Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War

Tess Monaghan #11.6 - The Everyday Housewife

by Jeffery Deaver (Editor), Raymond Benson (Editor)

Nuclear brinksmanship. Psychological warfare. Spies, double agents, femme fatales, and dead drops...
The Cold War–a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button–provides a chilling backdrop to this collection of brand new short stories from today’s most celebrated mystery writers.
Bestselling authors Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson–the only American writers to be commissioned to pen official James Bond novels–have joined forces to bring us twenty masterful tales of paranoia, espionage, and psychological drama. In Joseph Finder’s “Police Report,” the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts may have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia.
In Joseph Finder’s “Police Report”, the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts May have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia. In “Miss Bianca” by Sara Paretsky, a young girl befriends a mouse in a biological warfare laboratory and finds herself unwittingly caught in an espionage drama. And Deaver’s “Comrade 35” offers a unique spin on the assassination of John F. Kennedy–with a signature twist.
From Moscow to New York—and everywhere in between—these twenty tales of intrigue will transport you back to a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world’s two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button...

Genres: Mystery, Short Stories, Fiction, Anthologies, Thriller, Audiobook, Espionage

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

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

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comrade 35: 3/5
Police Report: 4/5
The Last Confession: 5/5
A Card For Mother: 3/5
Miss Bianca: 2/5
The Essence of Small People: 2/5
Checkpoint Charlie: 2/5
Crush Depth: 2/5
The Honey Trap:2/5
House of a Thousand Eyes: 4/5
A Neighbour’s Story: 3/5
Show Stopper:

I didn’t like all the stories but some were really well done. Overall I give the book 3 stars.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

CONTENTS


◾"Introduction" - Jeffery Deaver and
Raymond Benson


▪️"Comrade 35" - Jeffery Deaver
▪️"Police Report" - Joseph Finder
▪️"The Last Confession" - Joseph Lescroart
▪️"A Card for Mother" - Gayle Lynds & John C. Sheldon
▪️"Miss Bianca" - Sara Paretsky
▪️"The Essence of Small People" - Gary Alexander
▪️"Checkpoint Charlie" - Alan Cook
▪️"Crush Depth" - Brendan DuBois
▪️"The Honey Trap" - Bev Vincent
▪️"House of a Thousand Eyes" - Katia Lief
▪️"A Neighbor's Story" - Vicki Doudera
▪️"East Meets West" - Jonathan Stone
▪️"Show Stopper" - Gigi Vernon
▪️"Deep Submergence" - Joseph Wallace
▪️"Sparks to the Bear's Hide" - Robert Mangeot
▪️"Side Effects" - T. Jefferson Parker
▪️"The Everyday Housewife" - Laura Lippman
▪️"Cuba Libre" - Katherine Neville
▪️"His Mother's Son" - J. A. Jance
▪️"Ghosts" - Raymond Benson


The Mystery Writers of America organization has been publishing anthologies of stories by their members since 1946. There has been approximately one each year - some years more than one, occasionally none in a given year. In 2014, the anthology was Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, edited by Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson. All twenty of the stories included were original to the anthology.

I think that this collection is better than many of their others. There are very few stories here that I don't like and a number that I regard as quite good.

The one that I like least is "Side Effects" by the renowned mystery author T. Jefferson Parker. The point of the story seems to be that political conservatives may be monsters. Parker picks an easy target by choosing members of the extremist John Birch Society.

In Katherine Neville's story "Cuba Libre," the bad guys are, appropriately, fascists and those of like opinions, in Spain, Germany, the United States, and throughout the world. The special villains are the United Fruit Company. I think that this begins quite well but turns into a tract rather than a story. I had not known that the author O. Henry originated the term "banana republic."

Almost all the stories in the book are set in Europe or the United States. Gary Alexander's "The Essence of Small People" takes place in Vietnam, principally after the United States military left the country. Corruption is not limited to specific political groups, and having abusive Vietnamese communists in power could be as hard to deal with as dealing with the French or Americans had been. But once in a while, good things may happen.

Brendan DuBois takes a very real tragedy, the 1963 sinking of the USS Thresher submarine and the deaths of all 129 people aboard, and uses that as the subject of a made-up fiction about sabotage in the story "Crush Depth." I think that was an inappropriate choice. I also thought that the intended surprise of the ending was somewhat obvious.

