Shackles and More Gripping Tales

by James Hanna

Twenty-one tales of darkness, wry humor, and cryptic light.

Twenty-one stories written in the tradition of Kafka and Hunter S. Thompson. A peace officer passes to the afterlife and meets his guide spirit--Richard Nixon. A playboy bonds with the ghost of a woman who died long ago. Two brothers fall prey to calamitous visions while playing fantasy baseball.

Genres: Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2019

About the author

Independent Press Awards gave A Second Less Capable Head and Other Rogue Stories a Distinguished Favorite Award. Electronic copies of A Second, Less Capable Head, The Siege, and Call Me Pomeroy are available to select readers interested in posting a review.

James Hanna wandered Australia for seven years before settling on a career in criminal justice. He spent twenty years as a counselor in the Indiana Department of Corrections and has recently retired from the San Francisco Probation Department, where he was assigned to a domestic violence and stalking unit.

James’ short stories have appeared in Old Crow Review, Sandhills Review, Edge City Review, Fault Zone, Eclipse, The Literary Review, Red Savina Review, The California Writers Club Literary Review, Zymbol, The Sand Hill Review, and Empty Sink Publishing, which has serialized some of the Pomeroy stories. Three of James’ stories were nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

James first published novel, The Siege, depicts a hostage standoff in a penal facility. It is available on Amazon in both print and Kindle versions. Call Me Pomeroy is James’ second published book.

Reviews

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 2 out of 5]

This started with a bang but ended as a damp squib.

This is a collection of 21 stories across various genres. All the stories are dark. Most are snarky. Quite a few are cocky. At least half are filled with vulgarities. (If I had known this last point, I wouldn’t have gone for this at all.) A couple of them reveal strong political leanings, a factor that I never appreciate in fiction.

From the long list of credentials listed out at the start of the book, the author seems to be a prolific and acclaimed indie writer. So it might just be that I wasn’t the right audience for his collection.

As I said, the anthology began marvellously. The first five stories were so outstanding that I assumed this would be a 5 starrer. But from story 6, the dip began and I had to force myself to complete the book.

In several places, there are clear instances of ‘Men Writing Women’. Some people might enjoy dirty language but I get repelled by it. So the latter half of the collection was simply too crude for me to read without squirming uncomfortably.

There is also an overuse of one character named Tom Hemmings. In his first appearance, I loved the way he was sketched. But then it began getting repetitive and even contradictory. Many stories are set around prisons and correctional facilities, which again gets tedious after a few stories.
Basically, some might like this collection but it simply wasn’t for me.

2.25 stars based on the average of my ratings for the 21 stories. (The first five stories got 23 out of a possible 25 stars. The rest averaged at 1.7 stars.)

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author through ‘Voracious Readers Only’ and these are my honest thoughts about it.


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[Tabitha Tomala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Online Book Club for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Shackles and More Gripping Tales is a creative mix of short stories. With a wide variety of genres mixed in, you're sure to find at least a few stories that you enjoy. Travel through the day to day of various probation officers, and the difficult choices they must make. Or take a tour of the afterworld, reliving past regrets and hopes. You can even visit dystopian alternate realities, or relive childhood memories.

Online Book Club asks that you view the full review on their website. Check it out at Online Book Club: Shackles and More Gripping Tales

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bevy of brilliant stories!

James Hanna's biography reads as interesting as a novel! He grew up in South America, the Middle East and Europe (his father was a Foreign Service officer), and then settled in the United States at age 16. And to quote his fascinating bio from his website, ` By the time he was 21, he was bored by what he considered to be the relative callowness of American culture. Feeling like a prisoner of the American Dream, he left college after his sophomore year and caught a tramp freighter to Australia where he spent seven years roaming the continent. While in Australia, James worked as a cowboy, sheep drover, carnival barker, migrant worker, and deckhand. He always carried a bag of books and educated himself by reading the classics. On returning from Australia, he volunteered for a two-year stint in the Army, acquiring a master's degree in criminology after his discharge in 1976. For the twenty years that followed, he was a counselor in a medium security prison near the small town of Plainfield, Indiana. Fifteen years ago, he relocated to the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and is recently retired as a probation officer in San Francisco.' His debut novel, THE SEIGE, remains one this reviewer's favorite books of 2014 vintage, as does his second novel CALL ME POMEROY. Now he tops off his continuing growth with a collection of short stories he calls SHACKLES AND MORE GRIPPING TALES.

