Book Review: Blood on Their Hands

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

[5 stars]

Blood on Their Hands Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Lawrence Block
Class/Genre: Mystery [Short Stories]
Berkley, Jul 2003, $23.95, 352 pp.

This anthology consists of nineteen well-written new stories that focus, for the most part, on how everyday people react when pushed over the edge. The contributions are fun to follow as each story adheres to the premise though the scenarios differ between the contributions. This in turn leads to the reader in several cases placing themselves in the precarious situations in order to ponder how they would have acted. The authors are some of the leaders of the mystery/suspense genre and obviously everyone took the tasking seriously to the benefit of the audience. The trouble with this book is that the tales are so good this reviewer broke a personal commandment of reading no more than three shorts a day (to fully savor a collection), but this time finished BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS in one sitting as will most readers.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner