A Century of Great Suspense Stories

by Jeffery Deaver (Editor), Erle Stanley Gardner, Ed Gorman

New York Times bestselling author Jeffery Deaver's task was to select the best mystery/horror/detective stories of the century by the world's most celebrated writers. The result is a triumph, featuring masterpieces of suspense by:

Robert Bloch, Lawrence Block, Anthony Boucher, Frederic Brown, James M. Cain, Max Allan Collins, Jeffery Deaver, Stanley Ellin, Harlan Ellison, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ed Gorman, Patricia Highsmith, Reginald Hill, Tony Hillerman, Evan Hunter, Stephen King, John D. MacDonald ,Ed McBain, Sharyn McCrumb, Ruth Rendell, Sara Paretsky, Georges Simenon, Mickey Spillane, Donald E. Westlake, Robert Barnard, Anna Katharine Green, Jeremiah Healy, John Lutz, Ross MacDonald, Michael Malone, Steve Martini, Margaret Millar, Marcia Muller, Bill Pronzini, Ellery Queen, Lisa Scottoline, Rex Stout, Janwillem van de Wetering

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Mystery, Anthologies, Thriller, Suspense, Crime

608 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

#1 international bestselling author of over thirty novels and three collections of short stories. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into 25 languages. His first novel featuring Lincoln Rhyme, The Bone Collector, was made into a major motion picture starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie. He's received or been shortlisted for a number of awards around the world.

Reviews

[Jill H. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a fairly interesting book of short stories but the title is rather misleading. Many of the stories are not necessarily of the suspense genre but rather detective tales. As with all books of short stories, there are some good ones and some bad ones. I hate to say it but there are more "less than good" ones but the good ones were excellent.

There is obviously a full range of authors, some of which were new to me but we also have Stephen King, Ruth Rendell, and Rex Stout. The King story Quitters, Inc. is a real dandy! I skipped several of the entries but overall, enjoyed the read. It is a 3.5 rating.

[Vít · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pravda, už jsem četl lepší sbírky detektivních povídek, ale ani tahle není vyloženě špatná. Bavily mě hlavně kousky těch známějších a dneska už klasických autorů, je tu třeba Rex Stout, Ed McBain, Ellery Queen, Mickey Spillane, Ross MacDonald nebo Donald Westlake. Pěkná je i Kingovka "Odvykači s.r.o.", kterou už jsem ale někde četl. Není to zrovna detektivní příběh, to ovšem platí i o některých dalších povídkách, do téhle knihy zařazených. Proč Deaver vybral zrovna tyhle, je těžko říct.
Jsou tu samozřejmě i slabší kousky, a bude jich nejméně polovina, už proto to na víc než tři hvězdy vytáhnout nemůžu. Nicméně, jak už píšu na začátku, ta sbírka není úplně špatná, a pokud máte klasické detektivní povídky rádi, klidně ji zkuste.

[James S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology with the usual mix of a few good stories and a lot of bad ones. It's clear the author felt pressured to include big-name authors, regardless of the quality of the particular work chosen for this anthology. And though it's titled "A Century of Great Suspense Stories," most of the stories don't fall into that genre at all. The last story is a full-blown fantasy story, complete with ghosts.

My ratings:

5 - "Reasons Unknown", Stanley Ellin
4 - "The Gentleman in the Lake", Robert Barnard; "The Weekender", Jeffery Deaver; "So Young, So Fair, So Dead", John Lutz; "A Very Merry Christmas", Ed McBain; "Among My Souvenirs", Sharyn McCrumb; "Stacked Deck", Bill Pronzini; "Burning End", Ruth Rendell; "This is Death", Donald Westlake
3 - "Voir Dire", Jeremiah Healy; "Quitters, Inc", Stephen King; "The People Across The Canyon", Margaret Millar; "Benny's Space", Marcia Muller; "Lady Hillary", Janwillem van de Wetering
2 - 21 stories
1 - 1 story (the usual suspect, Harlan Ellison)

So, out of 36 stories, 9 were worth reading, or 25% of the anthology.

[jaroiva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jako většina antologií obsahuje kniha horší i lepší kousky. Tentokrát mám dojem, že těch horších je trochu víc.
Na takových souborech mám ráda, že objevím třeba mně dosud neznámé autory, u kterých se pak podívám po dalších knihách. Tady se mi ale nejvíc líbí povídky od těch, které už jsem znala, a jediný nový objev Boucher v češtině asi nemá žádnou knihu, jen povídky v antologiích, tak nic :(. Budu muset leda sáhnout po angličtině.

