Reviewed by: Keith Nixon
Genre: Crime/Short Story Collection
Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words
Availability
Click
on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or
Smashwords store
Author:
Danny
Gillan was raised and still lives in Glasgow, Scotland. His first ambition was
to be a musician, but ended up in the pub and hotel trade for a number of years
in a wide variety of roles, interspersed with periods in social care.
Danny has
written two novels, the most recent called Scratch
and a series of short stories which have appeared in several magazines and
anthologies.
You can
learn more about Danny on his blog.
Description:
Twelve
short stories across a variety of genres.
Appraisal:
At first,
if I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t taken with Meats and Cheeses… (has there ever been an odder title for a crime
/ thriller book?). The opening story Awake
was well enough written, no doubt about that. In essence it’s about a man
attending his wife’s funeral and witnessing a fight, but the conclusion, well
that made me sit up. It was very well done and I didn’t see it coming.
The second
short, Nothing But Grief didn’t
disappoint. It was, if anything, better. Written in the first person it opens
with the protagonist Ped getting a beating via a hard man, Steph, who works for
the local opposition. The pair end up in a pub and hatch a plan to take out
their respective bosses. However all is, by no means, what it seems and there
are several twists that make this an excellent tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I
felt it the highlight of the series.
It’s Not About You is a thought provoking, clever
story about a boy who witnesses an argument between his parents whilst the
final episode of Buffy is on TV
(there’s a reason for this). It’s a mix of first person (from the boy’s
perspective) and third person (Graham Pollok a child psychologist) which gives
it an additional dimension. Smart, clever writing.
Johnny Walker is a brief, but also thought
provoking story about a tramp and his reasons for being.
Action is a decent story. It steps away
from the above because it’s more of a thriller / espionage story with a twist
at the end (note, there’s a theme developing here). Well done, which may form
an interesting novel length book.
In Stalk and Cheese we meet Colette, a
waitress who starts to receive threatening calls and letters. Who’s sending
them? Her ex-boyfriend or ex-school mates? Again this steps away from the norm
as there are progressive flashbacks from when Colette was at school and had an
issue with a group of boys. Again it doesn’t end quite as you’d expect.
In The Mistake Graham Pollok makes a
reappearance when his wife is kidnapped by a recently escaped mental patient
Graham had put away several years ago. The boy claims he’s Graham’s son. This
story had some echoes of recent events heavily covered in the press, but I
won’t reveal what these are so as not to spoil the story.
Throughout
the dialogue is excellent. The descriptive elements are well balanced, just
right for a short story – which illustrates the author’s skill as a writer.
Whatever Danny attempted worked well, sometimes brilliantly. None of the tales
are quite what they seem and will keep the reader guessing. I’d very happily
sit down and read Danny’s other work.
FYI:
Nothing of
note.
Format/Typo Issues:
None.
Rating: **** Four Stars
6 comments:
Keith, I was very excited to see you enjoyed Danny Gillan’s short stories. He also has another excellent novel titled Will You Love Me Tomorrow.
Many thanks for the kind words. Well, not that many. Maybe about six or so. Yes, six thanks for the kind words. Any more than that and you'd get a bit above yourselves.
I thank you six times and no more for this review. We don't want you thinking you're special or anything.
Yes enjoyed it a lot. Did you snag Danny's novel for review Linda? Jealous
Wow, Danny. Only two more thanks would have broken the record. I can't believe you got so close and didn't go for it. :)
I snagged it, Keith. :)
dammit!
Post a Comment