that seem themed around traditional holidays When Santa disappears things seem to have become serious But what is really behind the chain of grisly killings?Christopher Fowler's Lebensraum in contrast reads less as a specifically crime adventure though there is a background of villainy in it than as an allegory It's a story of an old woman whose house is progressively taken over by strangers loud strangers how strut around in uniforms and speak of their cause Illustrating the theme of Exit Wounds almost perfectly the narrator almost seems to be fading from her own life Whether at the end she's a symbol of endurance or a victim is unclear A powerful and disturbing story Mark Billingham's Dancing Towards the Blade is another story that ends on a note of ambiguity Billingham's story sees cultures collide as Vincent a young man of colour encounters racist bullies on his run down estate Cutting between the bleakness of that confrontation and the vibrant coming of age ceremony for I think his father Dancing Towards the Blade like Lebensraum confronts the realities of newly confident racism and hatredKittens by Dean Koontz is perhaps another story of hatred but on a domestic scale It is both grim and sad read it at your peril Featuring a bullying and ignorant father who warps religion to terrorise his daughter it is strong stuff as is AK Benedict's Take my Hand Benedict is another writer I look out for I wish there was by her I could read so I was delighted to see this half crime half spooky story about a nasty museum exhibit and the plans of some nasty schoolchildren to make mischief with it Definitely one of my favourites Dressed to Kill byJames Oswald has aspects on common with Take My Hand I'll say no spoilers as a series of deaths come to light which bear striking similarities The only problem is they are murder suicides and they take place decades apartThere's a twist of dark humour to the final three stories in this volume Joe R Lansdale's Booty and the Beast is almost a comic caper as three villains jostle for the legacy of a lone gone crime Exits again They seem to be three particularly vile people and the way things turn out another exit is curiously satisfying In Paul Finch's The New Lad – almost novella length we see what Greater Manchester Police do with the new boy in the team They put him on duty guarding a lonely crime scene late at night on his own ion course Deploying the full register of spooky scares twists and foreshadowing this story is a miniature masterpiece in tension Finally in Louise Jensen's The Recipe the husband has already exited leaving his middle aged wife to pick up the pieces of her life She seems to be managing very well but will the arrival of her sister bring unwelcome memories?These are entertaining varied stories almost all compulsively readable Do give them a try
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Book reviews on wwwsnazzybookscomExit Wounds is a brilliant anthology of short crime stories from some of the genre’s biggest and best namesI have to admit that I’ve never really been a ‘short story person’ I always preferred the investment and story development of a full length novel but the fact these are only short means you’re left wanting much especially the stories that really hook you in with great characters and an intriguing premise This is when I kind of wish they weren’t short stories but ‘full length’ just so I can read and Saying that it’s SO satisfying to read multiple interesting plots – albeit short ones – and experience lots of great ideas within a collection that’s less than 400 pages This mix of separate narratives truly sparks the imagination in a different way than one long story and you have absolutely no time to get boredI love that each story is markedly different but all on the theme of crime – and all with a decidedly and delightedly dark twist I liked that each had its own spin on ‘crime’ and featured every kind of character from serial killers and unhappy controlled teenagers to beaten vengeful wivesThe way you get to almost sample the writing style of various different authors is a great way to discover a new crime author though the authors in this anthology are really big names so you’ve probably already read something by most of them before The stories are absorbing and intriguing though some provoked really strong emotions in meLebensraum by Christopher Fowler made me angry and upset for the landlady who is the main character in that tale and Dancing Towards The Blade by Mark Billingham made me even angry on behalf of Vincent who is victimized by racist bullies There are also plenty of stories which left me feeling triumphant and or satisfied; I particularly enjoyed Happy Holidays by Val McDermid featuring DCI Carol Jordan Booty and the Beast by Joe R Lansdale Dead Weight by Fiona Cummins and Fool You Twice by Steph Broadribb an author I haven’t read anything by before but will definitely turn to in futureOverall I highly recommend this anthology for any crime fan particularly if you’re a short story fan – but even if you’re not usually like me I hugely enjoyed Exit Wounds and will be buying it as a present for various reader friends who I know will also really enjoy it
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If there is one thing in the book world that is misunderstood and completely underrated for me it has to be the short story or in this case the short story anthology I know that some people feel that short stories don't allow them to get to know the characters that they aren't meaty enough but for me they are the perfect bitesize way to get your fix of your favourite author or to find an author who may be completely new to you They are perfect for a uick shot in your lunch break on your daily commute or that ten twenty minute wait you have while you are waiting for your tatties to boil for dinnerIf you are a fan of crime fiction then Exit Wounds is a perfect way to while away those odd moments of time where you aren't uite sure what to do with yourself Featuring some absolutely cracking stories from some of the top writers in the business you are bound to find something there which is right up your street This book worked perfectly for me and I actually read it over a couple of weeks a couple of stories a day over lunch breaks and when I got tin from work A nice way to unwind With added murder and crime All goodNow it is hard to talk about short stories as to say too much would pretty well give away the whole plot and negate the need to buy the book but I will say that there are some real gems in amongst this collection and enough to keep you hooked shocked thrilled and blasting through those pages For fans of Val McDermid's Hill and Jordan series you have a nice catch up with the pair in Happy Holidays a real misnomer for some of the characters and no mistake And its a very welcome howdy to everyone's favourite Bounty Hunter Lori Anderson in Steph Broadribb's Fool You Twice And I might be biased I am but I really enjoyed John Connolly's On the Anatomization of an Unknown Man and also James Oswald's Dressed to Kill which featured none other than dear old Inspector McLean and Grumpy Bob Laird I learned it's probably not a good idea to go to Louise Jensen's for dinner and not to pick a fight with AK Benedict She has a very devious mind As for Paul Finch's The New Lad loved itA full line up of stories belowThe Bully Jeffery DeaverDead Weight Fiona CumminsLike A Glass Jaw Mark BillinghamOn The Anatomization of an Unknown Man 1637 by Frans Mier John ConnollyThe Pitcher Sarah HilaryDisciplined Martyn WaitesThe Consumers Dennis LehaneVoices Through the Wall Alex GrayWet With Rain Lee ChildHappy Holidays Val McDermidFool You Twice Steph BroadribbLebensraum Christopher FowlerDancing Towards the Blade Mark BillinghamKittens Dean KoontzTake My Hand AK BenedictDressed to Kill James OswaldBooty and the Beast Joe R LansdaleThe New Lad Paul FinchThe Recipe Louise JensenSo? What do you think? Look at that list You want to give this a try now don't you? Go on You won't regret it
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A few worthwhile reading very few