Where James Hanna absorbed his comedic talent, given his background as outlined above, is a mystery. But just the same degree of mystery comes into question as to where these dark cryptic stories were birthed. We can only again call this an instant classic – and we seem to have covered the literary territory now.

The stories have appeared in various journals and anthologies, winning a number of prizes and much acclaim. The spectrum of subject matter is broad, and as the back cover of the book outlines, ‘An elderly couple ponders a dystopian world while awaiting the hangman’s noose. A playboy bonds with the tortured ghost of a woman who died long ago. Two brothers fall prey to calamitous visions while playing baseball. – Twenty-one tales of darkness, wry humor, and cryptic light.’

Though that presents an invitation to about every reader, sharing only three of the jewels in this collection is merely tantalizing. James Hanna is one superb literary artist whose scope of imagination appears endless. This is an excellent resource for exploring the vagaries of human behavior as offered by a master storyteller. Highly Recommended.

[Smrti Kp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shackles and More Gripping Tales is a collection of 21 short stories by James Hannah, published by Sand Hill Review Press, in 2019.

The stories weave a world around crime, prisons, juveniles, and officers. What I liked the most is Hannah’s ease of handling language. Hannah mixes colloquial wry dialect with Shakespeare and poetry with a masterful hand. Language becomes a very important aspect of making the characters lively - some are profane and swears at the drop of a hat; some attempt poetry. In the same way, American context and references also add on to the liveability of the characters. Some of the American political references are lost on a non-american reader like me. Someone else might enjoy those and find them quite good.

The stories are very original, and not what is usually depicted as glories of the dark world. Reading these stories gives a fresh perspective about jails and correction centres, and their inmates. A story that stands apart is “The Hangings”. The story deceptively appears quite smooth and simple - just as in the story - like drinking an ice tea watching the sun set. However, beneath its surface unfolds a macabre realism of public hangings. That is a story one would be able to finish feeling frozen, and empty. I cannot say that about many other stories.

I like the originality of themes and rawness of the characters; however they do not offer an engrossed reading. The characters do not stay with me long enough to make an impact. However, I do recommend this book as admirable reading.

[Kathleen McCormick]

Shackles and More Gripping Tales, James Hanna’s latest book, a collection of twenty-one stories, provides a wild—sometimes dark, more often, witty—ride for the reader. Hanna comfortably spans a wide spectrum of voices, male and female, first person or third, a diversity of ages, different regions in the US, and different genres. His characters are all, however, in various ways, vulnerable and most frequently from the lower rung of the social classes. His stories are filled with wry humor, sometimes the result of the narrator, sometimes the characters’ own particular idiom. Hanna’s stories complicate gender relationships with an overlay of the harsh realities of the politics in which we live where the small, usually damaged people—men and women—for all their big dreaming and bravado—will, even in the midst of momentary success, never ultimately beat the big system. And thus Hanna’s stories both fully incorporate their locale, drawing his readers in and getting us to sympathize with his colorful characters—and also transcend it to critique the system that keeps them small and implicates his readers in that critique. This combination, to me, is the core and cleverness of Hanna’s writing.

“The Sugar Shack Dress Company,” for example, features Gerty McDowell who married too young, becomes disappointed with life where “you can only buy so many lottery tickets” and attempts to make a living with her one real talent, sewing. (The original Gerty McDowell from James Joyce’s Ulysses is obsessed with clothing, make up and her general appearance, and after a parodic-erotic scene is revealed to be lame which is a real turn off to the man observing her.) Our Gerty creates a website with “sample frocks” which gets her nowhere until she is invited to join the “Sugar Shack,” a “rapidly growing company with outlets all over the world” and sew dresses to her heart’s content. Hanna’s writing encourages the reader to simultaneously root for Gerty and anticipate her downfall whether we know the original Gerty or not. We watch her creativity build until she creates a dress she feels “truly looked” like it “had been touched by the hand of God.” Her newfound confidence, coupled with the approbation of the “Sugar Shack…quality inspection,” even causes her to challenge her husband, Benny. We feel the power of her voice as she notes that “Benny had nothing to offer me but beer and Fantasy Baseball” and she buys him off with a flat screen TV and a case of Bud and goes off to hand deliver dress upon dress after each is inspected by Sugar Shack. As her bank account builds, so does the reader’s tension, fearing all this can’t last, not for a character like Gerty. And it doesn’t. No spoilers in this review, but enough to say that once again, it’s the lower-class person—who blames herself for being “dumber than broccoli”—who suffers.