Joseph Wallace's story "Deep Submergence" is set largely undersea. A United States plane carrying a hydrogen bomb has crashed and sunk in deep water off the coast of California in 1968. The public knows a plane has gone down but does not know about the bomb. Three men in a small Deep Submergence Vehicle descend to retrieve the bomb, but complications arise.

Jeffery Deaver must be the king of sneaky twists in mystery stories. None of the folks in "Comrade 35" can be trusted - but then, neither can Deaver. Readers are not likely to anticipate many of the developments in this tale of events at the time of the assassination of President Kennedy.

There are also unexpected occurrences in Raymond Benson's story "Ghosts," in which an inexperienced American is asked to help a family of important refugees escape from Hungary during the 1956 Russian invasion. Much of the story is set in and around the huge Ferris wheel in Vienna that was so prominently featured in the film The Third Man.

Actually, so many of the stories in the book rely on surprises that I should probably not keep warning readers to expect them. So the next story I will discuss is the closest the book comes to having a traditional police procedural tale. In "East Meets West" by Jonathan Stone, a woman in Berlin is murdered soon after the Wall has come down. Police officials from East and West Berlin work together to catch the killer.

"Checkpoint Charlie" by Alan Cook is set in Berlin while the Wall is still standing. An American goes to East Berlin to visit his aunt, and also to make the acquaintance of his one year old daughter, whom he has not previously met. The baby's mother had died while giving birth. The American is told that he might be able to bring his daughter back to the West with him, but it would mean putting his aunt, a friend of hers, and the American himself in considerable danger.

In "A Card for Mother" by Gayle Lynds and John C. Sheldon, another person wants to bring someone from Germany to the West. A woman working on a project to design a new jet engine wants to get her mother, who is suffering from Hodgkin's disease, to the Mayo Clinic in the United States. But politics and espionage stand in the way.

Scientists in America are the subject of Sara Paretsky's story "Miss Bianca." Ten year old Abigail's mother is a secretary in a laboratory which is doing research into various communicable diseases, some of which might be used in warfare. Abigail is allowed to feed the laboratory mice, and becomes quite attached to one she has named Miss Bianca. Politics and espionage become involved in this story too. Paretsky saves a revelation from her own life for the very end of this story.

Espionage seems to have been an essential part of the Cold War, in stories at least. Several of the stories not yet mentioned involve spying. "The Honey Trap" by Bev Vincent combines spying with sexual enticement. This is one of only two stories in the book in which the theme of the Cold War is really not important. The basic set-up of the story would work - and has worked - in many scenarios. A man is inveigled into a sexual assignation, in which blackmail is the object.

Robert Mangeot's story "Sparks to the Bear's Hide" (a terrible title, in my opinion) also involves sexual temptation and undercover work, this time in Hungary. This is a tougher story than most of the ones in this collection. I am not certain what the final sentence means.

The setting is once again in Berlin in Katia Lief's "House of a Thousand Eyes." A young border guard in East Berlin in 1961 is faced with temptation of more than one kind. This is a complex spy story, in which all choices seem equally bleak.

Germany, Austria, and a peculiar character quirk all play a role in "A Neighbor's Story" by Vicki Doudera. Espionage is not limited to the young. "It sounds like a John le Carré novel," says the female narrator, quite accurately.

Spying is a family affair in two stories by famous mystery authors. A note at the end of J. A. Jance's story "His Mother's Son" states that the story is continued in Jance's book Judgment Call. In "His Mother's Son," the narrator's granddaughter tells her that she thinks that her father, the narrator's son, might be working as a spy. The narrator sets in motion an investigation to see if the granddaughter's suspicions are valid.

