The Pain of Others

Letty Dobesh Chronicles #1

by Blake Crouch

Letty Dobesh, a gorgeous, degenerate thief, is fresh out of the clink and back to her old tricks—in this case, burglarizing suites at a luxury hotel in Asheville, North Carolina.

But when she’s surprised by returning guests on her last room of the day, she’s forced to hide in the closet to avoid getting caught, and inadvertently overhears a hitman being contracted to murder the wife of a wealthy lawyer.

Letty is hardly a heroine, but this puts even her threadbare morality to the test.

Only in hindsight will she see her choice to intervene for what it is…a dramatic fork in the trajectory of her life, propelling her toward a terrifying shocker of an ending that neither she (or you) ever saw coming.

From the author of Desert Places, Abandon, and Serial Uncut comes this 10,000-word thriller novella, which also contains an interview with Blake, excerpts from all four of his novels, and two bonus excerpts.

Genres: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Horror, Crime, Short Stories, Novella

82 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 5, 2011

About the author

Blake Crouch is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the forthcoming novel, Dark Matter, for which he is writing the screenplay for Sony Pictures. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT television show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. He has written more than a dozen novels that have been translated into over thirty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Crouch lives in Colorado with his family.

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Pain of Others is the first in a series of novellas that feature Blake Crouch's all-time favorite character creation: Letty Dobesh. You may be familiar with this character from TNT's television series: Good Behavior. The Pain of Others is the Letty Dobesh story that most closely follows the television show, specifically the first episode. However, the endings are vastly different which makes the book worth the read. When I say vastly different? Yeah...it has been a long while since a twist like that made my jaw drop to the floor. Seriously, check it out!

Note: I read this story as part of Blake Crouch's Kindle in Motion ebook: Good Behavior. Good Behavior comprises all three interlinked novellas (The Pain of Others, Sunset Key, and Grab), which together form a novel-length portrait of Letty Dobesh's character. I highly recommend this collection for fans of character-based thrillers.

[Rina · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending of this novella shouldn't have surprised me because I know a little of this author.
What a great piece of writing. So much covered in so little space! The main character is a thief.
She overhears a man making plans to kill his wife. She devises a way to find out where they live, thinking she will save the woman's life. From this point on I couldn't begin to describe he events leading to the end of the story. Suffice it to say, wow and wow! Maybe another Wow too.

[Jules (Never enough time to read) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gripping short Novella, I am definitely planning on reading more shorts in the series starring Letty.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like other Blake Crouch novels I’ve read, the unexpected twists and turns keep you turning the pages, reading way too late at night.

[S · Rating 1 out of 5]

The plot is not at all credible and the author's insistence on using sentence fragments as some sort of stylistic flourish is just irritating. I'm still not sure why Letty decided to take action in the first place-her character wasn't well enough developed to make me buy what she does next.

[Jazalyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet story. I enjoyed it up to the final twist, which was unexpected but also something that seemed improbable. Also, there was a mention of one person's ethnicity, when no other ethnicity was mentioned, which i thought was weird.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cool story with a unique angle. The end felt like a leap from the grounded reality of the other 95% but I don't want to fault it too much. Could make a cool movie.

[James Barrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short story held your interest the entire time.

What I didn't like about it was something I've never experience before this book. I read this both on my Kindle Paperwhite and on the Kindle app for the iPhone 5.

While reading it on my iPhone videos clips from what I'm assuming were from the TV show popped up on the page. This took me totally out of the story and the moment. I get mental pictures from descriptive writing and do not need or want someone else's interpretation of the material shoved in my face.

Has anyone else had this experience?

(Just noticed it was referred to as: "Good Behaviour" Kindle in motion)

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for this great suspense-filled novella with some great twists. I love the way Blake Crouch writes and brings his characters to life. I didn't watch the TV show based on the trilogy so this is a real treat because the twists are the best. Don't try and predict this ending if you didn't see the series on TV. Letty Dobesh is accidentally involved in a contract killing and tries to do the right thing, one thing leads to another and people aren't who they seem to be.

[osoordinary · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a SUPER short story! And it went in a completely different direction than the pilot for Good Behavior (which I LOVED btw), but it was pretty good. This version I got from Overdrive also had four excerpts from different books Crouch has written. I think I might read more of his stuff.

[Britt Echols · Rating 3 out of 5]

Letty is a thief and is robbing a hotel room when she overhears a guy hire a contract killer to kill his wife. Letty csn go to the police so she intervenes and helps the wife. Turns out the wife is a psycho who tortures and kills for fun. Good twist.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was almost a 4-star read until the ending, which even Crouch admitted went more into horror territory rather than mystery/thriller territory. Eughhh. Very disturbing even for this seasoned thriller reader.

[Mary Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sour little piece of noir, Pain succeeds mainly on the strength of its characters, especially the compelling protagonist, who deserve better than this shocking-for-the-sake-of-shocking tale.

[a hooded figure from your friendly neighbourhood dog park · Rating 2 out of 5]

it's OK as a glimpse at the show's origins, but makes me really happy Letty, Javier, Jacob and Co exist in the show form.

[Miriam Michalak · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, fast read. Will grab more about Letty as she's a likeable character

[it's ya boy harv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Terribly forgettable.

[Rita · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short story that starts out like thriller but ends in the blood of horror. Wait for it

[Mira · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The twist that Daphne was the disturbed one took me by surprise.

[Nolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short story. Not sure why a thief would care. Interesting story.

[Joanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, gripping novella starring Letty Dobesh - thief and vigilante. A good start to the LD series!

[kutingtin · Rating 4 out of 5]

started and finished this whole series way back 2017.

[aprilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed everything but the format, got tired of it and dnf, I'll find another Blake Crouch title to read instead

[Jim Razinha · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am unfamiliar with the television series and I also didn’t realize this was mostly an interview and excerpts but it did show promise.

[Charles (the booktrovert) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of a three book series by Blake Crouch. Quick exciting reads.
Blake Crouch is a master of suspense.

[Autumn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Blake Crouch’s short stories so much! It’s a true talent how quickly he gets me connected with the main character and their story.

[Praise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked Letty, it's hard to incorporate a morality compass dilemma in a criminal but this was well done.

[Diogenes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short novella - if it weren't part of a trilogy it would be a short story - packed with tension, with a character one could become quite fond of. The only complaint is that there wasn't more of it, and that is remedied by the following novella, Sunset Key.

[Dhara Parekh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this wasn't an extraordinary story and the ending was a bit predictable, I loved the pace of the plot.

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Watch out whose room you creep into...

I enjoyed this short story by Blake Crouch. I loved DESERT PLACES when it first came out in 2004 and ABANDON in 2009. Recently I've blasted through all his available books/stories with Run being one of my favorite books - EVER. I like Crouch's writing style - can you tell?

"The Pain of Others" was a great short story. The premise has been used before - in other stories/movies but Crouch put his own little demented twist in it at the end. The writing was crisp. Letty was a unique "heroine."

Keep 'em coming.