What actions must a boy take to become a man? One might use a razor to clear his first growth of beard, while another could employ it as a weapon -- both actions might be a fitting rite of passage. In these dazzling works of fiction, seventeen masters of crime and suspense explore what it means to be a son, what it means to be a father, what it means to be a man. Spanning continents and decades, the stories are set in interconnected worlds both instantly recognizable and astonishingly believable, from long stretches on a dry Texas highway to a bleak London alley, from the claustrophobic confines of an after-hours backroom poker game to a rundown jazz joint in Manhattan. Amid card sharks, revolvers, and shallow graves, the characters who inhabit these stories strive to discover what is right, what will give them dignity, what will earn them respect. Whether at the age of ten or thirty-five, all will come face-to-face with a situation that will brutally separate the men from the boys.
The sixteen short stories and one novella (Andrew Coburn's My Father's Daughter) focus on men coming of age when faced with a crisis that makes each protagonist have to use a path that will hopefully leave them with self-esteem and respect. Interestingly none of the characters are similar in temperament, varying in social or economic class and even age as some boys do not become men until their thirties and older. The settings also vary from Manhattan to the World War I front and obviously differing time periods. What they have in common is that each tale is a superb suspense thriller with the center being a boy turning into a man trying to cope with difficult situations that mature someone rather quickly and that the authors are all men. John Harvey of Charlie Resnick fame brings together a virtue hall of fame of male suspense writers and each hits a thrilling home run. Harriet Klausner
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