Judith Monaghan is the central character in Laura Lippman's story "The Everyday Housewife," a newlywed wife who is not expected to work and finds herself with time on her hands in Baltimore in the early 1970s. Monaghan is Jewish, married to a Catholic and living in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood, feeling somewhat estranged from her neighbors. She and her husband become friendly with another couple, the Delaneys, but Judith begins to suspect that Mrs. Delaney is having an affair. More than that, however, is actually going on. And spying, on both a professional and an amateur level, plays a part. I believe that the title of the story comes from the 1968 song "Dreams of the Everyday Housewife," which includes the lyrics:


Oh, such are the dreams of the everyday housewife,
You see everywhere any time of the day -
An everyday housewife who gave up the good life for me

Violence is an important part of two other stories. Gigi Vernon's "Show Stopper" tells of a group of women from the Soviet Union, designers and models, who come to the United States in 1959 as part of the "Soviet Exhibition of Science, Technology, and Culture" in New York City. Fashion is to be part of the exhibition, and Ludmila Blatova feels very honored that a dress that she designed - a wonderful dress - will be included. But a problem arises.

In "Police Report" by Joseph Finder, the police in a small Massachusetts town in the 1980s receive a call from a man who says that he just killed someone. The victim was an elderly man, believed to have originally come from Poland, and to more recently have been a dairy farmer in Vermont. The man who shot him says that the old man had actually been a high ranking Soviet military officer who was responsible for the death of an American pilot. The Cold War made for strange alliances and even stranger cover-ups, and very odd things happen in the investigation into the old man's death.

I had mentioned earlier that two of the stories in the collection really did not need to have any reference to the Cold War. The second of these is "The Last Confession" by John Lescroart. An autistic student is driven to a terrible act in response to a cruel prank. This is the story with the least connection to the theme of the book; it is also one of the best stories in the anthology.

As I stated in the beginning of this review, this is a fine anthology and there are not many stories in the book that I don't think are good. The ones that I particularly like, in no special order, are "Police Report," "The Last Confession," "A Card for Mother," "House of a Thousand Eyes," "Show Stopper," "The Everyday Housewife" and "Ghosts."

[Gloria Feit · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Mystery Writers of America regularly ask some of the best-known authors in the thriller/mystery genre to contribute to a collection of short stories on a single theme, with the proceeds funding the organization. This volume, edited by Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson, is based on the Cold War, so it is no surprise that several take place in the divided city of Berlin and its famous Wall as a center piece. For example, Alan Cook wrote a story on how a father smuggled a young daughter from East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie. .And another, by Raymond Benson, is set in the Austrian capital of Vienna, separated into Soviet and Allied zones.

Mr. Deaver presents the lead-off tale about a Soviet spy sent to the United States about the time of the Kennedy assassination to protect an unidentified “Comrade 35.” Sara Paretsky presents a very personal story which reflects a childhood memory involving her father. Laura Lippman created a clever story about a bored Baltimore housewife who becomes a “spy” with the National Security Agency at Ft. Meade.

Gayle Lynds and John C. Sheldon, on the other hand, turned their attention to another topic: the spies who worked to steal industrial or military secrets, clandestinely passing them off to their controllers. T. Jefferson Parker writes about a mother whose dislike of her daughter-in-law unexpectedly results in her son being arrested as a Soviet spy. John Lescoart is left to prepare a story involving the Cuban Missile Crisis. And Joseph Finder writes about revenge on a Nazi responsible for war crimes. All in all there are 20 new stories, each a gem in its own right.

[Bill Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received this book in a recent giveaway. I would have gladly paid full price for it. Ice Cold is a wonderful collection ofshort stories set throughout the Cold War. There is something for everyone and great twists and turns. There are a variety of authors and they do a remarkable job. Please read this book today. You will not regret it.

[Les · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, every story was a jewel !! Here's the thing I like spy movies - James Bond, tinker Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Oldman, Firth, Hurt, Strong & Cumberbatch - Oh My) but the books tend to bore me. I mean either they are set in an era before I was conceived ( which was a LONG LONG time Ago) or they are plodding and talky and full of jargon that only an Oxbridge spy could figure out.

But this was different - it was fun and carefree. Many of the stories are set in the US the writing is tight, it has to be in a short story.

