Genre: Short Story Collection
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.”
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.
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.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
FYI:
Added for
Reprise Review: Malocclusion,
tales of misdemeanor by V.S. Kemanis was a nominee in the Short Story
Collections and Anthologies category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards.
Original review ran October 31, 2013.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words
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