More Twisted Collected Stories Vol. II

In each of the 16 stories in this volume, Deaver keeps you guessing as the twists and turns keep coming. A master of the thriller, Deaver will definitely give you thrills and chills, and keep you reading well into the night. Fans of Deaver will not want to miss this exciting collection of short stories. Ranging from the 1800s (with a surprise guest!) to the present day, comprised of murder mysteries, swindles and scams, you won't be able to put it down. High recommend from me!

Once again, Jeffrey Deaver provides a collection of short stories where nothing is what it seems... all the way to the last twist ending. The real gems in the book are "Born Bad", about a mother who can't understand what went wrong when raising her daughter, "A Dish Served Cold" about a man living in terror of death by a stalker, and "The Commuter" where a man's attempts to solve his personal and business problems via cell phone during the commute leads to shocking consequences. In addition, Lincoln Rhyme fans will enjoy "Locard's Principle" where Sachs and Rhyme follow the evidence in the murder of a wealthy philatrophist. Deaver never ceases to amaze, and just when you think you have the story figured out, you can count on him to surprise you once again.

This book is not a follow on to the first book, Twisted, but I found myself comparing them both all the time I was reading it. They are different in that this new book seems to be more in-depth in the story work. It was an absolutely excellent read and I found it hard to put down once I started. The stories are very well thought out and I still couldn't work out what the twist was going to be until it appeared right in front of me. Another triumph by Jeffrey Deaver - well worth reading.

While I love to read stories, I have a major gripe with short story collections. Usually, some of the stories are great, a couple of them are just so so, and some others just don't do anything for me. A few years ago I bought Twisted, Jeffery Deaver's first story collection. I started to read with the intention of reading a story now and then. But to my amazement I found myself racing from one story to the next and before I knew what had happened I had finished them all! And even more surprising: there wasn't a single bad story in the batch! The same thing is happening now with his new collection More Twisted. There are no bad stories here. Of course, some of them I like more than others, but all of them are gripping, entertaining and surprising. All the characters and situations are quickly sketched and again and again I found myself captivated after just one or two pages. In fact, the only drawback I can think of with this collection is the central idea of 'stories with twist endings'. After a while I found myself getting into a suspicious mode and while reading a new story I would wonder "okay, if this is not what it seems, what could it be instead???" For any lover of thrillers and short stories, this collection is an absolute feast!!! I for one can't wait for Even More Twisted....

As with its short story predecessor (see TWISTED), this is a terrific crime thriller anthology. There are thirteen reprints with three from the late 19990s and the remaining from this decade. There are also three new tales (Afraid, Locard's Principle, and The Voyeur) with Locard's Principle being a longer short story starring Lincoln Rhyme. Each of the tales are fun to read as most of them share a common twist that leads to questioning just who a character truly is; are they a thief, a killer, a psychopath or just an innocent person in the wrong place at the wrong time. Crime thriller fans will appreciate this entertaining exhilarating compilation in which readers will keep changing their mind over who is guilty in tales faster than "a sniper's bullet". Harriet Klausner