Thursday, October 31, 2013

Malocclusion, tales of misdemeanor / V. S. Kemanis


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Short Story Collection

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: YES  Smashwords: YES  Paper: NO
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

“V.S. Kemanis is a California native and currently resides in New York. As an attorney, she has been a criminal prosecutor for county and state agencies, argued criminal appeals for the prosecution and defense, conducted complex civil litigation, and worked for state appellate courts.”

Kemanis also has three short story collections available and is working on the second novel in her Dana Hargrove legal mystery series. For more, visit her website.

Description:

“Tempting little wrongs, moral dilemmas, subconscious desires. Blinded by self-deception, even the best of us are led astray. In these 14 stories, you'll encounter familiar misdemeanants from every walk of life and their unwitting—or complicit—victims.”

Appraisal:

This is a collection of slice-of-life stories, each with a character who has a flaw, often exacerbated by a dose of self-delusion. With the exception of that flaw, they could be just like us. (Or maybe they are just like us and we don’t want to admit it.) Each is well told, with interesting characters, which might go without saying since it is usually the imperfections that make a character unique.

A few of the stories stood out, each for different reasons. Cat, for the twist ending that snuck up on me. Where I Am stood out because it is much different from the other stories in setting and genre, although that reality was slow in penetrating my consciousness. Last, A Simple Case, because it features Dana Hargrove, the protagonist in Kemanis’ novel Thursday’s List, which I had previously read. This story takes place prior to the novel. Dana learns some lessons that will be beneficial for her future.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.


Rating: ***** Five stars

1 comment:

VS Kemanis said...

For a short story writer, it’s always fascinating to hear which tales in the collection stand out and why. Thanks for reading Malocclusion and for the great review, Al!