Uncage Me (Hardcover)

~ Jen Jordan (Author, Editor)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While John Connolly (The Reapers) rightly notes in his introduction that this all-original anthology isn't for the fainthearted, noir lovers will find plenty to savor among the 22 stories from both familiar and unfamiliar names. Steven Torres offers the most moving selection, The Biography of Stoop, the Thief, in which a 14-year-old boy tries to save the mother who abandoned him for a life on the streets as a substance abuser. Tim Maleeny's Prisoner of Love not only features twists and betrayals but manages to make an ambiguous resolution satisfying rather than frustrating. There are some duds, like Maxim Jakubowski's shocker We Mate in the Dark, with its pointless savagery, but on the whole the contributors demonstrate the ability to create believable and memorable characters as well as settings in a few pages. (July)
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Product Description

The follow-up to 2007's Expletive Deleted. New stories from Scott Phillips, Allan Guthrie, Christa Faust, Victor Gischler, J.A. Konrath, J.D. Rhoades, Declan Burke, Brian Azzarello, Steven Torres, Stewart Macbride, Simon Kernick, Patrick Bagley, Greg Bardsley, Stephen Blackmore, Tim Maleeny, Nick Stone, Martyn Waites, Talia Berliner, Maxim Jakubowski, Gregg Hurwitz, Blake Crouch, and more! As if all of that wasn't enough, there's an introduction by New York Times best selling author John Connolly.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 300 pages
• Publisher: Bleak House Books (July 24, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1606480154
• ISBN-13: 978-1606480151
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,297,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An eclectic collection, August 18, 2009

By	Julie Kramer (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncage Me (Paperback)

Short stories that will stay with you long after you've reached the end. Some will make you think; some will make you cringe; some will make you want to slam the book shut. An interesting collection.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Transgression, October 12, 2009

By	Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Uncage Me (Paperback)

There are 22 short stories in this book, with an introduction by John Connolly, in which he describes the contents in a paraphrase of a lyric in a Cole Porter song: "in olden days a glimpse of stocking might have been considered shocking, but now, quite frankly, almost anything goes." That pretty much describes the themes of these tales.

For those of us who remember Jimmy Breslin's Marvin the Torch, Victor Gischler creates a female counterpart who specializes in burning down structures while getting off on the arson. Steven Torres writes about a boy abandoned at birth who finally finds his addict mother 12 years later only to have her have him falsely arrested for theft of a narcotic she craves.

Then there is the baker who turns the tables on a mafia boss in Gregg Hurwitz' "Back and Forth." In "Players," J.D. Rhoades writes about an innocent dupe convicted of a murder he didn't commit. False love also plays a part in "Prisoner of Love" by Tim Maleeny.

All in all, the short stories vary from the macabre to other unusual forms. As Mr. Connolly writes in his introduction: "There may be stories in this collection that you find difficult to like, or of which you actively disapprove . . . Yet each of them touches upon the basic urge to transgress, and in this you will find a certain sense of commonality, however uncomfortable it may be."