Review by Booklist Review
Veteran anthologist and editor Jakubowski has drawn on his wide network of friends and colleagues in the crime-fiction world to put together this stellar collection of original stories by 17 mostly A-listers. This is no country for cozy fans; the stories are unfailingly gritty, and the blood is rarely invisible. In Denise Mina's ""All the Signs and Wonders,"" one of the collection's highlights, a young woman finds herself attracted by ""the arithmetic of violence."" That phrase will continue to reverberate in the reader's mind, as a succession of characters find themselves equally drawn to foul play. ""There was something so vulnerable in men's eyes the moment before you shot them,"" says Deborah, a middle-age Israeli woman who finds a second career as an assassin in Lavie Tidhar's utterly compelling and thoroughly unusual ""The Bell."" Other outstanding entries include a fine Charlie Resnick story, ""Yesterdays,"" by crime-fiction master John Harvey; Lauren Henderson's ""#MeTwo,"" in which a female employee of a sexual predator finds a way to exact vengeance, but at a price; and a peculiar but fascinating Lee Child story, ""Smile,"" in which Jack Reacher appears only on the video monitors of London cops who like him for a murder. For fans of crime-fiction short stories on the dark side, this anthology delivers again and again.--Bill Ott Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Though billed as a crime compendium, this wildly uneven anthology includes tales of love in a Paris bookshop (R.J. Ellory's "Borrowed Time") and revenge for breaching dating etiquette (Jason Starr's "The Ghost of Williamsburg"). On the major crime front, Lauren Henderson gives readers the clever, well-paced and topical "#MeToo." In "The Washing," set in Franco's Spain, Christopher Fowler builds a fascinating picture of a woman becoming aware of the dangers that await not only her neighbor but also herself. James Grady shows how a backyard party in a small town can lead to murder in "The Lifeguard." Set in Israel, Lavie Tidhar's atmospheric "The Bell" reveals how far a military-trained mother will go to protect her son. Fans of Jack Reacher will welcome Lee Child's "Smile." Jeffery Deaver's "Connecting the Dots" satisfies all the requirements of a crime story--murder, good cops/bad cops, and surprising twists. The insanity defense will come in handy for most of the protagonists in the remaining stories. There's something for everyone in this volume, but it won't totally satisfy anyone. (July)
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