Dallas Noir

by David Hale Smith (Editor), Kathleen Kent (Contributor), Ben Fountain (Contributor)

Gritty all-new crime stories set in the bustling Texas city, by Ben Fountain, Kathleen Kent, James Hime, and many more.   In a country with so many interesting cities, Dallas is often overlooked—except on November 22 every year. On that day in 1963, Dallas became American noir. This collection of crime stories takes its inspiration from the darker corners of everyday life in a city that many associate only with a historic assassination—or a glitzy TV show about oil fortunes and family feuds.   Featuring brand-new stories by Kathleen Kent, Ben Fountain, James Hime, Harry Hunsicker, Matt Bondurant, Merritt Tierce, Daniel J. Hale, Emma Rathbone, Jonathan Woods, Oscar C. Peña, Clay Reynolds, Lauren Davis, Fran Hillyer, Catherine Cuellar, David Haynes, and J. Suzanne Frank.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, Noir, Mystery Thriller, Anthologies, Mystery

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 14, 2013

Reviews

[David Hale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it. But I'm slightly biased about the contributors.

[Cookie M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that all of these stories are noir. Some of them are just bloody. Others are weird. But they all take place in Dallas, mostly a Dallas I recognize.
Thank God I usually see it from a distance, driving past it on the freeway. One or two of these stories are really good and one or two aren't worth bothering with. They all even out.
There are more cities I know pretty well and more books in this series to go with those cities. What's next?

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure I'd describe all of these stories as noir. Noir-ish, maybe. Dark, certainly. Depressing, some of them. I did enjoy most of them. "Night Work" by Clay Reynolds would probably be my least favorite (but not a stinker, I just didn't like the way it ended), though maybe one of the most noir flavored. One or two have shades of Stephen King, writing style and/or content-wise - "Full Moon" by Lauren Davis and "Swingers Anonymous" by Jonathan Woods both felt a little King-y to me.

A couple of authors seemed to be just having their characters drive places so they could name streets and intersections to make it feel like it was set in Dallas, but for the most part, descriptions of the parts of DFW that I am familiar with were pretty spot-on.

All in all, a solid collection.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dallas Noir is a Akashic Books publication. This book will go one sale November 5th 2013. I received a beautiful trade ARC paperback of this book from the early reviewer program on Library Thing, in exchange for an honest review.

November is usually a month when Americans tend to think of the city of Dallas, but not in a good way. The notorious day in November 1963 will seemingly always haunted Dallas. But that is not all this city represents by a long shot.
This book is a part of a continuing series, if you will, of short story collections based on specific cities or locations, beginning with Brooklyn Noir is 2004.

There are 17 featured authors that contributed stories for this collection. The book is divided into three parts: Cowboys, Rangers, and Mavericks, which of course represents Dallas' three sports teams: The Dallas Cowboys, The Texas Rangers and The Dallas Mavericks.
These are all sordid, dark little tales. There are crime stories, stories of irony, stories with a little paranormal flair, and stories told with a dash of humor.
This collection of stories highlight the city of Dallas makes a fine edition to this series.
Overall this one gets an A.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm fairly sure that in general I'm not a huge fan of noir books as they are full of really depressing people doing all the wrong things. On the other hand I do enjoy reading books set in Dallas since that is where I live and it's always fun to see how the city is depicted. That brings me to this review - this is a collection of short stories set in various neighborhoods within the city. Some of these stories were really enjoyable and I found myself chuckling as I recognized the situations, part of the city, or types of people described. My favorites were Hole-Man, The Realtor, In the Air, Like Kissing Your Sister, An Angel from Heaven, and Coincidences Can Kill You. There were also some stories included that just didn't work for me. One other quibble is with how noir is or isn't defined here. I've always viewed it as a genre within the mystery realm with a crime occurring with some shady characters involved. Some of these stories didn't have any crime in them and the characters weren't shady, just pathetic.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable pulpy pot boiler romp through various Dallas locales. Some are great, others are barely above dime store/Penthouse letter but they rarely wear out their welcome

[Ginni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably wouldn't have made it all the way through this if it weren't for the novelty of reading stories set in familiar neighborhoods.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dallas Noir was my first foray into Akashic Books' noir series. I'd seen them in stores, and was always tempted by their dreary, ominous covers, but I'd never read one. When I saw the Dallas collection at the Texas Book Festival, I had to get it. I knew I could relate to these stories, these authors, and this place. Dallas is only three hours away--two and a half if you haul ass. Throw in a story by Ben Fountain, whose fantastic Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk I'd recently finished and I was SOLD.

The book didn't quite live up to my expectations, however. I found it to be of uneven quality, the stories at times amateurish and shallow, and most importantly for a series called "_____ Noir," there were several decidedly non-noir stories in the Dallas edition.

The collection starts off very strongly with Matt Bondurant's creepy tale of suburban ennui, "Hole Man." He captures well the sense of isolation and detachment that can fester in planned "communities," leading to resentment, suspicion, and the us-against-them mindset. Breaking out of this cycle requires non-conformity, however, which can have its own sinister consequences.

