Reviewed by: Keith Nixon
Genre: Crime /
Noir / Hard Boiled / Short Story Collection
Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words
Availability
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Author:
Joe Clifford is
acquisitions editor for Gutter Books and managing editor of The Flash
Fiction Offensive. He is the author of three books.
You can learn more about
the author at his website.
Description:
The
author’s debut collection of noir and crime stories previously published in a
variety of magazines, brought together for the first time.
Appraisal:
I’ve
previously reviewed and thoroughly enjoyed two of Joe Clifford’s novels – Junkie Love and Wake The Undertaker so I was interested to see how he dealt with
the shorter form. In summary – very well. This is an enjoyable, if at times
challenging, read. There’s a real spread of subjects, from drugs and their
users to combat stress to prison escapes. Some have nods to Clifford’s past
experiences as a user (read Junkie Love
for more information). However, all have an underlying element of empathy for
the characters. This is not sensationalized story telling.
Most are at
the high end of the quality spectrum, one or two not so. To be fair, those that
fell into the latter segment were the shortest of shorts, where there was
insufficient room to develop a narrative, but that’s just down to my preferences.
There are
too many stories to go through in detail so I’ll pick out some of the
highlights.
Another Man’s Treasure is written in the first person, a
perspective that Clifford seems most comfortable writing within. The main
character and a friend called Geiger trawl flea markets with the aim of making
a few dollars from junk. Geiger thinks he’s got the perfect scam to rip off one
of the stall holders, but the tables are turned in rather gruesome fashion.
Meat follows several Russian prisoners
who escape the most brutal of confinements and battle their way across a frozen
landscape, miles from anywhere. In order to survive they need a source of food…
In Red Pistachios a once successful writer
is struggling with life, literally. A student of his, one to whom the main
character owes a debt in effect, returns after several years away, but to
disastrous consequences.
Joe
Clifford has many enviable strong points as a writer, but the one that shone
through yet again was his descriptive narrative. Simply read and enjoy this
collection of high quality work.
FYI:
Scenes of
drug taking.
Format/Typo Issues:
Nothing of
note.
Rating: **** Four Stars
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