Book Reviews and More: Safe Enough and Other Stories

Wednesday, 8 January 2025

Safe Enough and Other Stories - Lee Child

Safe Enough and Other Stories

Lee Child

Mysterious Press

ISBN 97816131656

eISBN 9781613165713

ASIN B0CW1J3Y5G

Safe Enough and Other Stories - Lee Child - US Cover

Prior to reading this I had read all the Reacher novels and the Reacher novella’s and short stories. I picked up my first as a gift for my dad, read the back and ended up reading all that were in print in under a year. I was not exactly sure what I expected from this collection. I am just a fan of Child’s writings and wanted to give it a read.

The description of this volume states:

“Pulse-pounding short stories from the author Michael Connelly calls "the best thriller writer in the world."

You know Jack Reacher. Now meet twenty more heroes and heavies from the brilliant mind of legendary crime author Lee Child.

A drug-dealing hit man feels that he must unburden his fears and guilt to a stranger in “Ten Keys.” A rookie cop in “Normal in Every Way” is assigned to the department’s file room, where he makes connections to historic dates that could lead to solving crimes. A methodical bodyguard quits his job when he’s outsmarted. A military mission is planned to perfection. A potential worker for the Manhattan Project is carefully surveilled by an FBI agent. A killer preys on other killers. Taken together, these stories are a riotous calamity of criminals and crime fighters; individually, they are expertly crafted, piercing tales that hit hard enough to leave a mark.

These twenty intriguing, thrilling, and rapid-fire fictions are intimate portraits of humanity at its best and worst, sure to please new and longtime fans of Child and to illuminate a side of the author’s work unknown to Reacher devotees. Featuring a colorful new introduction from the author, the collection stands as the first book written entirely by Child in four years.”

The stories in this collection are:

Foreword

The Bodyguard

The Greatest Trick of All

Ten Keys

Safe Enough

Normal in Every Way

The .50 Solution

Public Transportation

Me & Mr Rafferty

Section 7(a) (Operational)

Addicted to Sweetness

The Bone-Headed League

I Heard a Romantic Story

My First Drug Trial

Wet with Rain

The Truth about What Happened

Pierre, Lucien & Me

New Blank Document

Shorty and the Briefcase

Dying for a Cigarette

The Snake Eater by the Numbers

The biggest surprise for me was the number of stories that feel like they did not only have an antihero, but had a non-hero or even villain. Many do not have good resolutions and often sad endings. The writing is clean and crisp, that you would expect from Child. But overall I felt unfulfilled. I slowed down my reading often only reading a story a day and often missing days. It took a while to work through the volume.

Writing novels and short stories are very different skills. Child does a great job with both. But most of the stories in this collection just did not hit with me.

I am glad I read it. But I doubt I would ever pick it up again. Where I have debated going back and rereading the Reacher stories in Chronological order. If you are looking for Reacheresque stories you will not find them here. If you are a big fan of Child it is an interesting collection to show off his skill in short form fiction.