Customer Reviews

A Century of Great Suspense Stories

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When I first saw the title of this book all I could think of was oh no, another saves the century for the ages with one more literary anthology. The Ancient Library at Alexandria could never have contained more papyrus than we have currently available some short story theme involving the century. Though I have fully enjoyed each of the previous collections leisurely reading them over a couple of weeks (which seems like a century when compared to my normal pace), I vowed no more. Than I opened this book just to glimpse at who contributed and soon was hooked again all because Lawrence Block submitted a Batman tale.

Once again the quality is top rate as the thirty-six well-written stories run much of the suspense gamut submitted by a notable cast of writers. The tales include police and legal procedurals as well as the classic private sleuth investigative story among the assortment of other twist and turn tales. None of the stories shortchanges the ensemble, as this is a triumphant aggregation that is worth unhurriedly reading over a couple of weeks.

Harriet Klausner

Certainly Jeffery Deaver should know good mysteries when he sees them, and in his
personal compilation of a century of these great stories, the reader should assume it's just that, a
collection of great stories! And they are! Deaver exercises an ecumenical spirit here, practically
running the gamut of the genre!

It goes without staying that short stories generally don't carry the impact that novels do on
the same subject (not to patronize short stories, of course, as they are great in their own "write").
With the exception of some personal favorites of mine, such as P.D. James and Ellis Peters, which
he omits, Deaver's wide assortment of writers is a real treasure! For students of the history of the
suspense story, Deaver shows off Anna Katherine Green's story (Ms Green is often considered to
have written the first American suspense novel) to provide a historical perspective, and then
continues on down the time line. Such luminaries as Ellery Queen, John D. MacDonald, Ruth
Rendell, Mickey Spillane, Ed McBain, Sara Paretsky, and Robert Barnard light up these pages.
Indeed, a nice collection to keep around. Fun reading, too! (...)

Great collection of stories, but as I noted, you definitely want to check out The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century (The Best American Series)

One of the best stories included in both of these books is "Quitters, Inc." by Stephen King.