Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night, edited by James Patterson

THRILLER: Stories to Keep You Up All Night
Edited by: James Patterson
MIRA Books
Reviewed by: Rob Holden

I have never been a fan of short story anthologies, as a rule. Perhaps it has just been my bad luck, but the majority of anthologies I have tried in recent years have featured one or two decent stories by big name authors – followed by what can be best described as substandard material by authors you are never likely to hear from again. So when Sarie Morrell – ReadersRoom’s book publicity columnist – told me that she would be sending me a copy of THRILLER, I was all set to take a quick look at it and then spend a little time thinking up an excuse for not reviewing it (I hate giving negative reviews). The quick look ended up being just under five hours (and ten stories) long – ended only by the fact that it was past 9:00 in the evening and I hadn’t even started dinner! The book became my constant companion for the next couple of days – and since finishing it I have gone back and read a couple of the stories a second time. I have no doubt that in the coming weeks – when I have a little free time – I will be re-reading them all again.

So much for not being a fan of short story anthologies.

THRILLER: Stories to Keep You Up All Night is a collection of short stories by members of (and for the benefit of) ITW – International Thriller Writers – an organization that started a couple of years ago to promote the thriller genre, and has been growing by leaps and bounds. Internationally recognized bestselling author James Patterson served as editor on the project – and provides a brief sketch of both the contributing authors’ careers and how the story they have contributed came into being. Long time readers of ReadersRoom.com will notice many familiar names among the contributors – Steve Berry, David Dun, James Grippando, Gayle Lynds, David Morrell and M.J. Rose, who join a host of other authors including Lee Child, John Lescroart, Eric Van Lustbader, Douglas Preston, and Christopher Rice. In all, there are 30 short stories in this collection, and quite honestly, there isn’t a clunker in the bunch. James Patterson’s brief introductions to each story are informative, often witty, without exception fascinating – providing a real insight into how the story actually came about, as opposed to the usual fluff you so often find in anthology introductions. The reader gets the feeling that Patterson really enjoyed each and every one of these stories and is hoping that we, the reader, will as well.

Thrillers, as a genre, have been around for years – overlapping with the more popular and recognized genres such as horror, suspense and mystery – and have always been somewhat under appreciated. And yet, thrillers come in every shape and size and with every sort of character imaginable – from the suave and sophisticated James Bond created fifty years ago by Ian Fleming, to Peter Benchly’s man-eating shark in JAWS, to David Morrell’s intrepid urban explorers in this year’s bestselling CREEPERS. Scratch a horror novel, or a spy novel – look a little deeper into much of the Science Fiction being published today, or legal mysteries, or even romantic suspense and BANG – there it is – elements of the thriller! The fact that more and more authors are attempting to classify themselves as thriller writers – and have formed the ITW to promote the genre – is a long overdue and much needed step in the right direction. That these same authors have contributed to this particular and unique anthology makes the book worthy of a look in and of itself.

But what makes this anthology really stand out is the writing. First person, third person, multiple points of view – you get it all in this collection, and by people who do it better than anybody else in the business. This book is filled with “big name” authors writing at the top of their game and, even if some of the names might not be familiar to you, I doubt you will forget them after reading their contributions to THRILLER. These people can flat out write – and the stories you find in this collection are not the product of a couple of hours at the computer to fulfill an obligation. These are unique, well thought out, exquisitely plotted vignettes – many of them featuring characters from the various authors’ series work – all entertaining, and all exploring the varied and wonderful permutations of the thriller.

THRILLER: Stories to Keep You Up All Night – at $24.95 list and almost six hundred pages – is one of those books that will not only keep your engrossed for hours reading, but also introduce you to writers who you might not know, but would like to read more of. It is definitely a MUST read.