In terms of premise, this is one of the strongest anthology collections I have ever read. This book contains four short stories, all of which center around crime or punishment with a futuristic horror twist. The shortness of the anthology allows for a really tight premise and every story feels like it fits with the others because of that.
I also really liked the plots of the stories themselves. Each one has something unique to say and they manage to avoid treading on each other's toes. I think my favourite was 'Early Release', a story about a world where murderers get the chance to fight for their freedom if they can avoid being hunted down by their victim's families for 24 hours. 'Dummy' was really intriguing and had a surprise factor that the others lacked somewhat which was great. I enjoyed the plots of all four of them though and would be interested in reading more of a similar vein.
Sadly, what lets this collection down is the writing. Every character speaks so flatly and it was incredibly distracting. They will just state their motivations or feelings in a way that humans never actually talk like. At one point a character self-identifies as a 'millennial' and uses it as a reason he doesn't watch the news in a way which is definitely not a joke that character is making. It was the only real problem of the anthology but it was a big one which makes it hard to overlook.
Having said that, I think there is real growth possible for this author. The stories are solid as I said and there's definitely talent in the plotting and execution (no pun intended). If the dialogue was fixed and the characters felt more real, I can see them really going places.
Overall Rating:
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