Mystery Writers of America Presents Vengeance

De: Mystery Writers of America, Lee Child - editor

Narrado por: Angela Dawe, Jeff Cummings

When a different kind of justice is needed—swift, effective, and personal—a new type of avenger must take action. In Vengeance, best-selling author Lee Child, "a superb craftsman of suspense" (Entertainment Weekly), presents 21 riveting stories from some of today's top crime writers.

In our dangerous world, offenders cannot always be brought down by the justice system. They must be stopped by someone outside the law. Some call them vigilantes; others claim they are just another brand of criminal. In Dennis Lehane's "The Consumers", a suburban woman hires a hit man to target her husband, who has committed a terrible crime. In Karin Slaughter's "The Unremarkable Heart", a dying woman learns the truth about a dark family secret. In Michael Connelly's "A Fine Mist of Blood", LAPD Detective Harry Bosch discovers a witness who will lead him to the doorstep of a hardened killer. And in Lee Child's "The Hollywood I Remember", an assassin gets his long overdue comeuppance.

Edited and with an introduction by Lee Child, these stories reveal the shocking consequences when men and women take the law into their own hands.

©2012 Mystery Writers of America (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Best part of a story

Each story was unique from the others with a slice of life from all around the world. I’m a crime reading nut and I saved this for the time I had nothing at hand to listen to. I wanted short get to the point stories and know that the reader is not an idiot and can put together a story and ending.

I liked all the stories
The French musician
The phony jazz musician
The who hires a man to kill her husband
The goofy Italian gumbas
The senators son

These stories are timeless and can be put in any time or culture. All my favorite authors BRAVO.

It’s a really fun listen as you walk the dog, sit in the yard, drive in the car. Mostly I just sat and listened.

Enjoy.

50% at Best

Some of these stories are good. Some are really bad. In "Blind Justice," for example, the writer tried so hard to show off his fake mafia dialog that I had no idea what was going on. I listened to it three times and still can't tell you what it was about.

Two stories were excellent.

Most of the rest were just ok. 21 short stories with themes of revenge or vengeance. I hesitate to read short stories. More often than not something doesn’t get developed enough - characters, motivations, plot. Some of my harsh ratings below are because of this. Those same authors would probably get a higher rating from me for their full length novels. But, it can be done. Two of the short stories were excellent - by Michael Connelly and Darrell James. The stories below are in the same order as in the book.

3 stars. THE 14th JUROR by Twist Phelan.
Two police detectives talk to a judge. The ending was too abrupt. I wanted to see specifically what would happen to the recipient of the revenge.

1 star. LOST AND FOUND by Zoe Sharp.
This was a weird combination of second and third person point of views. “You” are being attacked. “He” is doing the attacking. Throughout the story the author switches back and forth between what “You” are thinking and feeling and what “He” is thinking and doing. I was frustrated and confused. This was too subtle for me. I didn’t like the ending. I wanted to know what was going to happen to “He.”

2 stars. THE MOTHER by Alafair Burke.
The main story was pretty good - 3 stars. But the ending was unfinished - 1 star. It left me hanging. A bad guy was discovered, and I have no idea what will happen with him. One storyline is who will have custody of a two-year-old girl who had been raped.

1 star. BLIND JUSTICE by Jim Fusilli.
Angie and Turnip are two guys who interact with organized crime types. Relationships could not be fully shown because there were too many characters. Motivations and actions were vague. I didn’t know who did what or why. I didn’t know what the bad guy did that caused a need for revenge. The revenge was referred to, not shown. At the end one guy asks “Dead or alive?” The other guy says “What do you think?” This ending was too vague.

3 ½ stars. THE CONSUMERS by Dennis Lehane.
A broker sells bad investments causing people to lose money. He also beats his wife. The story was good until the end. A character got revenge, but I wasn’t clear about his motives. I wanted to understand him better.

3 stars. MOONSHINER’S LAMENT by Rick McMahan.
Too much was too vague. I didn’t see motives for Goat’s actions after he left the men in the woods. Then I vaguely knew what happened to the men in the woods. I needed to know more about the bad guy’s motivations and actions.

