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FIRST THRILLS by Lee Child, ed. Forge, June 2010 367 pages $25.99 ISBN: 0765326485 Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

It may seem disingenuous for me to request a thriller anthology to read when time and again, I've admitted I find it hard to like thrillers but I thought this would be a great way to find stuff I'd like My issues with thrillers could be met head-on with a bunch of good short stories. I love crime fiction short stories and the short story seems to be a perfect way to present the thriller format; pacing, a need to wrap up in a limited amount of time. I also know the editor and trust him. I don't know where Lee Child finds the energy to read even a book a year, but we've talked books and I know his taste. Another good sign.

So, do I recommend FIRST THRILLS? Do you like thrillers? Then yes. Are you of "yeah, but" opinion as I am? Then, maybe.

The idea here was for big names in the thriller biz, folks who are part of the ITW organization, to share an anthology with first-time writers to bring attention to new talent. Of course, many of the big names, while known to me from library and bookstore shelves aren't authors whose work I know well. The stories, like the authors are a mixed bag. Theme anthologies, even one with as broad a theme as FIRST THRILLS, run risks, always. And not all the stories in this collection worked. Many, sorry, were not thrillers, not as I understand the sub-genre. Some seemed to be of the "oh, you want a story? Sure" (and to be honest, as the established folks like Child and Coontz and Bruen were donating their work, why not offer any older work?)

In the years that I've read and reviewed crime fiction/mysteries, I've come to believe that yes, there really are authors who can't do a bad job. I've read several Jack Reacher novels and a few short stories by Lee Child and he's a talent to be reckoned with. He's awfully damn good at what he does. Ken Bruen? Same thing - that spare, idiosyncratic style that can only come from Bruen always works. The guy's amazing. Tough to read but amazing.

My favorite story in this collection came not from either of these two masters but from Bill Cameron. I know Cameron's work a bit, and his story is unique in a true meaning of the word.

At least three stories did not belong in FIRST THRILLS. At least two were straight ghost stories. Are ghost stories thrillers/ They can be. But I don't think they are, necessarily, and I found them oddly inappropriate in a book that purported to introduce thriller writers to a new audience. Another was a tale that would have worked very nicely some years back in Astounding or Amazing or The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (please note that I am not insulting this story; I am a fan of sf and of sf short fiction) and I did not understand its placement in this collection and it felt oddly dated, as if it had been sitting in a drawer waiting to be donated somewhere.

Is FIRST THRILLS worth your time and money? Absolutely if you just want to read an anthology with a wide range of short stories and, maybe find someone new. Most of the stories in the collection are at the very least readable. I had higher expectations of the works here so I was disappointed. And for the billionth time, we can all agree that this is a broad field that we read and love and you may really enjoy this somewhat quirky anthology.

ANDI § Andi Shechter, who has twice has chaired mystery conventions, has an ancient MA in Criminal Justice and is proud to have appeared in a mystery as a New York runway model.