Some of the other highlights of Dallas Noir include Daniel J. Hale's "In the Air," Emma Rathbone's tense "The Clearing," James Hime's hardboiled "Like Kissing Your Sister," and "Swingers Anonymous" by Jonathan Woods. A few other stories are well-done--comparatively formulaic, but gristly goodness that will please noir diehards: "The Stick-up Girl" by Harry Hunsicker, Clay Reynold's "Night Work," which is really a series of noirish vignettes whose common thread is that they're witnessed by people who work at night, and J. Suzanne Frank's "Miss Direction," notwithstanding its rather forced O. Henry twist at the end.

The elephant in the room is Ben Fountain's "The Realtor," which I did like much more than several others in this collection. But you would need a very broad definition of "noir" to apply it to this story of a narcissistic young millionaire who can't figure out why his realtor isn't fawning over him. Some tables get turned, sure, but noir? You'd have to squint extremely hard to see it.

I'll need to delve into other Akashic noir offerings to tell whether they are as inconsistent as the Dallas collection in quality and genre. The Lone Star Noir collection is sitting in my bookcase. It's speaking to me: "Your move, Tex."

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I seldom read three genres: romance, science fiction, mystery. So, I might very well not be qualified to rate this collection of short stories, which is in the "mystery" genre, at least according to the little library sticker on the book's spine.

With that caveat, I have to say I really enjoyed this collection. It felt very *Dallas* -- and not in a stereotypical way. Much like Los Angeles is far more than Hollywood and money and plastic surgery, Dallas is far more than the Cowboys and, well, money and plastic surgery. This book captured a lot of little things about the city, and it was just what I have been looking for in terms of at least semi-literary writing about north central Texas. The "dark side" of Dallas is highlighted, of course, but the book also captured the more normal side particularly well.

Some of the contributors (Ben Fountain, David Haynes, undoubtedly others) have literary reputations. Others undoubtedly will at some point.

If you read this, be ready for the genre's typical conceits of cartoonishly described women, "hard-boiled" language and an R-rated level of sleaziness -- at least in a few of the stories. Overall, though, David Hale Smith did a wonderful job of compiling high-quality writing.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun romp through the many weird neighborhoods of my adopted city. Some of the stories are sublime, some are marvelously thrilling, some barely crack any definition of noir, but all told it's a fun read put together well with an interesting collection of authors.

[Emily Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dallas Noir is a gripping anthology that brings together a diverse collection of short stories, all rooted in the noir tradition and set against the backdrop of Dallas, Texas. Edited by David Hale Smith, the collection showcases a range of voices of various authors, each contributing a unique vision of the city steeped in crime, tension, and moral ambiguity.
The characters across these stories are uniformly gray, as they are flawed and often entangled in greed, desperation, lust, or ambition. A recurring motif is the sudden acquisition of money tied to illegal acts, met not with guilt, but with a growing paranoia of getting caught. These tales focus more on the unease of consequence than on any hope of redemption.
Many of the stories are open-ended and thus rarely offer full resolution, but the endings provide enough closure to satisfy the reader while still leaving the sense that the story continues just out of sight. This stylistic decision reinforces a sense of realism in a world where not everything ties up neatly, and where consequences are often delayed or just beginning
The anthology is well-written with prose laced with dark humor and a sense of fatalism that characterizes the best noir. The adult themes and subtle layers of cynicism make this collection best suited for readers already familiar with noir’s brooding landscapes and unsentimental tone. Dallas Noir offers a compelling and shadowy portrait of a city and its inhabitants that lingers in the mind long after the last story ends.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book of short stories by various authors is set in Dallas, Texas, encompassing all parts of the city. Some of the stories are quite strange, seeming to build up to a satisfying conclusion, and then just ending abruptly. I did look up the definition of 'noir' and most of the tales do fit the description in a broad sense: cynicism, fatalism and moral ambiguity. Many of the stories definitely fit the moral ambiguity statement. A few tales I would give a solid 4 but most a solid 2 so I settled on the middle-of-the road 3. One story I did particularly enjoy concerned a group of civil war reenactors who were confronted by a drug cartel gang. The actors had only their muskets and one small cannon which made for an interesting fight. That story was well done.

[Sheena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed it and tried to make the experience last longer by not reading multiple stories in one sitting. It was really fun to read tales set in familiar neighborhoods and public places.
Each story was different but all were dark and quirky in some way. My two favorites are "The Realtor" by the famous Ben Fountain and "An Angel from Heaven" by Fran Hillyer. I will probably explore more of the Noir series at some point but the novelty of reading about a city I love won't be there!

