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A review by samhouston
Buenos Aires Noir by Ariel Magnus, Claudia Piñeiro, Elsa Osorio, Maria Ines Krimer, Enzo Maqueira, Pablo De Santis, Alejandro Parisi, Veronica Abdala, Inés Garland, Inés Fernández Moreno, Ernesto Mallo, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Alejandro Soifer, Leandro Ávalos Blacha
4.0
Buenos Aires Noir is a recent addition to the always interesting Akashic Books noir series. Each of the books collects a group of fourteen or fifteen short stories that have something in common, be it city, region, or another type of setting (think prison, etc.) The books are all introduced by someone familiar with the setting being featured and with the authors whose work is being presented. Admittedly, some of these collections are better than others, but of the dozen or so of them I've read now, I can't recall even one of them that did not entertain me and keep me turning pages.
This one contains 14 short stories which are, as always, divided into four aptly-titled sections. This time around, the sections are titled "How to Get Away with It," "Crimes? Or Misdemeanors?," "Perfect Crimes," and "Revenge." As it turns out, all most all of my favorite stories appear in the book's first two sections.
I am particularly fond of "Fury of the Worm a story about a Buenos Aires street-kid who grew up into a vicious crime boss who calls himself "Worm." Be warned that this Alejandro Parisi story requires a strong stomach at moments, especially when a sexual predator is being dealt with by Worm in a move to score points with another city crime family. I also greatly enjoyed "A Face in the Crowd," an intensely suspenseful story by Pablo De Santis about the dangers of publishing photos taken on the streets. Let's just say that you never know who's image you might capture - nor how they are going to feel about that invasion of their privacy.
If you haven't read any of these Akashic books yet, you're in luck because there are dozens of them on the market now - and they are uniformly good. Personally, I'm already looking forward "Houston Noir," a title that is listed as "Forthcoming" in the Buenos Aires collection.
This one contains 14 short stories which are, as always, divided into four aptly-titled sections. This time around, the sections are titled "How to Get Away with It," "Crimes? Or Misdemeanors?," "Perfect Crimes," and "Revenge." As it turns out, all most all of my favorite stories appear in the book's first two sections.
I am particularly fond of "Fury of the Worm a story about a Buenos Aires street-kid who grew up into a vicious crime boss who calls himself "Worm." Be warned that this Alejandro Parisi story requires a strong stomach at moments, especially when a sexual predator is being dealt with by Worm in a move to score points with another city crime family. I also greatly enjoyed "A Face in the Crowd," an intensely suspenseful story by Pablo De Santis about the dangers of publishing photos taken on the streets. Let's just say that you never know who's image you might capture - nor how they are going to feel about that invasion of their privacy.
If you haven't read any of these Akashic books yet, you're in luck because there are dozens of them on the market now - and they are uniformly good. Personally, I'm already looking forward "Houston Noir," a title that is listed as "Forthcoming" in the Buenos Aires collection.