First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors [Hardcover]

Lee Child (Editor), Steve Berry (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2010

New York Times bestselling author Lee Child and the International Thriller Writers, Inc. present a collection of remarkable stories in First Thrills.  Showcasing many of the organization's bestselling authors as well as rising stars in the genre, here are twenty-five brand-new, never-before published, stories packed with murder, mystery, and mayhem.

*A cunning criminal thinks he can use a child to take the rap for his crimes.

*A hospital intern turned body-snatcher.

*A priest who comes face to face with his wife’s murderer on death row.

*A confederate soldier comes home to his love, but changed by more than just the war….he comes back wrong.

*The discovery of a flying saucer in the deep sea brings one man to the brink of a massive revelation.

*A dying man’s last request proves to his ex-wife that he’s still rotten to the core. 

*A clandestine operative finds himself caught in a wicked game of confusion . . . but who is calling the shots?  

 No matter what type of thriller you read, you’ll find something here that will entertain you . . . and perhaps a new writer you’ll cherish for years to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Child, the creator of the Jack Reacher series (Gone Tomorrow, etc.), offers a mixed bag in this anthology of 25 original stories by members of ITW (International Thriller Writers), divided between fledgling authors and established names such as Gregg Hurwitz, Stephen Coonts, and Heather Graham. Daniel James Palmer and Michael Palmer's The Dead Club, in which a greedy doctor joins a betting club that gambles on when unidentified patients will expire, does the best job at making the genre work in short form. Child, by contrast, misses the mark with the less than gripping The Bodyguard, an account of how the narrator became an ex-bodyguard. Of the newcomers, Rip Gerber's Last Supper, about a grieving widower's plot for revenge, is well-paced and compelling, while Ryan Brown's supernaturally tinged Suspended isn't. Other contributors include Ken Bruen, John Lescroart, and Karin Slaughter. Steve Berry, ITW's current president, provides an afterword. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* This is hands down one of the best short story collections you're ever likely to read. The brainchild of the (relatively new) International Thrillers Writers organization, the book features never-before-published stories by such notables as Jeffery Deaver, Michael Palmer, Gregg Hurwitz, Stephen Coonts, John Lescroart, Karin Slaughter, and Lee Child (who also serves as the book's editor). Alongside them, you'll find top-notch short fiction from names that might be less familiar—J. T. Ellison, CJ Lyons, Sean Michael Bailey—but they are writers who certainly won't remain unfamiliar for long. The stories fit under the most inclusive of thriller umbrellas, but many contain elements of mysteries, science fiction, and horror as well. They feature an equally diverse cast of characters, too, ranging from con men and killers to aliens, ghosts, and zombies. In many short story collections, there are a few standouts. Here, nearly the entire lineup stands out. Lescroart's “The Gato Conundrum,” for example, is a fine spy thriller that moves through Italy, England, Russia, France, and the U.S., all in 20 pages. Heather Graham's “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” combines grisly horror with a historical setting. Theo Gangi's “Eddy May” is a seemingly straightforward story about a pair of con artists that turns out to be not straightforward at all; in an anthology full of plot twists, Gangi's definitely out twists them all. A masterful collection. --David Pitt

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books; First Edition edition (June 22, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765326485
• ISBN-13: 978-0765326485
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #834,417 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For one reason or another, it's a keeper. Give yourself a halfway-to-Christmas present and start reading., July 26, 2010

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors (Hardcover)

As with many readers of genre fiction of my age, I cut my teeth on thrillers and mysteries with short stories, beginning with Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown and The Thinking Machine, and then working my way into the Hardy Boys before making a quantum jump to Mike Hammer and Shell Scott. Short stories in general are beginning to make a comeback, even if the venues for such material remain somewhat scarce.

The International Thriller Writers Organization has been doing something about that, publishing collections of original short thriller and crime fiction on a regular basis. The latest of these, FIRST THRILLS, is a masterpiece, comprised of 25 stories that each possesses some quality for recommendation. Nicely balanced between well-known authors and those who will be soon, it is a smorgasbord for readers who require an introduction to the thriller genre but are unsure where to begin. Those who are familiar with some of the contributors will enjoy encountering them in a somewhat different context --- short fiction --- as well as discovering new authors to place on their "must read" lists.