[Stirling · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a good book. But if you want a quick, easy read that will leave you confused and frustrated but ultimately not interested enough to try to understand, then this is the book for you. It's a great book to have hanging around the house to pick up whenever you're bored, because you can read two or three bad stories pretty quickly and then set it down to return to life without a second thought.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very uneven collection ranging from "Meh" to "Stinky." The only reason I finished is that I lived in Dallas for quite a while and it was fun to look up the stories’ locations on Google maps. Beyond that, give it a miss.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gripping as always!

[Haley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Jim Bostjancic · Rating 3 out of 5]

These nasty short stories reminds me of visiting one summer when it was over 100 in the heat.

[Chris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was not good. At all. Couldn't even finish it.

[Tiffany Collins · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lackluster writing, stories are predictable and trying.

[Julia Tulloh Harper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall I liked this book, because I read it while I was living in Dallas and the stories contain some great prose that really distilled different elements of living in that sprawling city. It was a bit of a mixed bag in terms of quality though - there was some nicely written stories but also some pretty poorly written ones. The stories also differed in how 'noir' they were - some were murder mysteries, some just creepy stories, others didn't seem that creepy at all. But most of them had engaging storylines, even if the actual writing wasn't always top notch.
The very first story I thought was the best, by Matt Bondurant, as it captured so well the way the prefectly manicured northern suburbs can feel really creepy and isolating (though I found his representation of Mexicans super problematic - they were a nameless, threatening presence, rather than real people). Some of the stories represented women pretty badly too I thought - there was a fair bit of description of their bodies in really sexualised terms, though rarely did these descriptions add anything to the stories.
That said, I do recommend this book if you've lived in Texas, as it's so interesting to read about the place where you live.

[Ellenh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is from a series of anthologies about different cities, this one is my first, and Dallas is a great city to start with. The first story, and my favorite is, Hole Man by Matt Bondurant, is set in White Rock in East Dallas. A neighborhood with cul-de-sacs, ranch houses, small lots, alleys and privacy fences. Lawn care co. come in and within 10 minutes have the whole yard done, it's not unheard of for them to do the wrong one without noticing, Mexican men running across you roof with leaf blowers is common. But the twist he adds is great! When Anders climbs up on his roof, all lawn care in the neighborhood stops and stare! Well, you just have to read it. Each story really seems to capture some memory of the city for me, even if it is a dark version of Dallas.
Thank you librarything for the advance reader copy.

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first venture into the Noir collection from Akashic Books, and I liked it well enough that I'll probably try a few more. That said, I probably won't read the next one straight through. Most of the stories here revolved entirely around drugs and sex, with crime and atmosphere a far few steps behind all of the exotic dancers and rich players. There was little of the atmosphere that I'd expected, and at least one story that wasn't nearly at the level of the others and probably should have been left out completely. But, that said, there were three or four authors I wrote down to search out more work from, and stories as well from two writers who I already search out, neither of whom disappointed here.

All together, it was a quick read with fast-paced stories, though I'm hoping for more from the other Noir works on the Akashic list

[Carl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The noir anthology concept is from Akashic Books which has done this series since 2004, each featuring a different neighborhood or city as its thematic base. The noir notion is that there's a dark side to each story; the good guy doesn't win in the end, if you can even figure out if there is a good guy at all.

So what ties this book of short stories together is that they're all based in or around Dallas.

As for the stories: meh. Only one story in the collection interested me enough to want to research the author: Kathleen Kent's "Coincidences can kill you."

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Editor David Hale Smith gathers an interesting collection of Dallas-centric short stories--all worth reading though not all of them have the same noir authenticity to them. While some feel taken straight out of '20s pulp fiction, a few others out of the pack seem to have noir elements (for instance, a random and narrative-irrelevant killing in the beginning) forcibly attached to them just to comply with the requirement of the book's concept. Consistency of the stories' noir quality aside, readers of crime fiction and short narrative will find it satisfying--even more so if they have a soft spot for Dallas.

[Noelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to rate because it was a book of short stories. Some were much better than others. Took me awhile to get into it. I really liked the first couple stories, notsomuch the next few, so I stalled for awhile. I enjoyed that I know Dallas well enough to envision where the stories were set. I liked this enough that I've ordered another book in the Noir series. They're all pretty dark and depressing, hence the title, but there was some very good writing in this collection. Some of my favorites were The DogSitter, Hole-Man, Like Kissing Your Sister, An Angel From Heaven, The Stickup Girl, Miss Direction.

[Terry Roper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can't explain the fascination of reading stories set in a town/streets/buildings/etc. you are familiar with but it does give the reader an automatic buy-in.
Love noir and this book was good noir and set in Dallas!

[Viv Id · Rating 3 out of 5]

fun read, especially the stories that take place in your neighborhood. other than the obvious novelty, there are some good and some okay stories. definitely one to keep on the shelf and re-read at some point.

[Bill Chance · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good collection of dark Dallas tales. A wide variety of noir - all tied to places we all visit every day.

[John Hilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories

Some great stories written top-notch writers. Jonathan Woods, James Hime, and Matt Bondurant to name a few. Check it out!