Detroit Noir (Akashic Noir) (Paperback)

by E.J. Olsen (Editor), John C. Hocking (Editor)
Key Phrases: sweatered man, red quarters, Big Momma, David Wilkins, Belle Isle (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
While the many fans of Akashic's consistently high-quality series might have expected the Motor City to be tapped sooner (maybe before the Twin Cities), they will find the delay well worth the wait. Few cities are as well suited to the genre as Detroit, with its embattled inner city and history of urban decline and blight, and the editors have assembled a talented lineup to do it justice with 16 original short stories. The always superb Loren D. Estleman starts the anthology off on a high note with his spare hard-boiled whodunit short, Kill the Cat. The constantly simmering background threat of violence informs two very different but equally accomplished tales: Joyce Carol Oates's Panic and Detroit Free Press columnist Desiree Cooper's Night Coming. The editors also include some well-done period pieces, like the 1950s-era The Coffee Break by Detroit News business editor Melissa Preddy, and their discerning selections maintain Akashic's excellent track record. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Description

Contributors: Joyce Carol Oates, Loren D. Estleman, P.J. Parrish, Nisi Shawl, Craig Holden, Craig Bernier, Desiree Cooper, Melissa Preddy, E.J. Olsen, Joe Boland, Megan Abbott, Dorene O'Brien, Lolita Hernandez, Peter Markus, Roger K. Johnson, and Michael Zadoorian

Detroit Noir is a snapshot of a city in darkness. This collection presents a multifaceted vision of a seedy metropolis where crime beckons and repels, where honest work can provide salvation or grueling dissolution, where the guilty and the innocent share both desperation and determination.

From hard-edged crime stories in the classic style to sharply etched visions of ordinary lives in crisis, from lucid descriptions of men and women anchored to simple truths to spellbinding visions of those who live on the edge of chaos, Detroit Noir captures the dark vitality of a wounded city that stubbornly refuses to die.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Akashic Books (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933354399
• ISBN-13: 978-1933354392
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #209,666 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #67 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery > Anthologies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven collection still worth the time, February 27, 2008

By	Joseph Borri "motorcityjoe" (Farmington Hills, MI USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the first collection from Akashic'a Noir series I have purchased. I grew up in Detroit, on the northeast side, and felt the authors painted a very accurate picture, for the most part, of the city and its various locales. The highlights of the book are the stories by Loren Estelman, Dorene O'Brien, Megan Abbott and Michael Zadoorian, which came across as nuanced and layered in comparison to several others. Dead Man's Boat, the story by Peter Markus, is told in a very original voice also and has a beautiful closing that left me wanting to read more of his work. Only a scant three of the stories seemed like odd socks in the drawer, trying to hard to create requirements of the noir genre to be included, and makes one wonder why Olsen and Hocking found them up to snuff. In the end though, so many of the stories satisfy, that I feel this is a book of short stories worth adding to your shelf.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Unsatisfying stories, January 7, 2008

By	Fiction fan - Canada (Toronto) - See all my reviews

When even the great Loren D. Estleman provides a rather mediocre story - compared to the rest of his excellent work - you know right from the start (his story is first) that you can't expect a lot.
I have not lived in Detroit, so I respect the other reviewers' opinion that the stories in the book capture the mood of the city.
However, as a crime fiction fan, I expect more from a "noir" story and unfortunately most of these stories could not really grab my attention or create any "mystery" or "suspense" feeling.
The only story that stands out and is a must read is the one from P.J. Parrish, but with one excellent story out of 16, I could not really recommend this collection.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just Another Pretty Place, December 11, 2007

By	Stephen Liskow "litteacher" (Newington, CT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Detroit Noir lives up to the promise of the earlier books in the series. Leading off with stories by P.J. Parrish, Loren Estleman, and Joyce Carol Oates, this volume starts at a high level and, although I knew few of the following writers, the stories and writing skill don't sag at all.
Each writer shows the darker side of a particular Detroit landmark or district, sometimes with humor, but usually with the kind of bleakness that befits a book with "Noir" in the title.

Some of the stories aren't technically crime or mystery, but they convey such a powerful sense of Urban Blight (Motor City Malaise?) that they fit in with those of the better known writers. I plan to start combing bookshelves for other work by the people I've discovered thanks to this collection.