Synopsis/blurb...
A collection of violent, exciting, and funny short stories. All of these stories were featured in prestigious magazines.
"In This Will Not End Well, J.B. Stevens achieves what so many crime fiction writers aspire to do: expertly mixing grit and humor and violence into something close to grace.”
—Nick Kolakowski, author of “Love & Bullets”
A smattering of short stories from author J. B. Stevens which served as a decent warm-up for his longer collection - A Therapeutic Death (dropping 4th February from Shotgun Honey)
We had ...
The Airport Hilton...
A bar, a grifter and a mark. Worth the price of admission on it's own (Ok, ignore the fact that the e-book was free). A cracker of a tale. Definitely an Eric Garcia/Matchstick Men vibe (see also film of the same name starring Nicolas Cage - both are excellent).
The Fighting Squid...
'...a chubby Mark Ruffalo made some poor choices at the aquarium'
The Tooth Fairy Deserves Peace...
Easter Bunny, Sasquatch, unicorn horn powder, eleves, Tinkerbell and more of the same... in truth not my vibe TBH
Bobo and the Knife...
Short, sharp, violent - a knife, a circus, a dead clown, the end
A Good Friend...
A bar, man meets woman.
She laughed and pulled Danny close. He felt the heat of her body. For the second time that evening, they forgot the pain of being alive.
Things aren't quite what they seem.
I downloaded this twice as I was hunting for a refresher on the stories to cobble together this micro-review and on the second occasion the opening story had changed from The Airport Hilton to A Good Friend. Both were the standouts in their own versions of the collection, both gave off a similar vibe of cons and marks which is one of my favourite tropes in the genre.
Overall I enjoyed this taster offering or at least 3 out of 4 of them (or 4 out of 5).
I would say I'm looking forward to A Therapeutic Death from the author, only I've subsequently read and enjoyed it prior to assembling this piece. Watch this space.
J. B. Stevens knows what he's doing with his stories. 
4 from 5
Read - January, 2022
Published - 2021
Page count - 30 (maybe 40)
Source - copy from author's website
Format - Kindle
Glad you enjoyed these, Col. They do sound potent, and I always think short stories are a great way to get to know an author's writing, at least a little. And The Airport Hilton does sound really good...
ReplyDeleteThanks Margot. More to like here than dislike!
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