I will put this on my re-read list and it was a bargain not something I usually mention but as of today 8/31/22 it's only $2 on amazon US

[Matt]

As the end of the year draws near, I thought that I might read and review a few short stories from this collection:

Police Report, by Joseph Finder.
When Chief of Police Henry Silva receives a call from dispatch about a body, he jumps into action. After he learns that the perpetrator is with the body and awaits the authorities, Silva speeds over to investigate. Ray Richardson awaits Silva's arrival and is more than happy to explain why he killed Vladimir Polowski. Silva is led away from the scene as Richardson takes him to a local motel and shows him the proof he has amassed about how Polowski killed his father in 1958 and revenge was the only solution. By the time the State Police arrive, Silva has learned a great deal but is not entirely ready to turn over the suspect. However, knowing the chain of command, he releases Richardson into the custody of the State Police, only to realise things are completely backwards. It's part and parcel for the Cold War and CIA antics.

The Last Confession, by John Lescroart
The story's narrator lays the scene for growing up in a large Catholic family, full of siblings and highly devout parents. His next oldest brother, Julian, has signs of autism and has always been a little high-strung. While attending a school assembly run by the priests, the student body are told about the ramped-up Cuban Missile Crisis and how San Francisco is in the crosshairs for a missile strike. Testing their faith and fear of God, one of the priests leads the students to believe that a missile has been launched and is on its way, sure to kill them all. Julian's reaction is emotion-filled and leads to him being mocked by others. Unable to bear the ridicule, Julian takes things into his own hands, which commences a domino effect that cannot be reversed.

A Card for Mother, by Gayle Lynds and John C. Sheldon
Fraulein Doktor Anna Klaas is working in Berlin, perfecting the turbofan engine, all in hopes of helping the West in its ongoing struggle against the Soviets. When Anna's mother becomes ill, plagued with cancer, Anna does her best to cope with the devastating news, but knows that there is hope at the Mayo Clinic in the United States. Anna has not been able to secure the funds for anything but the initial trip and has to wait for Stasi approval to release her mother from her East Berlin apartment. News comes of an accident that has befallen her mother. The event might not have been as 'accidental' as Anna was led to believe. With the Stasi's involvement, anything is possible.

His Mother's Son, by J.A. Jance
Isadora Creswell and her husband, Lloyd, are surprised when their granddaughter blurts out that her father is a spy. Young Alyse saw Gunnar Creswell meeting with a beautiful woman in a local park before they played the suitcase switcheroo. Alyse is asked to keep this to herself, while Isadora and Lloyd use their numerous contacts to look into the far-fetched allegations. When Alyse calls, months later, to say that her father has been arrested by the FBI, Isadora worries more that her granddaughter could be in danger, as she is able to identify this mystery woman. When tragedy befalls Gunnar, Isadora concocts a plan to ensure that Alyse is kept safe from both the Americans and the Russians, for whom Gunnar has been working. Will it be enough to keep her out of the limelight or will the Creswells face a second tragedy in short order?

Side Effects, by T. Jefferson Parker
Mike lives as normal a life as a sixteen year-old can, with a fallout shelter stocked with food and neighbours preparing for the worst as well. He and his siblings, Max and Marie, must ensure the family shelter is properly prepared for the end of days and ready for the monthly meeting of the John Birch Society. However, Mike has bigger issues to attend, namely spending time with his neighbour (and secret crush) Adlyn Lamm. Adlyn tells Mike all about her father's secret stash of experimental drugs, as part of a military program to control the masses. Adlyn and her brother, Larkin, have been able to experiment with these psychotropic drugs and Larkin has had some very odd side effects from taking them. The Lamms have had to move on countless occasions when young girls mysteriously disappear and are later found murdered. When Mike pieces it all together, he realised that Larkin is due to strike again soon, and can only be stopped if reached in time. Will another girl die at the hands of this drugged-out boy?

While this is only a cross-section of the stories in the larger collection, they offer an interesting collection of ideas and insights of some popular authors who grace the bestseller lists. They differ greatly, one from another, tied only together by their common Cold War theme. This is enough to provoke much divergence and great fictional presentations to tantalise the reader from beginning to end. Had I more time, I would likely dive in to read more, and maybe I will at some point later on. At present, what a great way to end the year, as the weather is equally Ice Cold.

Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of spy stories, all set during The Cold War.
From the late 50s, up to the late 1980s, these stories are all good reads.
For me there was not a clunker in the bunch.

[Anirban · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short story collection is always a mixed bag. There are stories which would keep me awake for the right reasons, and then there would be those which would make me wonder, why the story was ever written. Some would really make me search for missing pages as the stories would just abruptly end.

