5 stars out of 5
The author, too, used to be something of a stranger to short stories (not that he avoided them - he was just too busy writing other things). It was the 1997 success of his still-popular Jack Reacher series, he says in the introduction to this book, that introduced him to short story writing - at the time, a novel concept for an (ahem) novelist. Asked to write a short story, his first, he came up with one for an anthology - then another, then another and another and so on. The collection here, he explains, is his "editor's pick" of the litter.
That brings us to now, when I requested and happily received a pre-release copy of this collection in exchange for a review (an honest one, honest)! And despite my misgivings about short stories, I found I can be swayed; in fact, given the entries here, it was pretty darned easy. Each one seemed to be more enjoyable than the one before it - well, at least till I got to the next to the last one, which I liked least of all (still good, though). They're all exceptionally well crafted and clever as well as exceptionally brief - I read the entire book in not much over a couple of hours, in fact. I know that because I read almost nonstop - that's how much I enjoyed what to me used to be unenjoyable.
Alas, what I can't do is provide details on the stories themselves; their brevity means nothing noteworthy can be extracted without giving away too much (in review language, that means no spoilers allowed). So I'll be brief as well; I loved this book and I think you will, too.
Safe Enough by Lee Child (Mysterious Press, September 2024); 237 pp.
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