From
Penzler, the founder of Mysterious Press and owner of the Mysterious Bookshop (in New York, Los Angeles, and London), has established himself as one of the premier crime-fiction anthologists at work today. Murder for Love (1996) lodged a high-water mark for quality mystery collections, and this year's entry isn't far behind. Revenge comprises 12 never-before-published stories from an illustrious assortment of authors ranging from genre giants (Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, Joan Hess) to drop-ins from the mainstream (Joyce Carol Oates) to the unclassifiable (Shel Silverstein). Revenge as a subject may be a bit more distancing than love, focusing on obsession more than passion, but these stories work the topic for all its worth. The jewel in the crown is difficult to identify, but one strong candidate is Vicki Hendricks' "West End," in which a sailing trip offers a fed-up wife the opportunity she needs to give her control-freak husband the comeuppance he deserves. A richly entertaining theme anthology. Bill Ott
From Kirkus Reviews
Once you're aware of the rubric the title announces--tit for tat--you know a lot about the plots of most of these dozen new stories, more than you would have known about the plots of the stories in Penzler's Murder for Love (1996), since the possibilities within these present confines are so well-worn. Mostly, you have a choice between the turning worm (Vicki Hendricks, Joan Hess, Judith Kelman, Eric Lustbader, David Morrell) and the biter bit (Peter Straub, in a ghoulish hundred-page remake of Melville's Bartleby''). A few of the contributors go further. Phillip Margolin adds some welcome ingenuity; Lawrence Block and Joyce Carol Oates put unexpected spins on their stories, as does Shel Silverstein on his poem, that keep you guessing; Mary Higgins Clark, in a Perils-of-Pauline tale of international intrigue, seems to be playing with another deck entirely. But only Thomas H. Cook's somberFatherhood'' does something genuinely new with the old formula of revenge served cold. More predictable, then, than the tales in Murder for Love (1996), though the level of professionalism is more consistent. -- Copyright ยฉ1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From
Penzler, the founder of Mysterious Press and owner of the Mysterious Bookshop (in New York, Los Angeles, and London), has established himself as one of the premier crime-fiction anthologists at work today. Murder for Love (1996) lodged a high-water mark for quality mystery collections, and this year's entry isn't far behind. Revenge comprises 12 never-before-published stories from an illustrious assortment of authors ranging from genre giants (Lawrence Block, Mary Higgins Clark, Joan Hess) to drop-ins from the mainstream (Joyce Carol Oates) to the unclassifiable (Shel Silverstein). Revenge as a subject may be a bit more distancing than love, focusing on obsession more than passion, but these stories work the topic for all its worth. The jewel in the crown is difficult to identify, but one strong candidate is Vicki Hendricks' "West End," in which a sailing trip offers a fed-up wife the opportunity she needs to give her control-freak husband the comeuppance he deserves. A richly entertaining theme anthology. Bill Ott
From Kirkus Reviews
Once you're aware of the rubric the title announces--tit for tat--you know a lot about the plots of most of these dozen new stories, more than you would have known about the plots of the stories in Penzler's Murder for Love (1996), since the possibilities within these present confines are so well-worn. Mostly, you have a choice between the turning worm (Vicki Hendricks, Joan Hess, Judith Kelman, Eric Lustbader, David Morrell) and the biter bit (Peter Straub, in a ghoulish hundred-page remake of Melville's Bartleby''). A few of the contributors go further. Phillip Margolin adds some welcome ingenuity; Lawrence Block and Joyce Carol Oates put unexpected spins on their stories, as does Shel Silverstein on his poem, that keep you guessing; Mary Higgins Clark, in a Perils-of-Pauline tale of international intrigue, seems to be playing with another deck entirely. But only Thomas H. Cook's somberFatherhood'' does something genuinely new with the old formula of revenge served cold. More predictable, then, than the tales in Murder for Love (1996), though the level of professionalism is more consistent. -- Copyright ยฉ1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.