In “The Summer of Love,” a probation officer develops an unusual relationship with his Tarot card reading, pot selling, manic depressive parolee from the Tenderloin District who “embodied the best of the hippie phenomenon.” He keeps telling her that all her life, “she deserved better.” But the story refuses sentimentality of any sort. She calls him on “trying to play the hero” and cautions him not to “be so self-righteous” and gets him to feed her cat. The ending takes the reader aback, a grim reminder of how social class frequently plays out.

“The Hangings” is a gothic tale, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” that once again, has hierarchy, not horror, at its center. The horror comes from the power structure. In “Little Darling,” a man is haunted by a female ghost whom he tries to release through chivalry, religion, and ultimate a self-conscious, “brutish” (his word) sexuality. He becomes a “pig” and drives a “dick mobile” but he cannot be rid of or seemingly satisfy his ghost whom he names “Little Darling,” who invokes in him feelings of the insufficiency of his Hugh Hefner persona. With her cryptic and inscrutable lines, “You’re all I have …You’re all I’ll ever have,” the ghost haunts the reader as well as the main character with an awareness of the inadequate definitions of masculinity the circulate in the dominant culture.

In “Sam the Poontang Man,” we meet Sam, a burned out Iraqi vet, who tries to beat the system by selling soda—“Sheeit, it ain’t even illegal”—with suspect promises about its aphrodisiac qualities. Sam may remind readers of Pomeroy in Hanna’s earlier Call Me Pomeroy (2015) superficially notable for his many politically incorrect attitudes to women, but, like Call Me Pomeroy, “Sam the Poontang Man” offers an uproarious and multi-layered critique of capitalism and “the American way.”

Hanna is an erudite writer—his work is filled with references to such classical figures as Dorian Gray, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Lord Byron, Caliban from Shakespeare’s Tempest, Jacob Marley from Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, Renoir, Neitzsche, Orwell. Gerty McDowell from Ulysses. The list could go on. But these references are slipped in lightly and while a college professor like this reader finds they add an extra layer of richness to the stories, readers will get by fine if they don’t pick up on them or only recognize a few. What all readers will be keenly aware of is the high-speed, idiomatic range and quality of Hanna’s writing.

Extensive in his range of topics, settings, characters, and genres, this collection will delight and disturb readers. And while there are a lot of stories in the volume, you’ll still want more from this gifted writer who speaks for the little guys who dream big because they are American.

[Kathleen McCormick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shackles and More Gripping Tales, James Hanna’s latest book, a collection of twenty-one stories, provides a wild—sometimes dark, more often, witty—ride for the reader. Hanna comfortably spans a wide spectrum of voices, male and female, first person or third, a diversity of ages, different regions in the US, and different genres. His characters are all, however, in various ways, vulnerable and most frequently from the lower rung of the social classes. His stories are filled with wry humor, sometimes the result of the narrator, sometimes the characters’ own particular idiom. Hanna’s stories complicate gender relationships with an overlay of the harsh realities of the politics in which we live where the small, usually damaged people—men and women—for all their big dreaming and bravado—will, even in the midst of momentary success, never ultimately beat the big system. And thus Hanna’s stories both fully incorporate their locale, drawing his readers in and getting us to sympathize with his colorful characters—and also transcend it to critique the system that keeps them small and implicates his readers in that critique. This combination, to me, is the core and cleverness of Hanna’s writing.

