Scan barcode
circularcubes's review against another edition
3.0
Hannah Tinti's Home Sweet Home, Linda Barne's Lucky Penny, Andre Dubus's Townies, Jason Brown's Driving the Heart, and George Harrar's The 5:22 were the stand-outs from this collection.
The others were mostly so-so, and the Infinite Jest excerpt was pretty hard to get through, and reaffirmed my desire to never read Infinite Jest.
The others were mostly so-so, and the Infinite Jest excerpt was pretty hard to get through, and reaffirmed my desire to never read Infinite Jest.
catladyreba's review against another edition
2.0
Meh. Kind of uneven. Definitely not as good as Boston Noir 1.
kcmc59's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed some of the selections, but found them not as noir as the first collection.
bickleyhouse's review against another edition
5.0
I liked this book so much, I'm going to start looking for others in the series. I love short stories, to begin with, and I have discovered that I also love the "noir" genre of short stories. With the exception of the next to last story in this collection, every one of these left me hungry for more.
The Marriage Privilege, by Chuck Hogan. A man guilty of a drunk driving killing shamelessly attempts to woo the paraplegic widow of the victim, so that she won't have to testify against him in court.
Night-Side, by Joyce Carol Oates. An intellectual becomes convinced of the reality of the spirit world.
Home Sweet Home, by Hannah Tinti. A couple is mysteriously murdered in their home. Details unfold of an affair. One of my favorites.
Surrogate, by Robert B. Parker. A woman takes vengeance after being raped twice by the same man. One of my favorites.
Mushrooms, by Dennis Lehane. A complex story of how intertwined various events can be.
Lucky Penny, by Linda Barnes. A cab driver is robbed. Or is she? Another favorite.
Blanche Cleans Up, by Barbara Neely. This is an excerpt from a larger work. In this excerpt, a woman is helping a friend serve at a political party. She witnesses what she believes is someone stealing from the home owner. She has no clue what really happened.
The Balance of the Day, by George V. Higgins. A group of guys are planning to take out an Irish mob boss.
Bait, by Kenneth Abel, another excerpt. A detective is investigating a money laundering business that fronts as a pizza joint.
Townies, by Andre Dubos. An elderly security guard discovers a female murder victim. The first half of the story is from the guard's perspective. The second half, from the murderer's.
Driving the Heart, by Jason Brown. A couple of guys are driving a donated heart to an emergency transplant location, through a storm.
The 5:22, by George Harrar. A charming story about chance encounters on the subway. Another favorite.
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. Another excerpt. I have no idea what this story is about, or what happened. I think a dog was killed. Maybe.
At Night, by David Ryan. A guy is stalking a waitress that he is infatuated with. One of those "He's going to do what??" moments at the end.
I recommend this book for fans of Noir and short stories. I'm very glad I checked this one out. And to think I only got it because it had the word "Boston" in the title.
The Marriage Privilege, by Chuck Hogan. A man guilty of a drunk driving killing shamelessly attempts to woo the paraplegic widow of the victim, so that she won't have to testify against him in court.
Night-Side, by Joyce Carol Oates. An intellectual becomes convinced of the reality of the spirit world.
Home Sweet Home, by Hannah Tinti. A couple is mysteriously murdered in their home. Details unfold of an affair. One of my favorites.
Surrogate, by Robert B. Parker. A woman takes vengeance after being raped twice by the same man. One of my favorites.
Mushrooms, by Dennis Lehane. A complex story of how intertwined various events can be.
Lucky Penny, by Linda Barnes. A cab driver is robbed. Or is she? Another favorite.
Blanche Cleans Up, by Barbara Neely. This is an excerpt from a larger work. In this excerpt, a woman is helping a friend serve at a political party. She witnesses what she believes is someone stealing from the home owner. She has no clue what really happened.
The Balance of the Day, by George V. Higgins. A group of guys are planning to take out an Irish mob boss.
Bait, by Kenneth Abel, another excerpt. A detective is investigating a money laundering business that fronts as a pizza joint.
Townies, by Andre Dubos. An elderly security guard discovers a female murder victim. The first half of the story is from the guard's perspective. The second half, from the murderer's.
Driving the Heart, by Jason Brown. A couple of guys are driving a donated heart to an emergency transplant location, through a storm.
The 5:22, by George Harrar. A charming story about chance encounters on the subway. Another favorite.
Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. Another excerpt. I have no idea what this story is about, or what happened. I think a dog was killed. Maybe.
At Night, by David Ryan. A guy is stalking a waitress that he is infatuated with. One of those "He's going to do what??" moments at the end.
I recommend this book for fans of Noir and short stories. I'm very glad I checked this one out. And to think I only got it because it had the word "Boston" in the title.
mhanlon's review
4.0
Enjoyed the Chuck Hogan, Parker, Joyce Carol Oates, Hannah Tinti, Lehane, Barnes, Harrar, most of the stories, actually. Gave me a couple leads to follow up on (hadn't read anything by Kenneth Abel before), and I think that's one of the main jobs of a short story collection.
More...