2 stars. RIVER SECRET by Anne Swardson.
A street musician sees a little girl with her mother. Too much subtlety. Not obvious enough.

3 stars. HOT SUGAR BLUES by Steve Liskow.
A lot of time was spent with things the bad guy musician did which was depressing. His victims were wimps because they were powerless or they didn’t choose their actions well. Someone gets revenge which was ok, but the overall story was depressing.

3 ½ stars. THE FINAL BALLAD by Brendan DuBois.
Good story. It’s about what happens after Beth’s daughter was beaten by the son of a senator.

2 stars. AFRICA ALWAYS NEEDS GUNS by Michael Niemann.
So, so. I couldn’t get into the characters. An investigator needs to examine cargo. The pilot won’t let him.

2 stars. THE UNREMARKABLE HEART by Karin Slaughter.
This didn’t feel like revenge or vengeance. The main character is dying and her main crime was trusting someone she shouldn’t have and saying some mean things to others. As a story it’s ok but it’s depressing about someone dying. There is a shocking surprise at the end.

2 stars. IT AIN’T RIGHT by Michelle Gagnon.
Too subtle. Don’t know what happened. Joe and his wife may have done something bad. I didn’t see any revenge or vengeance in this story. It’s possible my mind wandered and I missed it?

3 stars. SILENT JUSTICE by C.E. Lawrence.
A killer confesses to a priest. Ok story.

4 stars. EVEN A BLIND MAN by Darrell James.
Young girl is in trouble. Her grandfather travels across the country by bus to find her and help her. He pretends to be blind, but he is not. This was very good.

2 stars. THE GENERAL by Janice Law Trecker.
Not a pleasant story. Not enjoyable. The General did evil things when he was in power which are recalled. The ending has some revenge, but it was more sad than good.

4 ½ to 5 stars. A FINE MIST OF BLOOD by Michael Connelly.
Yay! I love Harry Bosch! This is another installment in that series. It was my favorite story in this book. Detective Bosch is investigating a murder. At first I was drawn in because I thought “how in the world is he going to catch this person?” Later there was suspense, and I was worried about Bosch. Then my favorite part was the person who got revenge - that was a surprise. I didn’t expect it. And, we had a complete ending. So to Michael Connelly, thank you, you write so well!

3 stars. LEVERAGE by Mike Cooper.
The subject matter was depressing. Much of the story is about employees of a company being terminated and losing their pensions. One of the employees wants to do something about it. It was ok, but I didn’t feel much. At least the ending was complete.

3 stars. THE HOTLINE by Dreda Say Mitchell.
Ruckshana wears a Muslim head scarf when working at the bank. Her boss lies to her and is behind her firing. It’s an ok story.

3 stars. BLOOD AND SUNSHINE by Adam Meyer.
It was ok but odd. I was frustrated that the author didn’t say what happened to the baby. I’m still troubled by that. Eddie is a college student working at a day care center/camp for kids during the summer. Dillon is a five-year-old who is sneaky and evil. This is a dark story. The good guy gets revenge but did something evil to get it. It left me with an unsettled feeling.

3 stars. IN PERSONA CHRISTY by Orest Stelmach.
Maria and her son Manuel flee Mexico and live with a priest in a Connecticut parish. Her husband was killed by bad guys. Several years earlier Father Nathan lost his right arm and right leg and wears prosthetics. The ending was pretty good about someone saving the day and getting some revenge.

3 stars. THE HOLLYWOOD I REMEMBER by Lee Child.
The main character is a killer for hire. He kills prostitutes who threaten to talk/blackmail their clients. Someone wants revenge and to see him in jail. The revenge he gets is unexpected. This was ok at best.

Genre: mystery suspense.

Good entertainment

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I probably wouldn't. The stories are well-written but I find that the short story style is not well fitted for audio.

The book title is self explanatory…

I generally love the anthologies but had not read any MWA (I usually stick to SciFi). I was not disappointed. I may not love every story nevertheless I was able to add at least a couple authors to my reading list.
Since “Vengeance” is in the title I was expecting dark and possibly morally corrupt stories. The authors took me places that I don’t normally go but they definitely held my attention!
Well worth the money for me!