“The Sugar Shack Dress Company,” for example, features Gerty McDowell who married too young, becomes disappointed with life where “you can only buy so many lottery tickets” and attempts to make a living with her one real talent, sewing. (The original Gerty McDowell from James Joyce’s Ulysses is obsessed with clothing, make up and her general appearance, and after a parodic-erotic scene is revealed to be lame which is a real turn off to the man observing her.) Our Gerty creates a website with “sample frocks” which gets her nowhere until she is invited to join the “Sugar Shack,” a “rapidly growing company with outlets all over the world” and sew dresses to her heart’s content. Hanna’s writing encourages the reader to simultaneously root for Gerty and anticipate her downfall whether we know the original Gerty or not. We watch her creativity build until she creates a dress she feels “truly looked” like it “had been touched by the hand of God.” Her newfound confidence, coupled with the approbation of the “Sugar Shack…quality inspection,” even causes her to challenge her husband, Benny. We feel the power of her voice as she notes that “Benny had nothing to offer me but beer and Fantasy Baseball” and she buys him off with a flat screen TV and a case of Bud and goes off to hand deliver dress upon dress after each is inspected by Sugar Shack. As her bank account builds, so does the reader’s tension, fearing all this can’t last, not for a character like Gerty. And it doesn’t. No spoilers in this review, but enough to say that once again, it’s the lower-class person—who blames herself for being “dumber than broccoli”—who suffers.

In “The Summer of Love,” a probation officer develops an unusual relationship with his Tarot card reading, pot selling, manic depressive parolee from the Tenderloin District who “embodied the best of the hippie phenomenon.” He keeps telling her that all her life, “she deserved better.” But the story refuses sentimentality of any sort. She calls him on “trying to play the hero” and cautions him not to “be so self-righteous” and gets him to feed her cat. The ending takes the reader aback, a grim reminder of how social class frequently plays out.

“The Hangings” is a gothic tale, reminiscent of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” that once again, has hierarchy, not horror, at its center. The horror comes from the power structure. In “Little Darling,” a man is haunted by a female ghost whom he tries to release through chivalry, religion, and ultimate a self-conscious, “brutish” (his word) sexuality. He becomes a “pig” and drives a “dick mobile” but he cannot be rid of or seemingly satisfy his ghost whom he names “Little Darling,” who invokes in him feelings of the insufficiency of his Hugh Hefner persona. With her cryptic and inscrutable lines, “You’re all I have …You’re all I’ll ever have,” the ghost haunts the reader as well as the main character with an awareness of the inadequate definitions of masculinity the circulate in the dominant culture.

In “Sam the Poontang Man,” we meet Sam, a burned out Iraqi vet, who tries to beat the system by selling soda—“Sheeit, it ain’t even illegal”—with suspect promises about its aphrodisiac qualities. Sam may remind readers of Pomeroy in Hanna’s earlier Call Me Pomeroy (2015) superficially notable for his many politically incorrect attitudes to women, but, like Call Me Pomeroy, “Sam the Poontang Man” offers an uproarious and multi-layered critique of capitalism and “the American way.”

Hanna is an erudite writer—his work is filled with references to such classical figures as Dorian Gray, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Lord Byron, Caliban from Shakespeare’s Tempest, Jacob Marley from Dicken’s A Christmas Carol, Renoir, Neitzsche, Orwell. Gerty McDowell from Ulysses. The list could go on. But these references are slipped in lightly and while a college professor like this reader finds they add an extra layer of richness to the stories, readers will get by fine if they don’t pick up on them or only recognize a few. What all readers will be keenly aware of is the high-speed, idiomatic range and quality of Hanna’s writing.

Extensive in his range of topics, settings, characters, and genres, this collection will delight and disturb readers. And while there are a lot of stories in the volume, you’ll still want more from this gifted writer who speaks for the little guys who dream big because they are American.

[Ruby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant collection of short stories. Each story was fast and keeps you hooked till the end. Well worth a read.

[CailinLayne · Rating 3 out of 5]

To start with my praise for this book:
- Most of the stories are weird and unpredictable, so I was always looking forward to finding out what had happened.
- The writing is extremely solid. I very much enjoy the words he uses and the way he words certain concepts and thoughts. He has excellent wit and can be very clever, which I greatly appreciate.
- I’ve seen some other reviews which complain about the vulgarities in the stories. Honestly, I too found them to be a little shocking, however I appreciated that he had the cajones to write them. The stories are unapologetic about their vulgarity and language and I actually appreciated that.