If there is one pervasive element that runs through FIRST THRILLS, it is the apparent inclination of at least some of the authors to take steps outside of their respective comfort zones. John Lescroart's "The Gato Conundrum" is an example. Lescroart, best known for his legal thrillers featuring Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky, here taps into his inner Robert Ludlum with a haunting tale of espionage that is complete in less than 20 pages. Lee Child's "The Bodyguard" is not a Jack Reacher story. It's a very clever piece of work, one involving a personal security job that goes bad and gently tugs your expectations one way until you wind up somewhere that is totally unexpected, yet is quite consistent with what has gone before.

And Karin Slaughter? Incapable of disappointing, she takes us far away from the environs of Georgia in "Cold Cold Heart," a grim tale of domestic one-upmanship that is played out between a mismatched couple long after their marriage has ended. 'Til death do they part, indeed.

I would be remiss if I did not mention "Last Supper" by Rip Gerber. While Gerber's work to date would best be classified in the techno-thriller genre, there is nothing at all techno, as that term is commonly used, about his contribution. It is instead a smart tale of revenge with an ending you might see coming but that strikes from an unexpected direction.

As will happen with any set of stories that are almost evenly matched in terms of quality, my personal favorite in FIRST THRILLS keeps changing. A couple of days ago I was reading and re-reading "Scutwork" by C. J. Lyons. Remember what I mentioned earlier about stepping outside of comfort zones? "Scutwork", as one might expect from Lyons's previously published novels, is set inside a hospital to a great extent. Don't expect a medical story, though; this is a crime story that, as with the best of the genre, serves as a cautionary tale as well. Yesterday, my favorite story was "Children's Day" by Kelli Stanley. Stanley, whose CITY OF DRAGONS is one of this year's most impressive books, works her magic once again in a prequel to that title. Set in 1939 San Francisco and dealing with a missing child, "Children's Day" is a somber examination of an ongoing societal problem that continues to fester to this day. And today's favorite story? That would be "Underbelly" by Grant McKenzie. How can I describe it without giving it all away or making it sound mundane? Well, it's about a small burglary on a bus that is cut short in an unexpected way. That's all I'm going to say. I wish my dad was still alive so he could read it. I can't think of a better recommendation than that.

I've had other stories from FIRST THRILLS on that favorite list --- such as "The Thief" by Gregg Hurwitz and "Eddy May" by Theo Gangi --- but I refer back to what I said earlier. Each and all of the stories included in this collection, for one reason or another, is a keeper. Give yourself a halfway-to-Christmas present and start reading.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars plenty of chills and thrills, June 26, 2010

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors (Hardcover)

This twenty-five suspense thriller collection is an interesting way for readers to meet new writers while established authors have an opportunity to thank the audience and the publishing companies by providing entries to First Thrills. "The Dead Club" by Daniel James Palmer and Michael Palmer is the best bet as wagering on death mirrors real life gambling pools. Other strong entries include "The Thief" by Greg Hurwitz and Ken Bruen's "Wednesday's Child". None of the entries from the veterans or the rookies are bad, but few are excellent. Still fans will enjoy dining with Rip Gerber, Sean Michael Bailey and other newcomers and vets like Stephen Coonts, John Lescroart, Karin Slaughter and Heather Graham as each provides readers with plenty of chills and thrills.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining mixed bag, January 23, 2011

By 

N. Brett (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: First Thrills: High-Octane Stories from the Hottest Thriller Authors (Hardcover)

Another offering from the International Thriller Writers Inc - a very active organisation that promotes the work of its established writers while introducing us to new writers. A worthwhile cause and endeavour - this one is presented and edited by Lee Child who contributes a short story (although I am not convinced that the short story is really his thing). Some other big names have contributed Stephen Coonts, Jeffery Deaver, Gregg Hurwitz and Karin Slaughter - it's 12 known writers and 13 new ones. This follow on from "Thriller" and Thriller 2" in that it provides a mix of writing, ranging from the very good to the fairly awful (but that is my taste - the good news is that there are lots of them and they are shortish, so lots of small tastes!)

Lee Child's entry is short and nothing to write home about - don't buy it just for that, Hurwitz has an interesting entry based on someone with learning difficulties, Deaver's was a fun story about a dead bestselling author, Coonts was slightly obvious with the story of a recovered UFO - but there was lots here to enjoy. The one I liked least was a Dan Brown like bit of nonsense from established author John Lescroart.

So a mixed bag, and probably better then both Thriller and Thriller2.