Mystery Book Reviews

Book Reveiw: Death Do Us Part edited by Harlan Coben

By Sandy Amazeen Sep 5, 2006, 1:40 GMT

Coben has assembled nineteen delightfully twisted short stories of murder and double dealing that will leave you looking at your spouse, repairman, even your dog in a whole new light. The anthology opens with the destruction of a writer’s family life by his wife’s disappearance during her daily jog. He is thrust into a situation that resembles one of his stories in Ridley Pearson’s “Queeny.” City born and raised, Wolfe discovers the charms of country life while doing electrical work. He thought himself lucky after marrying a rich woman whose husband suddenly disappeared; too bad the bliss didn’t last. Fortunately he had the perfect solution in Lee Child’s “Safe Enough.”

Charles Todd offers up a sweet, wartime love story in “Home Coming” while Tim Maleeny presents a deadly culinary feast in honor of a sixtieth wedding anniversary with a fun twist on an old theme in “Till Death Do Us Part.” Every good dog has its day or is it revenge in “Wifey” by R.L. Stine. Charles Ardai’s “The Home Front” is an outstanding noir tale of an accidental death at the hands of a WWII federal agent that leads to a series of shattered lives. These fun little forays into some very twisted, creative minds will leave readers chuckling, pondering and wanting more.