Mystery Writers of America Presents Ice Cold: Tales of Intrigue from the Cold War, edited by Raymond benson and Jeffrey Deaver starts on a promising note. The opening was great with a Jeffrey Deaver quickie. Deaver as always with his short stories, delivers perfectly. Joseph Finder, John Lescroat, Gayle Linds and Sara Paretsky’s stories though not being masterpieces, never lets the pace slow down. The trend continues up to Ben Vincent’s Honey Trap.

And after that the war becomes really cold and uninviting. I prod through story after story, sometimes skipping, sometimes wondering what I am reading. The Frederick Forsyth has suddenly turned into John Le Carre. Stories reeking of “trying” to sound like “mainstream literature” but being cold war thrillers, and failing miserably. Stories without rhyme, reason and in some cases, endings.

The book ends on a sad note. One last hope rested on J.A. Jance, and she delivers. Then the cold war ends, and with that the string of bad stories end too.

Special mentions are the stories by Katherine Neville and Raymond Benson. The reason, why were they written??

[Alan Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I have a story in ICE COLD ("Checkpoint Charlie"). However, there are 19 other stories, so I can talk about those. My reason for liking books of this type is, to paraphrase several quotes, those who don't study history are condemned to repeat the mistakes made by others. With that in mind, I'll comment on some of the themes.

Jeffery Deaver takes us back to the assassination of John Kennedy, writing with his patented twist, and with something important to say about politics.

Other stories take place during the Cold War, or in the present, and slip back and forth between the two. They take place in the US, Russia and Germany, among other places. There are spies and secrets, and stories about people corrupted by power. The stories ask questions about who were (and are) the good guys and who are the bad guys, or is there any difference between them.

We must pay attention to the lessons of the past, for, surely, similar situations will occur as long as the human race exists on earth. Are we condemned, like Sisyphus, to relive the nightmare scenarios of the past, or will we find a way to create a freer society that isn't based on continuous warfare?

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories was a fun read and offered an excellent assortment of tales centering around the theme of the Cold War. Some stories were set during that timeframe, while others had contemporary settings that linked back to that period of time. Similarly, the stories had diverse settings and offered unique viewpoints. I thoroughly enjoyed all of these stories and would have a hard time picking a favorite. If forced to choose, I'd say that "The Everyday Housewife" (full disclosure -- I admit that I'm likely slightly biased about this pick since I'm a huge Laura Lippman fan; fans of the Tess Monaghan series will undoubtedly like this one quite a bit), "The Honey Trap," "Show Stopper," and "His Mother's Son" were my favorites. However, I have to say that I really did enjoy all of the stories, which is rare for a short story collection. I liked the variety of authors -- some of whom I've read before and others who were new to me -- and how the collection was put together. This is a great find for mystery fans who enjoy international intrigue and espionage. A perfect summertime read.

[Bettie]

Description: Nuclear brinksmanship. Psychological warfare. Spies, double agents, femme fatales, and dead drops.

The Cold War--a terrifying time when nuclear war between the world's two superpowers was an ever-present threat, an all-too-real possibility that could be set off at the touch of a button--provides a chilling backdrop to this collection of all-new short stories from today's most celebrated mystery writers.

Bestselling authors Jeffery Deaver and Raymond Benson--the only American writers to be commissioned to pen official James Bond novels--have joined forces to bring us twenty masterful tales of paranoia, espionage, and psychological drama. In Joseph Finder's "Police Report," the seemingly cut-and-dry case of a lunatic murderer in rural Massachusetts may have roots in Soviet-controlled Armenia. In "Miss Bianca" by Sara Paretsky, a young girl befriends a mouse in a biological warfare laboratory and finds herself unwittingly caught in an espionage drama. And Deaver's "Comrade 35" offers a unique spin on the assassination of John F. Kennedy--with a signature twist.

[Mike Gowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like to read the shorter works sometimes and then go on to read novels by the authors I like. In this selection, I liked The Honey Trap the most. The theme of the Cold War is one that appeals to me as an early boomer. I'm nostalgic for the tiny desks that we school kids would put our heads under. I got in trouble for not being able to shut up when we were supposed to be putting our foreheads on our lockers.

