Product Description

In "Like A Charm", Karin Slaughter brings together some of the best selling Crime writers in the World today to create a collection of thrilling short stories of murder, betrayal and intrigue. Each story in "Like A Charm" is interlinked by a charm bracelet which makes its way into each tale bringing bad luck wherever it is found. The authors' tales are set in their usual city and era of choice, Val McDermid in 1980's Manchester, Denise Mina in Glasgow, Karin Slaughter in Atlanta and all are original to this collection. "Like A Charm" is the first collection of Crime writing to have one specific item, the charm bracelet, as the focus for each story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #13491 in Books
• Published on: 2004-06-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 378 pages

From the Publisher
KARIN SLAUGHTER, MARK BILLINGHAM, LEE CHILD, JOHN CONNOLLY, LYNDA LA PLANTE, DENISE MINA, PETER ROBINSON … A STUNNING COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL LINKED STORIES FROM SOME OF THE BEST CRIME WRITERS TODAY …

About the Author
Karin Slaughter, is the author of the international bestsellers Blindsighted, Kisscut , A Faint Cold Fear and forthcoming Grant County novel, Indelible. She lives in Atlanta.

Customer Reviews

Not a massive fan of short stories
I'm not sure that I am the right person to review this book as generally I am not a big fan of shorty stories. I do like the idea that you can pick up a book and read a whole story in a couple of minutes but I always feel that they lach depth. There are some really great stories in this book and there are some that are not so great. I liked that the charm braclett was the theme all the way through. Not a bad read but not fab.

Disapointing and Confusing
I LOVE Karin Slaughter and thought that this book would be up 2 her usual standards, sadly I was disapointed.
I didnt actually buy this book - it came free with one of her fantastic novels - and Im so glad I didnt wate my money.
Dont get me wrong - I love the idea behind the book. Get the best crime writers in the business to each write a chapter of a book all useing the central element of a charm bracelet. The only problem is that the reader is left confused and let down. If you di actually understand and enjoy one of the chapters, u are more than likley nt going to get the next one.

Karin should just stick to what she does best and leave the lesser authors to do what they do.!

Like A Charm, Karin Slaughter
The basis of this short-story collection is an original and intriguing one: each story, while entirely independent, follows the life of a charm bracelet, from its creation in Georgia in 1803, through time and across oceans, until it eventually ends up back in Georgia again. In each story, the bracelet plays its part, almost always brining bad luck to the one who has come to possess it. It's a short-story collection that could almost be read as a quirky novel. The only downside to this idea is that the connections of each story, through the life of the charm bracelet, should in some cases be made a lot clearer - once or twice it was hard or impossible to create a logical connection between one story and the next, and the old "so and so bought in an Pawn/Antique Shop" device was greatly overused - then as a whole this collection would be more powerful than it is.

The stories are incredibly varied; set in times and places as different as the American South in the 19th century to wartime Leeds in the 20th. In one, an accusation has dire consequences. In another, a train journey becomes anything but mundane. A sax player ends up getting more than he bargained for when he does a favour for a friend. A school-teacher's outing to London turns altogether more twisted. And a desperate writer makes a fateful purchase in exchange for inspiration...

I am very much a devotee of the short-story; they are perfect for slotting into a dead half-hour, ideal if you want a single-sitting read. Quick pleasure, instant satisfaction - if they're of quality. And, if you pick right - maybe one of Ruth Rendell's beautifully twisted masterpieces, of Ian McEwan's elegant, concise works - then they can be just as good as a novel. While the stories here aren't really of that quality (well, except for one; I'll get to that in a minute) they do align into a very good, entertaining and satisfying collection. Each piece is taut and well-tuned, written with the sharp succinctity and ability to shock that marks out the best of the form. Some of the writers you will have heard of: Peter Robinson, Mark Billingham, and Lee Child, for example. Others maybe not: Emma Donohue, for example, whose story "Vanitas" is an excellent little piece set on a plantation in the South. And Peter Moore Smith, or Jerrilyn Farmer, writer of the penultimate story "The Eastlake School", a twisted piece of brilliance. There are definitely a couple of writers here whose work I will be endeavouring to find out more about after reading this. You may too.

Here, all the stories are good (that is pleasing in itself - in every collection there are normally one or two mis-fires) but some of them are excellent: Robinson's "Cornelius Jubb", for example, or "Plan B" by Kelley Armstrong, to name just two among several. However, one story here does stand far, far above them all, and that is John Connolly's "The Inkpot Monkey". It's the sort of story of which one might say "it alone is worth the price of this book", but for the fact that it would be rather silly to actually contemplate spending $20+ on just 15 pages of text. The sentiment remains the same, though. It is an eerie, slightly surreal tale about a man suffering writer's block who goes to great lengths in order to rediscover his muse. Told with flair and punch, is explores several themes, such as, What does it mean to be a writer? More precisely, What of themselves do writers put into their work? What is required of them, what must they give in order to create and be inspired? And, ultimately, Is it worth it? And, having given it, What then? It is a brilliant, remarkable story, and is the real gem of this pleasing, ingenuitive collection. Despite the fact that the sometimes poor linkage takes away from the concept of this collection, Like A Charm is worth a look for fans of this form.