Short and sweet?

Typical isn't it? You wait years for reviews of short story books to appear on MyReviewer.com and then two come along at once. C'est la vie as they say across the channel.

I approached this collection of short story thrillers with an open mind. I don't usually read short story collections (and have generally avoided them since writing them for English exams many years ago). So I thought that a collection from my favourite thriller genre would get me into this niche market.

This book contains the following stories:- 

The Weapon - Jeffrey Deaver 
Remaking - Blake Crouch 
Iced - Harry Hunsicker 
Justice Served - Mariah Stewart 
The Circle - David Hewson 
Roomful of Witnesses - R.L. Stine 
The House on Pine Terrace - Phillip Margolin 
The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away - Marcus Sakey 
On the Run - Carla Neggers 
Can You Help Me Out Here? - Robert Ferrigno 
Crossed Double - Joe Hartlaub 
The Lamented - Lawrence Light 
Vintage Death - Lisa Jackson 
Suspension of Disbelief - Tim Maleeny 
A Calculated Risk - Sean Chercover 
The Fifth World - Javier Sierra 
Ghost Writer - Gary Braver 
Through a Veil Darkly - Kathleen Antrim 
Bedtime for Mr Li - David J. Montgomery 
Protecting the Innocent - Simon Wood 
Watch Out For My Girl - Joan Johnston 
Killing Time - Jon Land 
Boldt's Broken Angel - Ridley Pearson

If you like short stories, then this collection will certainly be right up your street. For me, thrillers need to be at least two or three hundred pages long, in order to give time for characters to develop, to build tension, or to get the pacing right. For me, short stories like these are just like one chapter from the books that I normally read. Twenty pages is about the right length for a chapter, it's too short for a whole story in my opinion. Mariah Stewart's revenge tale "Justice Served" is the perfect example of this. The story could have spread for hundreds of pages, but instead a woman tracks down a bunch of rapists in fewer than twenty pages, and takes care of them.

There's a heavy US bias with most of these stories (as is the case with much thriller writing) but there's also a British focus with David Hewson, and a story from Spanish author Javier Sierra.

So if you are a fan of the shorter story, there's plenty for you here. If you prefer your thrillers to take their time, then pick something else...