Showing posts with label Matthew Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Matthew Williams. Show all posts

Friday 8 May 2015

Not What You Thought? And Other Surprises by P.A. Ruddock

One of my favourite books are collections of shorts. It is a great way of discovering new authors, and I certainly discovered a few in this book. It is a combined effort by Mr Ruddock and five guest writers (Lesley Hayes, Tom Benson, Matthew Williams, John M.W. Smith, Peter Nena.) to raise money for the 'Forget-Me-Not' charity. Some of the stories were better than others, but a well deserved four star.

Not What You Thought? And Other Surprises by P.A. Ruddock


I love short stories, there is nothing better than to have a good short to entertain you during a commute or lunch break. No need to remember what was going on, or missing your stop as you were just so engrossed in a thriller. This book certainly entertained me. I can see mister Ruddock took great glee in what is an inspiration to many writers; fictionally murder the people that have gotten on your bad side. There are some excellent contributions from the five guest writers and the overall standard of writing is high. A variety of styles and subjects are used and the changes in pace work well. With such a mix of themes it was obvious that I would like some stories better than others. There is a common thread with many of the stories having a twist at the end. This mostly works well, but sometimes it is a twist too far. Life behind bars was for me a highlight and a low point at the same time. It is a powerful tale about arriving at prison after sentencing and I don’t think the twist was appropriate. I would recommend this book as it is a fine collection of shorts and the proceeds are going to the ‘Forget-Me-Not’ charity for homeless ex-servicemen and those affected by PTSD. Do good and have a great read at the same time; what more do you want!


Tuesday 17 March 2015

Twist In The Tale by Matthew Williams

I'm always a sucker for a freebie, so I downloaded it ages ago to my kindle when it was available for free. I read it while commuting to Monaco in 2013. To say that this review was long over due is an understatement. However the book is very, very short, so the review too is rather brief. But hey you had a post from me yesterday.

Twist In The Tale by Matthew Williams



This is a bundle of short stories, each with a twist at the end. They are written from a number of different perspectives, an interesting mix of first and third person views. Mr Williams’s style is light and breezy and I read the book during a few train commutes, for which short stories such as these are ideal.