[Luke X. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most all anthologies, there are hits and misses. My chief complaint was that many of the stories are, in my opinion, not "suspense". Several of them are more classifiable as detective, mystery or whodunit. Good stories in their own right, but not what I wanted from a suspense collection. Also, I admit the difficulty of generating true suspense in the short story format. All in all, I enjoyed reading the collection, but it did miss my mark by a bit.

[Carol Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved that each short story could be read in one sitting and it was great to discover some writers I had not experienced before.

[Bonnie Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've carried this collection with me, camping, for the last 3 or 4 years and I’d read a short story here and a short story there—short fiction is sometimes the perfect vacation read; no overly-demanding investment in a story or characters and, in this collection, lots of variety as spanning a century means myriad voices. (Although there are an overwhelming number of tales in this book that are classic detective noir, with characters “Who talk like this, see?” through clenched teeth. Who ogle dames wearing slashes of scarlet lipstick and smoke cigs. These (wise)guys say “Look, Mac” and do things like douse the lights. So, if you’re looking for noir atmosphere, you’ve come to the right set of stories).

Beyond that, a few duds just didn’t pull me in, but there’re many gems here. The Gentleman in The Lake is classic British mystery. Quitters Inc makes the addictions counselor in me laugh darkly every time I read it. The Little House At Croix-Rousse is clearly inspired by Agatha Christie, and This Is Death will appeal to anyone who loves the supernatural. You a vigilante? Don’t miss Stacked Deck, but if roots in science fiction and/or spec fic are more your game, you’ll appreciate Killing Bernstein and A Matter of Principal.

Deeply disturbing is the narrator in Lady Hillary, but he’s a somewhat distant second to the unnerving little girl in The People Across The Canyon. Yet all the neck-twitchy stuff is balanced out by the too-cute Carrying Concealed, an adorable plotline about the plight of a lawyer and his wife with newborn twins:
‘…she stretched her toe to touch his, still barefoot.
“Is this sex?” Tom asked.
“Yes.”
“Funny. I remember it differently.”

All sorts of writing royalty present here: Stephen King, Sharyn McCrumb, Margaret Miller, Ellery Queen and Lisa Scottoline, among others.

Verdict: if you have a broad-strokes definition of suspense, enjoy short stories and the variety of many varied voices, if you also are okay with dated fiction and can see the charm of its yester-year depictions, then this is certainly a collection you’ll like quite a lot.
4 I’ve-Had-This-So-Long-I-Can’t-Remember-Not-Readng-It-Stars.

[Old Man Aries · Rating 3 out of 5]

a cura di Jeffery Deaver. Ovvero i racconti sono di altri autori ma raccolti dal mago del thriller ed hanno un solo filo comune: la suspence nelle sue varie forme. Devo dire che, nonostante la mole, il libro si legge volentieri e velocemente, anche grazie alla variet�� di autori presenti: troviamo un racconto per ognuno, a partire dallo stesso Deaver per arrivare a Stephen King passando da Steve Martini, dal classico Ellery Queen e da tanti altri autori pi�� o meno conosciuti. Non dico che tutti i racconti fossero nelle mie corde, ma �� stata indubbiamente una lettura pi�� che gradevole, utile anche a conoscere autori magari mai letti prima.

[Blake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Volume ONE:
Overall this book provided quite a few stories from some very good authors. I found the book somewhat enjoyable. A couple of stories I really enjoyed (see ** below) however for the most part the stories where average.

** "Missing: Page Thirteen" by Anna Katharine Green is an excellent short story about events that happen where a female charactor is called in to help solve the problem...immediately. The Start is slow but all the rest is GREAT. This whole book was worth this short story.

** "Quitters Inc." by Stephen Kings Also very good

[Kerry]

I don't recall exactly why - but I never did make it all the way through this book. It's actually a collection of stories and after the first few I just lost interest. Maybe some day I'll go back to it.

[Daniel2 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Just OK. A string of fairly good stories. Very few written well. Stephen King's "Quitters, Inc." is one of the highlights, which says something of the narrative quality of the remaining stories. Still, worth a read of you're a fan of mystery fiction.

[Gay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edited by Jeffrey Deaver

[Lorie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good introduction to writers I had not read before. Some stories were amazing, and some were just OK.

[Joe Noir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Superior.

[Desira · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly great collection of short suspense, ranging from horror to detective novels. Usually with such a broad collection, there would be some hit or miss, but I really enjoyed these all.

[Vanessa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A hodge podge of crime fiction that neither spans a century nor provides much suspense.

[Beth Shultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Took me forever to finish this. The stories generally are very good and entertaining.

[Charla]

great short story compilation! Great authors and great writing. Not edge of your seat stuff but definitely appreciating the writing. Love Deavers collection's and will be on the hunt for more.