[R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most collections of short stories and as I've pointed out in other reviews, it's difficult for them to get four and five stars just by the rule of averages. A two star story and a four star story averages out to three, and then across the book . . . well, here we are.

This was a good collection though. It was different from my normal genres and I really liked it. There were things in here that reminded me of the Bourne Identity and other great stories. There were also some that were really unique in my opinion because of how they connected the spy game to everyday life of other people, not the super spies and high ups playing the game of thrones.

Highly recommend for all you Cold War warriors and armchair spies.

[Dave Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good, breezy collection of short stories here. Each of the stories here touch on the Cold War - some directly, others only tangentially. A few clunk along awkwardly, with the words 'comrade' and 'capitalism' forced in repeatedly to the point of distraction. But the majority avoid the Boris and Natasha theatrics for more personal takes on the era. The ones that stuck with me include Police Report (Joseph Finder), Show Stopper (Gigi Vernon) and Crush Depth (Brendan Dubois).

Overall, a good, breezy collection of tales, good for an enjoyable night's reading.

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an affinity for espionage stories, as I do, you will likely find this book pleasing. Twenty stories set in the tense years of the Cold War—or told in characters’ remembrance—by such authors as Jeffery Deaver, Raymond Benson, J.A. Jance, Joseph Finder, Robert Mangeot, Gayle Lynds, Alan Cook, and more provide plenty of cloak-and-dagger skullduggery, as well as insight into the mindsets of both Cold Warriors and ordinary citizens facing the threats. Excellent anthology.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This topic . . . the Cold War . . . hard to get excited about story after story that takes place between 1942 and 1989. There were a few 3 and 4 star stories, and one edging up to a five star, but overall . . . if I hadn't been on an epically long road trip, I probably wouldn't have continued past the third or fourth tale - just too much repetition. I did like the Sara Paretsky story, Miss Bianca (edging towards a 5 star) and the Alan Cook tale, Checkpoint Charlie (a solid 4 star).

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a collection of believable stories from the Cold War. Most of them started out with, what appeared to be absolutely normal families, which fell apart. The Soviets were enemies but not demonized. Americans had their own flaws, some significant. So it was not good vs. evil but two super powers that were mortal enemies. Many of the stories left you hanging in some way.

[Kristen Lewendon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this. It took me to a place in world history I don’t know very much about and made me think in different ways about the parts of that history I thought I did know. I found the stories in this anthology to be creative, thought-provoking, and, in some cases, downright haunting. Spanning the globe, they’re all very different even though they all deal with much of the same source material.

[Clayton Yuen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're going to read short stories, then you've got to get some pizzazz quick, soon, right away. These "cold war" short stories did just that .... a quick fix on espionage and intrigue.

Four stars only because there were a couple of stories that were blah, but there were also some very good adventures .....

[John Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting collection of spy stories that run the gambit from the Kennedy assassination, Ernest Hemingway's fixation with Cuba and the FBI, plus just average people caught up in the spy game as written by Jeffrey Deaver, Sara Paretsky, Katherine Neville, J.A. Jance and Raymond Benson. Plus a hosts of others. All good and to keep the reader in suspense.

[Rod Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the better collections of thriller/mystery short stories. Started off good & strong but near the end a handful were weak or made no sense or weren’t very clear. If not for those, would have given this anthology 4 stars. But we’ll settle for 3.5 stars.

[Mark E. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Most of the stories are terrific!

Several of the last five or six are much less compelling, but the first stories are very fine…. Well worth the collection, woven around the theme (with stories very different in the particulars)
Highly recommend!

[Rev. M. M. Walters · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most anthologies have a built-in weakness in that not all the stories included have the same impact. This is certainly true here. Some of the stories left me scratching my head over what was going on. Some of the stories were truly interesting, especially those that were more speculative.

[Nyssy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nostalgic to a point t then you remember all the paranoia back in the day. 😳

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

anthologies are always a mixed bag, but most of these stories didn't really work for me.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these short stories were really good.

[Toni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couldn't put it down. Clever stories

[Gordon Paisley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories are really good and some are just ok.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent compilation of mystery short stories.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read, but after a while it got old. Too many similar stories.