Shades of Grey [Kindle Edition]

Michael Cargill (Author)

Book Description

John is not a very nice man. He works for the government. So who has tied him to a chair and what do they want?

James is a British soldier during WWII. Tom is a young boy with a terrible secret.

Three stories. Three very different people. All of them battling to survive.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Cargill is an up and coming author from England. In mid-2011 he published his first book and has gone on to publish several more. Although known for his dramatic and engaging stories, he is also a satirist and humorist.

Product Details

• File Size: 261 KB
• Print Length: 110 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1489565493
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B007BFJ45E
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #138,719 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Different, but satisfying, collection of short stories March 19, 2012

By The Kindle Book Review

Format:Kindle Edition

Shades of Grey is a collection of three short stories. Each one different, but each with a very dark side to it. The stories all focus on violence and death, but from different angles. Each story is very different to the other, which is a credit to the author; all too often an anthology of short stories can be a bit too `samey' when written by the one author.

The title story, Shades of Grey, was a little too abstract for me. I didn't really get it, but then perhaps I was looking a little too deeply? It's well written, but was, for me, the weakest of the three.

There and Back Again is set on the battlefield of world war two, and will be a familiar tale to those who have studied the period. It's dark and it gave me a feeling of helplessness and a real feeling of the futility of war.

The third story, Down the Rabbit Hole, was my favourite. Other reviewers have commented that it reminded them of Roald Dhal, I see that comparison, although it's a darker version of the brilliant Roald Dhal. I think there'll be many different interpretations of this one, but it was, for me, the best written of the three stories, and the most interesting.

The stories are all thought provoking and do raise questions of morality, from the trained killer rationalising his own behaviours, to the looting of the bodies of dead soldiers to the ultimate demise of an abusive husband/father. Cargill does an impressive job of never casting his own judgements, he instead weaves enough into the stories for you to cast your own decision.

Shades of Grey is a well written, dark and different approach to the world of short stories and I'll be interested to look at Cargill's other work.... These short stories were each so differently written that they could easily have been from different authors so I'll be looking out for one of Cargill's novels to see how he's approached that.

All in all a different, but satisfying, read.

Sarah Burns ~ On Behalf of The Kindle Book Review Read more ›

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Dark book! May 22, 2012

By Red Headed Book Worm

Format:Kindle Edition

I recieved a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I had agreed to review this book after receiving a fun email from the author. I hoped that falling for his personality didn't set my sights too high for his book. Well it did.......NOT.

The first story, Shades of Grey, gets you into the mind of a government agent in the UK. Who has been tied to a chair and is being held captive by an unknown. You get great bursts of imagery in this one and lots of crude language.

The second story, There and Back Again, is about a soldier in the British Army during WWII. Lots of violence and is touching at the same time. Very fitting for the times, I think.

The third and final story, Down the Rabbit Hole, is my favorite. Tom is an abused child who clings to his stuffed toy for comfort. The toy rabbit comes to life to help Tom work things out, but takes a different turn.

All three stories are dark and violent, but not overly so. All were good reads!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Three dark and deep short stories.. March 9, 2012

By Cheryl M-M

Format:Kindle Edition

Three short stories all centered around seeing, experiencing and committing acts of violence. I suppose that sounds rather brutal, which it isn't at all. The author looks at it from three different angles. The first short introduces us to a man whose job it is to kill, and even he seems to think his own actions are more honourable and redeemable than those of others. The second short takes us into the world of war. Where being surrounded by death and violence becomes almost normal and the humans within that setting grow a little indifferent to all of it. Last but not least my favourite, which was the third one. It was dark, deep and worthy of a psych evaluation. Read that one carefully it is the image of a creation, the making of a future bringer of violence.I received a complimentary copy of this book for my review.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Read! July 25, 2012

By lprather66

Format:Kindle Edition

"Shades of Grey" is a compilation of three unique short stories with a recurring theme of torture/abuse. My favorite was the second story where we get a glimpse into the life of James, a British solider during WWII. The author was able to draw me into each story through his descriptive detail of each character and how they dealt with their situation. Even though the subject matter is disturbing,I would recommend it to adults who are looking for a thriller.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars an anthology May 29, 2012

By Midu

Format:Kindle Edition

There are some writers..hand them anything and they turn it into a story..Michael Cargill is one of them.

The three stories in this anthology are simple stuff but that doesn't make them less interesting.

The first story,"Shades of Grey", is about John. He's a man who works for the government and is absolutely insane.

The second story is "There and Back Again" which focuses on James who is a British soldier taking part in a war for the first time. The ambiance and the emotions of the war are described beautifully, as is the feeling of guilt and shame when a soldier is asked to retreat.

The last story is called, "Down the Rabbit Hole", about Tom who has an abusive father whose behavior is getting worse everyday. Then Tom's favorite toy bunny starts to talk to the kid and solves his problems its own way.

All three stories are based on characters that are flawed due to events in their past and are trying to rise above it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty Good March 29, 2012

By Reflections of a BookWorm

Format:Kindle Edition

Shades of Grey
By Michael Cargill

Shades of Grey: British operative John, or "John the Baptist", has been abducted and is being tortured; this is a crude and tormenting short story that delves into the psyche of the tortured mind.

There and Back Again: An Action packed story of James a soldier during World War Two, showing the savagery of war and the bonds that form under such extreme circumstances.

Down the Rabbit Hole: An abused young boy, Tom, finds that his best friend, a stuffed rabbit, has actually come to life to help him with his problems. Tom is ecstatic until things become sinister.

This collection of short stories is about one hundred pages of action, adventure, and even a taste of the somewhat strange. I personally wasn't a fan of the first short story only because it tended to bounce around too much for my liking and was a bit too crude for me, but in my opinion Michael Cargill managed to pull it off with the last two stories, even saving the best for last. There were only a couple of things I could see that needed revising other than that well worth the read.

I was given a copy of this book for review for more details pls visit my blog :)

More About the Author

Michael Cargill is an up and coming author from England. In mid-2011 he published his first book, and has gone on to publish several more.

Although known for his dramatic and engaging stories, he is also a satirist and humorist. He encourages people to take a look at his humorous work - http://michaelcargill.wordpress.com/

Anyone unsure of which book to read first, should take a look at Shelter from Thunder. It is a short, easy read and also a personal favourite of his.