Family and Other Ailments

Crime Stories Close to Home

De: M. E. Proctor

Narrado por: Chase Johnson

Blood ties. The family we’ve been given, the friends we make, the loves we keep, and those we lost. The 26 stories in Family and Other Ailments teeter on the brink, hover at the periphery, or even the possibility, of crime. Under a soft light and at an angle, they're all love stories.

The collection opens with “Spy Head”, a tale of friendship after a crushing trauma. In “Texas Two-Step”, brotherhood leads to a wicked double-cross. “Razorbills” shows a young woman seeking freedom from the prison-like caring of her sibling. “Black and Tan” slips into domestic horror, as does “Mutti”, with a hint of the fantastic. “Hour of the Bat” and “Bag Limit” are deep-woods Texas noir, while “A Head for Numbers” and “No Recoil” go west, to the stark unforgiving beauty of the desert.

M. E. Proctor draws characters with a tender touch. She catches them at an inflexion point in their lives, a moment of choice. We feel what they feel, see what they see, and their voices linger for a long time in our memory.

©2023 M. E. Proctor (P)2023 Wordwooze Publishing

Interesting and Twisted

The stories within this book are interesting and twisted but will keep you engaged. If you enjoy books, that will keep you guessing this book is for you. The narrator did a good job changing voices and accents based on the characters.i truly recommend this book to anyone over 16 years of age.

Some great, some good, some ok

This is a collection of stories that I thought were interesting. The narrator was very good! The stories for the most part were good. A few were excellent and themes that kept me thinking. Most were good. I think that’s why I choose collections when I am ready for a break and need something to listen to that is short, maybe quirky, suspends reality and makes me think. This is just the book for that.

A great collection of short stories

It's hard to categorize this collection of short stories in a specific genre. Some of the tales read like crime, some like mystery, and some are almost horror. But, all of them are well-written and thought provoking.

Each of the stories brings out family dynamics, sometimes good, sometimes not so good! The author has a beautiful way with words and her talent adds a lot to these tales. A couple of the standout stories for me are Mutti, Apples in the Attic and Rabbits.

The narrator of the audiobook did a great job and added a lot to this collection. I would recommend this to anyone looking for well-written and compelling short stories.