There are a couple of things I noticed, which is where the book lost two stars.
- in my opinion, 21 is too many stories for a collection like this. While I quite enjoyed almost all of the stories, I think in this case less could have been more.
- some of the stories seem to be related, revolving around the same character, while others do not. This took me out of the experience a bit because I could never tell if it was going to be one of the related stories or not. There wasn’t really any timeline that could be followed, and so I felt that keeping the character the same was kind of confusing and unnecessary. To return to my previous point, it actually might have been beneficial to split the book into two- one which has the stories with that same character, and one for the rest of the stories. I don’t think all the stories in a collection like this need to be related, but I think if some of them are going to be, then they all should be.


- not all of the stories were equally as strong. In fact, the best stories are at the beginning and the later stories, while interesting and well-written, are just not quite as clever or exciting. I think re-ordering the stories could help strengthen the book. For example, starting off strong, ending strong, and then peppering the rest in the middle. I’ve separated this point from the rest because I recognize that each person may differently perceive Erich stories are stronger vs. Weaker, so it could be subjective.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much.

[Guy Wheatley · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with any collection of shorts, some are better than others. There were a couple that were humorous enough to earn 5 stars. Unfortunately about half of them left me wondering what the point was. Also, a bit of political position came through. And it didn’t mesh with my views, making the writing less enjoyable for me.
The version I had was the ebook that I read on my phone. There were formatting problems, primarily with changing spacing. There were also a few cases of missing or incorrect words. As an independent author, I absolutely do not dink stars on those counts. But Grammar nazis beware, there is enough to trigger you.
The style is hard to define. I’d might offer a description of “self absorbed.” Many of the stories involved Australia, Prison, and time as a Probation Officer. I get “write what you know,” but I felt an element of bragging in the writing. That detracted from my enjoyment.
This was an adequate read, and I was glad to have it to help while away those long hours on shift. (Reading is accepted by management.) But I’d really rather have had a different work to read.

[Celeste · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Shackles and More Gripping Tales” written by James Hanna is one of the most amazing and entertaining compilation of stories I have ever read. I was first attracted by the cover, which is quite simple in its lines and colours and very compelling. And I must say that I’m glad I’ve bought it because it has soon become my new favourite. It is a book that invites the reader to read each tale over and over again since, every time, it is possible to discover new shades of meaning and to reach new conclusions.
There are 21 tales in this collection and I’m sure every reader will find their favourite because the stories are varied and can be classified into different genres and styles, from science fiction to dark humour and from horror to suspense. I like short stories since they condense a whole world in only a few pages and it is there where the ability and skill of the writer really show. The strong point of each story, in my opinion, is the development of the characters which portrays a deep study of the human kind. This book is certainly a must-read. Don’t miss it.

[Nela · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Shackles and More Gripping Tales” is JamesHanna´s fourth book. He is an Australian award-winning author that, in this case, compiles twenty-one tales of darkness, wry humor, and cryptic light. These stories have previously appeared in some literary magazines and anthologies, but this gathering is a great opportunity to enjoy Hanna´s skillful storytelling and his acute perspective of human behavior.

I was impressed not only by the ingenious storytelling but also by the world building and wryness angle of each short story. This is a masterfully written book, that will really entertain all kinds of readers and also keep them thinking about each of the topics.

The author delves into deep human behavior issues, such as exploitation, boundaries, temptation, social acceptability, the law, and corruption; usually through unpleasant and damaged characters. The characterization here is exceptional, emphasizing the darker side of their lives.

I particularly enjoyed the witty perspective the author had in his approach to writing these tales!

[CarlitasFox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick and short tales that will hold your attention throughout
Irony, witty and humour are some of the ideas that came to my mind after reading this book called “Shackles and more Gripping tales” that was written by James Hanna. It is short but full of interesting plots.
Short, queer and inventive stories are part of the book. Of course, each of them has its twists and turns and its dry humour. Highly puzzling!
I could not put this book down because each story is different from the other and depicts not only sci-fi situations but also real ones. Each story´s name caught my attention and little by little I got involved in them, as well. I was able to follow the reading quite well due to the author´s writing style. All in all, it is here where I can say that this is not a reading for everybody; you need to be acquainted with this kind of humour. So, I would recommend it to readers who know this and like short- quick tales, too.

