The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors

Read The Dark End of the Street: New Stories of Sex and Crime by Today's Top Authors Storyline:

In one fast-paced story, a strong and aggravated man considers the pretty woman at the bar while he fingers the knife in his pocket. But what becomes of his prey when they move to the bedroom? In another tale, a man remembers the victim of a ghastly murder who visited the same hair salon as he does. And a Don Juan of a protagonist has a hobby of marrying vulnerable women, getting access to their bank accounts, and then robbing them blind. But there is much more to this collection than dark-haired vixens and crimes of passion. Some stories are brooding, some twisted; some bring righteous satisfaction, some linger in the back of your mind. What is truly on display is an impressive collection of literary talent: a group of some of the best writers we have, weaving fresh and memorable stories from a pair of classic themes. Taken as a whole, they are a rare treat for fans of great fiction, whether it's high literature, good old-fashioned suspense, or anything in between. Original black-and-white art by artist/author Jonathan Santlofer completes this innovative, exciting, and irresistibly intriguing book-a true literary gem.From Publishers WeeklyAs Rozan notes in her introduction, she and co-editor Santlofer have made selections from both banks of the stream dividing crime writing and literary writing for this superior anthology of 19 new stories on the twin subjects of sex and crime. Highlights include Laura Lippman's Tricks, in which a con man rips women off after seducing them, and Lawrence Block's Scenarios, which takes the reader inside the fantasies of a sadistic murderer. Stephen L. Carter's gift for intricate plotting is on display in The Hereditary Thurifer, perhaps the volume's most distinctive tale, in which the new white rector of a predominantly African-American Washington, D.C., congregation learns that the church was the site of an unsolved crime of passion. Other contributors include Madison Smartt Bell, Lee Child, Amy Hempel, Jonathan Lethem, Joyce Carol Oates, and Edmund White. (May) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistNineteen new stories explore the undeniable connection between sex and crime. Represented are crime-fiction luminaries Lee Child, Lawrence Block, Michael Connelly, and Val McDermid, among others. Block takes a standard sexual-predator-on-the-prowl scenario and gives it a half-dozen little twists on the way to a completely unexpected ending. Child, stepping out from his testosterone-heavy Jack Reacher thrillers, presents a tidy little character study about, well . . . it’s not whom it seems to be about. In “The Perfect Triangle,” Connelly’s lawyer-narrator takes a law student–stripper as a client and learns there are similarities in the professions. Janice Lee exposes the sexual and financial tensions faced by two couples who decide to get away for a country weekend. “The Beheading,” by Francine Prose, is a short, haunting tale of a child unhealthily obsessed with decapitation. Uniformly fine writing will attract readers familiar with the marquee authors and introduce them to a talented group of lesser lights. --Wes Lukowsky