I just finished this anthology, which contains stories by J.D. Robb, Patricia Gaffney, Mary Blayney and Ruth Ryan Langan.
The Lost (Anthology)
(2009, Suspense) 1/1/2010
Grade: 4, 4, 2, 2
J.D. Robb: A woman goes missing from the Staten Island Ferry. Patricia Gaffney: A wife and mother awakens from a coma to discover she’s n the body of a dog. Mary Blayney: A cursed man finds hope with a religious singing nurse. Ruth Ryan Langan: A woman travels to Ireland to discover whether she’s the long lost daughter of a tycoon.
Two of the stories were excellent, and the other two were dull. The Blayney story was too convoluted for me. I read about 30 pages, but it just didn’t add up to a coherent story. The Langan story was very predictable. I predicted everything that would happen on page 1, and I wasn’t surprised.
The Robb story was one of the better installments of this series. I was a little worried about the mysterious futuristic gadget that comes up during the story, but it doesn’t magically solve the mystery. The most interesting part of the story was the question it brought up for Eve – is killing ever justified? It puts her outlook on life up against Roarke’s, and I would have loved to see this expanded to a full length book. Still, the story held together and I enjoyed it.
The most surprising story was The Dog Days of Laurie Summer by Patricia Gaffney. It was really funny! And yet, all of the fun elements of a woman-in-a-dog went with the real emotions of the heroine trying to connect with her family. It was very unexpected from Gaffney, and definitely made the anthology worth reading.
It’s always hard to justify paying $7.99 for an anthology that might only contain one or two good stories. But this might be a good book to get from the library, just for the Gaffney story (and the Robb if you are an Eve and Roarke fan).
P.S. Trying to spiff up my blog with pictures – we’ll see how that works out!
Karen Wheless
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