A Sangre Viva

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

by Alfred Hitchcock

Alfie invites you to jump right in. The gore is fine. Includes 14 stories

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories

223 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock KBE (1899-1980) was an iconic and highly influential film director and producer, who pioneered many techniques in the suspense and thriller genres.

Following a very substantial career in his native Britain in both silent films and talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood and became an American citizen with dual nationality in 1956, thus he also remained a British subject.

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career which spanned six decades, from the silent film era, through the invention of sound films, and far into the era of colour films. For a complete list of his films, see Alfred Hitchcock filmography.

Hitchcock was among the most consistently recognizable directors to the general public, and was one of the most successful film directors during his lifetime. He continues to be one of the best known and most popular filmmakers of all time.

Reviews

[Irene Lázaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Qué puedo decir? Aparentemente Hitchcock tiene muy buen gusto para los relatos cortos. Aquí recopila unos cuantos que se centran en detectives y crímenes creativos. Todos tienen un final sorprendente y algunos te dan escalofríos por el punto macabro que tienen. En general muy recomendable.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one was a ok collection of stories. I've read a half dozen or so of the Hitchcock collections and this is a weaker one. Not bad just kind of bland overall though it does have its highlights. Talmage Powell's Lone Witness is about an accident that turned out differently then the main two characters thought at first. C.B Gilford's A Fair Warning To Mystery Writers is fun with a mystery writer moving in to a new apartment complex and everyone coming to him trying to be in his books, when a real murder happens he tries to help the cops by showing everybody had a motive. Richard Deming's Monster Brain is a solid tale about an investigator for an insurance company who, because of weird stats coming out of the computer, is sent to a small town in the middle of nowhere to investigate the payouts to five policy holders and discovers that there was reason for concern. Jack Webb's A Miracle is Arranged is another tale of investigating insurance fraud, this time someone is supposedly paralyzed and the investigator thinks he is faking but cant prove it, maybe a miracle will happen. Lastly we have Frank Sisk's The Flat Male, a very short tale that shows that maybe you shouldn't neglect your wife no matter how smart you think you are about it. So five out of fourteen isnt a good average. Again not saying the others were terrible (though some were quite bad) but these were the only onea I could really recommend. Out of the other of these collections Ive read, there might have of been a stinker or two but overall good.

So with all of that can't recommend but it's a time waster with a few gems hidden in it.

[Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just love these old Alfred Hitchcock books. I think I bought almost all of them over the years. Now I am finally getting around to reading them. Most of the stories in this book, if not all of them, were written in the 60's. Computers were just starting to surface in the business world and those beginnings are even part of some of these stories. Makes for a different perspective. Hindsight, that is. I found these stories still very interesting.

[Lilirose · Rating 2 out of 5]

Il titolo e la descrizione sono fuorvianti: non c'è nulla di macabro o tantomeno di horror in questa raccolta, sono piuttosto racconti di blanda suspense.
Devo ammettere che le mie aspettative su questo volume erano più alte, probabilmente per la presenza "ingombrante" di Hitchcock come curatore: invece le storie sono tutte poco elaborate, anzi alcune decisamente semplicistiche. Per fortuna quasi tutte sono condite da una ironia latente che aggiunge vivacità all'intreccio. Nel complesso ne risulta una lettura piacevole e leggera, ma che non lascia il segno

[A~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book
Short stories, and one can almost picture Old Alfred walking up to his silhouette.
The last story, "The Flat Mile" was really good.
Still a few dated references, such as people being executed for kidnapping, or people being executed period.
I love the introduction where Alfred contrasts premeditated murder to violence and makes an argument for it.

[J.P · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a collection of short stories under the Alfred Hitchcock range, this wasn’t too bad. The quality of the stories vary with quality ranging from pointless to pretty good. I liked the style it went for with the film noir/ crime tone. Ratings for all the individual stories are listed below:

The Good Thief- 6.5/10
The Happenstance Snatch- 9/10
Lone Witness- 9/10
Monkey King- 6.5/10
Lucky Catch- 5/10
Janie Zeros In- 4.5/10
A Fair Warning To Mystery Writers- 8.5/10
The Still Small Voice- 9/10
Haunted Hill- 8/10
The Monster Brain- 6/10
The Wrongo- 7.5/10
A Miracle Is Arranged- 8/10
Kurdistan Payload- 6.5/10
The Flat Male- 7/10

[Lucrezia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite the good plots the book is still not very enjoyable in its Italian translation: I spent more time wondering how much more likeable the original would have been than paying attention to the actual stories.
Easy (though frustrating) read if you're up for something simple and fun.

[Francesco · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho letto antologie più entusiasmanti, ma soprattutto racconti con finali meno depriemnti

[Matthew Wilcox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give it to my kid for sure. Another dollar gem at Half Price Books

[Salma Al Rayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

a list of capturing well written short stories