Synopsis/blurb ...
"I took the Moor Road back, and it was quite windy. It happened just outside Scaling Dam. A piece of tarpaulin blew off a passing truck and covered my windscreen. After that, things got a bit hazy."
These crime fiction stories take place in Thornaby, Middlesbrough, Stockton and other Teesside locations.
Dark Teesside, a collection of dark short stories brought to you by award winning author Glenn McGoldrick.
I've enjoyed a few of Glenn McGoldrick's short stories over the years....
Dead Flies and
Yellow Feet, so jumped at the chance to read a copy of his collated output. (That said I didn't immediately jump into them on receipt.)
The collection comprised 19 stories in all, including the five I had read previously ....
Contents
Breaking Spirits
Dead Flies
Red Marks
Redcar Collector
Spitfire Roundabout
The Wrong House To Burgle
Cod Beck
Just Keep Walking
Nightmare Waiting
Horseshoe Bend
Dark Progression
Leaving The Table
Thornaby Accident
Losing It
Eighteen Months
Roseberry Topping
Watching Crows
Yellow Feet
The Moor Road
Whilst a couple of months on from reading, I would struggle to recall any of these in any great detail, I do know that I enjoyed the collection, though maybe limiting myself to a few a day might have been a better option than crashing through them one after another.
Good writing with a certain sense of melancholy to the characters and the situations they find themselves in. A lot seem to deal with family problems, be it death, grief, loss, divorce and separation. Some of the situations are everyday in nature as opposed to the extraordinary or exaggerated, as such they are more relatable and personal.
Many of the settings used as a backdrop for the stories, place them firmly in the north east of England with the countryside featuring just as prominently as the urban. It seems like a beautiful part of the world to live in. McGoldrick has an obvious pride in his roots and his people, even if sometimes there is some darkness lurking.
4 from 5
I look forward to reading more from the author in the future and hope that one day he expands his ideas and themes into a longer format.
Read - December, 2021
Published - 2021
Page count - 226
Source - review copy from author
Format - PDF read on laptop
This sounds like a solid and varied look at ordinary people's lives in that part of England, Col, and I can see how that would appeal. I do like a solid sense of setting, too, in what I read. This sounds like a collection I could enjoy, but I know what you mean about not trying to take it all in too much at once. I've done that, too, and I usually wish I'd done it a bit at a time when that happens.
ReplyDeleteMargot, I really ought to limit my intake of single author story collections when reading them. I do think I might enjoy them a bit more.
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