[Alfredo R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book with the whole package
Do you find yourself bored at home, wanting to pick up reading? Are you in the search for a good story but lately it is hard for you to get into the habit of reading? Here is what you need: James Hanna’s Shackles and More Gripping Tales has the whole package.
The stories inside this book are short, easy-to-read and, most importantly, wildly entertaining.
There are 21 hair-raising tales in this book, some of them have been published before, but all of them are worth reading.
Hanna’s writing style is simply spectacular. He has the ability of writing spine-chilling stories where the reader’s imagination plays an important role.
I believe that youngsters, teenagers and adults can find these tales marvellous. Don’t hesitate, I assure you that you won’t regret buying this book.

[Ivana S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read Kafka before and, in my opinion, his works were shocking and amusing, so when I saw his name mentioned here I thought: I am in. “Shackles and More Gripping Tales” is a gripping read written by James Hanna.

This book consists of twenty-one stories that made me get goosebumps. In some parts, I felt like a chill running down my spine. Also, the stories are full of black humour which make the narrative even more enjoyable.


To conclude, the autor has a writing style that permits the reader experience the events. For uniqueness alone, this item deserves a place in the top ten kindle library. It's highly recommended for connoisseurs of the bizarre. I am giving this book five stars because all the stories are enthralling and that is something I love in a good piece of writing. It has a tragic and surprising end that left me breathless.

[Trinity Waddell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review through Voracious Readers Only

I wanted to like this more than I did- if that makes sense. It started off really well. I love the Sugar Shack Dress Company. It was definately the high light of the book for me. But as the book went on, my interest waned. I just felt some of the stories went nowhere.
I do think I would like to read one of James Hanna's novels at some stage as there were bits I did enjoy and maybe a novel as a whole would be more enjoyable.
A decent read but for me, not outstanding.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I am not sure what I was expecting when I started this book but it was definitely not what I read. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it. There was a point when all I could think about was how the author is so self-absorbed and how our views on so many things in life didn't match. Overall, not great and not the worst book I've ever read. But I won't be going out of my way to suggest it to my friends.

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.

[Sarah Bloomfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of this book from voracious readers only.

This book is a compilation of short stories and as with most short story books some I loved and others I didn't. For me the first 2 were the best but I did find towards the end my interest had dwindled slightly, that said nice quick easy reads so great if you're short on time

[Shelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shackles is like sitting on a park bench with Forrest from "Forrest Gump", only Forrest is McMurphy from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and you just never know where the stories will go. Storytelling in first-person narrative keep you involved through all the twists and turns. Good read! (I received a copy from VRO.)

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author via Voracious Readers Only.

Each short story was written well and was interesting! Each one kept my interest and a few of them, I wanted more!

[Rachel Lawes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read a book quite like this, and I am very glad I did. It is an original in my opinion with a mixture of tales and the adventures of Tom Hemmings are great . The quirky characters in the other tales were marvelous .

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loves this book of short stories! It doesn’t disappoint!
Each story has a way of quickly drawing you in and when I was finished reading it I wanted more! Thank you to VoraciousReadersOnly for recommending it to me and having Author James Hanna for sending me a complimentary book!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A selection of short stories, many of them dealing with the shackles theme of prison, crime, the justice system etc or perhaps being stuck either physically or in mindset. Not wholly my thing but engaging enough.

[Pina Mangion · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't know what to expect when I started to read my complimentary copy from Voracious Readers Only. Some quite interesting tales - not exactly my cup of tea - but quite interesting.

[Catherine Pageault · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an interesting collection of short stories. They mainly follow the life of one main character who works with the police. They are enjoyable to read and well-written.

[Stephanie Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shackles & More Gripping Tales by James Hanna is a worthwhile read
Alot of twist & turns in the Tales
Would like to read some of these Tales as a full storybook

[Christina Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great short stories, I really enjoyed this book.

[Jacquelyn Parnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of 21 short stories that are perfect in length and keep you hooked all the way through. Witty, sometimes dark but very enjoyable

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC free from VRO and this is my voluntary honest review.
Oh, wow! I'm giving this book 4🌟🌟🌟🌟 because there are some really interesting stories.
Oh, man. These were some strange, off the wall tales!
Weird! Short, witty, dark, tales with shocking raw colorful characters and peppered with some unnecessary cuss words. Some how, they draw you in and you can't stop reading. Find out for yourself.

[Sandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the many short stories. However, it wasn't as "scary" as I'd hope after reading another review.

[Jessica Coulson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some stories were interesting and layered, some funny, some just plain odd. A majority were enjoyable.