Item: "Exit Wounds: Nineteen Tales of Mystery from the Modern Masters of Crime"
Rating: 3.75
Author: Summer Brooks

I love short stories. I used to have an extensive collection of short story anthologies for fantasy, thrillers, science fiction, and classic horror. Same for the Nebula Awards collections, and the huge “Year’s Best” collections for science fiction and just about every anthology Ellen Datlow even glanced at.

Finding new collections is always a fun event, and Exit Wounds, is one of those interesting discoveries.

This collection has a common theme for all of the stories, but the slight fuzzy nature of said theme affects the pacing and fit with each other. The exit wounds of the title refer to physical, emotional and psychological wounds, all caused by a variety of exits, be they bullet wounds or people actually leaving.

This leads to some rather broad interpretations of what an “exit wound” might be, which distorts the expectations one might have reading a themed anthology. They simply don’t seem to all fit together, and while this makes the stories feel uneven, this collection is still an enjoyable read.

For me, the best stories are “Kittens” by Dean Koontz, “Fool You Twice” by Steph Broadribb, “Dead Weight” by Fiona Cummins, and “The Consumers” by Dennis Lehane, followed closely by “Take My Hand” by A. K. Benedict and “Dressed to Kill” by James Oswald. “Booty and the Beast” is 100% pure Joe R. Lansdale, is so visual and has enough cascading craziness to make a great short film.

Despite the uneven feel of the entire collection, this one is worth reading.

A brand-new anthology of crime stories written by masters of the genre. Featuring both original in-universe stories and rarely seen reprints, this collection of nineteen masterful short stories brings together some of the genre’s greatest living authors. Tony Hill and Carol Jordan take on a delightfully twisted killer in Val McDermid’s ‘Happy Holidays’. In Fiona Cummins’ ‘Dead Weight’, an overbearing mother resorts to desperate measures to keep control of her teenage daughter. And in Dean Koontz’s ‘Kittens’, a young girl learns the truth about how her pets have been dying, and devises a horrible revenge. Tense, twisted and disturbing, Exit Wounds is a visceral and thrilling collection showcasing the very best modern crime fiction has to offer.