The Plot Thickens

Rating:
Summary: Some Great Stories, the Rest Only Good Used Under Chickens
Review: Like any collection of short stories by various authors the quality varies dramatically from author to author and story to story. There are some sensational stories in here such as Westlake's 'Take It Away' about a cop on stakeout buying takeaway food at BurgerWhopper. This is by far head and shoulders above the rest of this book in quality. Also read his masterpiece novel 'The Ax' if you have not done so already.

Anne Rule's 'The Road Trip' is also pretty good about a terrified woman driving alone who is being menaced by a truck. Nancy Pickard's 'Love's Cottage' although not brilliant is good, set back in 1914 written as a diary by a black servant the day before a massacre in the house she works in. Evanovich's 'Last Peep' is readable about two women bounty hunters who find a body of a guy they are after that disappears when they bring back the police a few minutes later. Mary Higgins Clark's The Man Next Door about a serial killer living next door to his victim is readable but the story flows a bit too convenient for the characters to make the plot realistic. Her daughter's story 'Too Many Cooks' is a very basic simple story about an actress who lands a last minute job for a BBQ sauce commercial. It is a good read but doesn't really fit the genre of the rest of the book and is obviously in there because the author is the daughter of the presenting author. The rest of the stories aren't worth reading.

There is a brief synopsis of all the authors in this book at the front as well as the charity that this book helped by being published when it first came out. One unique thing about this collection is that all autors had to include 'A Thick Fog' 'A Thick Book' and 'A Thick Stake' somewhere in there stories which may explain why some stories aren't very good as they spent more time trying to do this than thinking of a story.

Rating:
Summary: Some Great Stories, the Rest Only Good Used Under Chickens
Review: Like any collection of short stories by various authors the quality varies dramatically from author to author and story to story. There are some sensational stories in here such as Westlake's 'Take It Away' about a cop on stakeout buying takeaway food at BurgerWhopper. This is by far head and shoulders above the rest of this book in quality. Also read his masterpiece novel 'The Ax' if you have not done so already.

Anne Rule's 'The Road Trip' is also pretty good about a terrified woman driving alone who is being menaced by a truck. Nancy Pickard's 'Love's Cottage' although not brilliant is good, set back in 1914 written as a diary by a black servant the day before a massacre in the house she works in. Evanovich's 'Last Peep' is readable about two women bounty hunters who find a body of a guy they are after that disappears when they bring back the police a few minutes later. Mary Higgins Clark's The Man Next Door about a serial killer living next door to his victim is readable but the story flows a bit too convenient for the characters to make the plot realistic. Her daughter's story 'Too Many Cooks' is a very basic simple story about an actress who lands a last minute job for a BBQ sauce commercial. It is a good read but doesn't really fit the genre of the rest of the book and is obviously in there because the author is the daughter of the presenting author. The rest of the stories aren't worth reading.

There is a brief synopsis of all the authors in this book at the front as well as the charity that this book helped by being published when it first came out. One unique thing about this collection is that all autors had to include 'A Thick Fog' 'A Thick Book' and 'A Thick Stake' somewhere in there stories which may explain why some stories aren't very good as they spent more time trying to do this than thinking of a story.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good Mystery Anthology
Review: With most short story collections, there's usually a common theme. In "The Plot Thickens," each author was required to incorporate the following three things into their story: a thick fog, a thick steak, and a thick book. Most are concealed cleverly and seamlessly in the story, but I still found myself looking for them like it was a Where's Waldo? game. Not surprisingly, most of the authors use a restaurant setting to integrate the steak, but at least Westlake does a little play on of words in his story.

Anyway, on to the following 11 short stories:

"How Far It Could Go" by Lawrence Block is a largely conversational story set in a restaurant, where a woman meets with a man she intends on hiring to "rough up" her ex-boyfriend over a cash settlement. I kept expecting some great twist at the end (never happened); still, not a bad story. >> "Foolproof" by Edna Buchanan -- An Egyptian mummy autopsy reveals a 1000+ year-old murder victim with the same fingerprints as a notorious gang member. Again, the ending didn't impress me, and the story seemed to jump unevenly from scene to scene. >> "The Man Next Door" by Mary Higgins Clark -- A woman's creepy next-door neighbor breaks into her house through their shared basement wall (quite ingenious, in my opinion), in order for him to abduct her and keep her a prisoner in his home. Mary, being the brains behind this whole eradicate-American-illiterarcy thing (which this book donates a percentage to), not surprisingly has the longest "short" story in here, at approximately 40 pages, but it doesn't feel that long. It has an engrossing plot, and good characterization and alternating p.o.v. One of my faves in here.

"Too Many Cooks" by Carol Higgins Clark -- An aspiring actress is called in to play the role of a chef in a commercial, but accidents start occurring on the set. A little predictable about the bad guy, but still good. >> "Revenge & Rebellion" by Nelson & Lauren DeMille -- A woman meets with an old college friend who's now a literary agent, in the hopes he'll accept her manuscript. Another restaurant setting; in fact, two restaurants in this one. Good story, but the suspense twist doesn't happen until the last page. >> "The Last Peep" by Janet Evanovich -- A bounty hunter and her partner-in-training search for the missing body of a Peeping Tom. Strong, unique characters. Quite funny. >> "Going Under" by Linda Fairstein -- A policewoman agrees to go undercover as a dental patient in order to catch a molesting dentist. Reading this one made me glad I never chose to go under while at the dentist's--just to be safe.

"Thick-Headed" by Walter Mosley -- Two men find a dead body in the trunk of a car and get involved in solving the crime. A little confusing, probably because there were so many characters--dead and alive. >> "Love's Cottage" by Nancy Pickard was told in letter form and based on an actual mass murder in 1914. Short, good ending; however, since no motive was ever given in history, it's up to the reader to speculate on it. >> "The Road Trip" by Ann Rule -- A woman is harassed and followed by two guys in a semi-truck while on a road trip. Started out slow, but got better. >> "Take It Away" by Donald E. Westlake -- A police officer and his associates are on a stakeout in order to catch an overseas art smuggler. A great finale to this anthology. I got a laugh out of the ending.

In summary: "The Plot Thickens" is a pretty good mystery anthology. There are some dull stories, some entertaining ones--which can be said for most short story collections--but the majority are very good. Definitely worth reading if you're a fan of one or more of the authors in here.