Working Stiffs [Paperback]

Simon Wood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2006

The workplace can be dangerous. If the job doesn't kill you, your colleagues just might. In Working Stiffs, Simon Wood has put together a collection of suspenseful short stories along with his first novella, The Fall Guy. Each tale offers a dark look at how even ordinary jobs can turn deadly. Working Stiffs . . . Some jobs are worth killing for.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Warning: This book is 100% adrenalin. Wood is pure gold.” --J.A. Konrath, author of Rusty Nail

“A virtual virtuoso of suspense - Simon Wood layers tension until you ache.” --Elaine Flinn, award winning author of The Molly Doyle Mysteries

About the Author

Simon Wood is an ex-racecar driver, a licensed pilot and an occasional private investigator. He shares his world with his American wife, Julie. A longhaired dachshund and five cats dominate their lives. He's had over 150 stories and articles published. His short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines anthologies, such as Seattle Noir, Thriller 2 and Woman's World. He's a frequent contributor to Writer's Digest. He's the Anthony Award winning author of Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, Paying the Piper and We All Fall Down. As Simon Janus, he's the author of The Scrubs and Road Rash. His latest thriller, Terminated, is out in mass paperback with a new short story collection, Asking for Trouble, out later in the year. Curious people can learn more at simonwood.net.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Blue Cubicle Press (May 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974590045
• ISBN-13: 978-0974590042
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,295,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon Wood has got the chops!!, October 26, 2006

By 

Nickolas Cook - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Working Stiffs (Paperback)

WORKING STIFFS by Simon Wood
Review by Nickolas Cook

Crime anthologies have enjoyed a great tradition in American literature. For a genre fiction, they get a heck of a lot less grief from publishing than horror or science fiction, and don't suffer from the ghetto slap from critics. Some of crime literature's best anthologies were the old Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery. Well, Simon Wood has single handedly channeled the ghosts of that fine old series of books with his newest collection, WORKING STIFFS.
The stories are quick and mean, edited down to the bone, like the best noir fiction. His characters are believable, work-a-day (pun definitely intended) types who find themselves facing shifts in their simple lives as violence intrudes. The prose is tight, clean, and gives that sense of balance that only damn good writing can provide. Wood's humor comes through in the most peculiar ways, in dialogue and descriptive passages akin to the Mathesons, Blochs, or Hunters of old. His style will seem effortless to the reader and turn every writer green with envy. Wood's years of writing tirelessly for the short story markets can be seen in this new collection.
Each of the stories has to do with the work we do- the thing that takes up a significant portion of each of our lives. But Wood examines the idea of a job as something more than punching the clock for our daily bread. There are jobs we love and jobs we hate; jobs we never see as work, and those that grind chunks of our souls away each day. He knows this and digs under the surface of his characters to expose their worn souls and lost dreams.
"Old Flames Burn the Brightest" is something MacDonald would have loved. Femme fateles can never be trusted, can they?
"My Father's Secret" could easily have been an episode of "The Sopranos", it's that good.
"A Break in the Old Routine" had me all the way to the end slap in the face.
"Parental Control" examines the desperation of the parenting gig in modern society, and just how far a father is willing to go to keep his son alive and safe. Some people have the taste for violence and learn its power.
"The Real Deal" has a nice twist ending, even if you can see it coming from a few miles away.
"Officer Down" is a peculiar revenge story that leaves the reader unsure how to feel about the protagonist; but this is yet another example of Wood's brilliant craftsmanship.
While the whole collection is great reading, the novella, "Fall Guy", is its best offering. It all starts innocuously enough with a minor fender bender misdeed, but quickly spirals out of control for the intrepid protagonist. Todd just can't seem to stay out of trouble, and the harder he tries to wriggle out of his new life of crime the worse it gets. Wood writes this tale with a sense of fun and humor, but don't let that fool you into thinking the danger isn't real. It's an examination, as the best crime fiction usually is, of the criminal mind. Todd has no direction or aptitude for the straight life, and only finds satisfaction and vigor in being a criminal. Before long he's as comfortable with his new role as a seasoned pro. The supporting characters he meets along the way are as quirky as those found in a Tarantino film. While Wood leaves plenty of ambiguity about a life of crime compared to a life of dead end jobs and weekly paychecks that don't stretch nearly far enough, he helps Todd seek redemption by tale's end. The denouement is very satisfying meat upon which to chew.
For a novice reader of Wood's work, this is an excellent place to start.

--Nickolas Cook

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thrilling short fiction from a master of suspense!, March 4, 2010

By 

Debbi Mack "Author of IDENTITY CRISIS" (Columbia, MD) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Working Stiffs (Paperback)

WORKING STIFFS is a riveting collection of six short stories (and one novella) about workplace dangers. Not chemical spills or falling beams, but the dangers of greedy and unscrupulous people looking to gain advantage over their co-workers (or even their bosses).

The protagonists range from people like the business owner taking drastic steps to hold onto his company in "The Real Deal" to the beat cop whose reputation is compromised when a street punk shoots him with his own weapon in "Officer Down" to average Joes placed in circumstances in which events spin out of control, such as the adman in the story "A Break in the Old Routine".

In the novella, called "The Fall Guy," there's a never a dull moment as protagonist-on-the-run Todd Collins is driven from one dire situation to the next while seeking revenge on a man who tried to set him up.

Wood is a master of dry humor and taut prose that builds suspense and tension to the breaking point. Plus he ends his stories with twists you'll never see coming. If you love thrillers, this anthology will more than satisfy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Darker Side of 9 to 5, February 25, 2010

By 

J.T. Cummins "Author & Screenwriter" (Los Angeles, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Working Stiffs (Kindle Edition)

On average each of us spends 200 of 365 days a year earning an income. That leaves 165 days a year to what most of us would actually consider living. In the Anthony Award winning anthology Working Stiffs, talented author Simon Wood examines the darker side of those 200 days in a collection where nefarious employees and murderous entrepreneurs make their living, well, making a killing. From Old Flames Burn The Brightest where a bestselling crime author takes researching his novels a bit too seriously, to the morally challenged protagonist of the novella length The Fall Guy who gets more than he bargained for after a fender bender with a murderous gangster, Wood shines a harsh revealing light not only on our tyrannical bosses and backstabbing co-workers, but also ourselves and our own deep, dark work-a-day secrets.