Reviews

The Best American Mystery Stories 2005 by Joyce Carol Oates, Otto Penzler

akleinri's review

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challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I really enjoyed some of the stories, but overall I don’t feel like my life is better for having read this book. It also took me like 9 months to get through.

vdarcangelo's review

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3.0

Best stories:

Richard Burgin: "The Identity Club"
Daniel Handler: "Delmonico"
Tim McLoughlin: "When All This Was Bay Ridge"
Joseph Raiche: "One Mississippi" (amazing)
Scott Turow: "Loyalty"

jess10adam's review

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2.0

Usually I love these compilations of short stories, but this one was simply depressing. It seemed like the main character dies in almost all of them. So you build up this attachment to the characters and then they all die in horrible ways. Some of the stories weren't mysteries either. So I would skip this one!
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