You Like It Darker
Another great collection of stories. What strikes me, though, reading these, is the sheer pleasure in writing there is on display. It’s not so much that the stories are breathtakingly original. They all have an intriguing premise, yes, but only one – The Fifth Step – has an ending that really stops you dead in your tracks. And I tend to think that the mark of a great short story is that it snaps shut like a trap and leaves you staring at the page, wondering what it is that you’ve just read. With all the others here, it’s the telling of the tale that’s so gripping. There’s a great variation on Les Miserables and a vindictive detective. There’s an alien encounter. There’s a What-If tale. There’s even a loveable puppy story, and when that began, I really wondered where he’d be able to take that. And if he could pull it off. Well, he does, and it wasn’t at all what I’d expected. What really comes over here is the sheer joy in writing. In telling a story. ...
