Irreconcilable Differences

by Jeffery Deaver, Sarah Lovett, Margaret Maron, et al.

Book Overview

The Phrase Irreconcilable differences has become an unwelcome and painful fact of life for countless married couples, not to mention business partners, families, and neighbors. As this mesmerizing collection proves, no bland legal euphemism can ever disguise the cut-to-the-quick resentments, violent recriminations, and chilling betrayals of a partnership gone wrong. With 20 tales from today's most successful writers of crime fiction, including: --...

Customer Reviews

A string of pearls

Publisher's Weekly touted this collection of twenty mystery stories as "worth the asking price just for Joyce Carol Oates's entry: "Tusk."" How could an Oates fan resist? Well, I'm glad I didn't resist, for a score of reasons. "Tusk" was just the right, tasty appetitizer for this delicious banquet of can't-put-down-because-the-writng-is-so-good stories. Did I know I would like mystery stories? No. I pretty much gave up mysteries when I put away Victoria Holt style gothic novels in favor of literary fiction, after being introduced to Joyce Carol Oates in my first college lit course. With the volume of literary fiction published every year, I have never had time to look back. (The prolific Oates alone could almost own my reading time). Now I lament what I have been missing. Yes, Oates delivers her in-your-face interiority with the same phenomenal understanding of character that she always delivers, so no surprise there. The real reward came with the discovery of Jeffery Deaver and Edna Buchanan, (writers I have here-to-fore passed over with my nose in the air as genre writers), and the other no-less-impressive seventeen writers of whom I may or may not have heard. The stories, though many involve murder, are as endearing as puppies, as charming as toddlers on a good day, and as satisfying as a hot fudge sundae. When not actually cheering on the killers, I was, at least, understanding them. Naturally, some of the protagonists seek less than deadly revenge. In "Fresh Paint" by Julie Smith, an artist paints a portrait on her passed-out ex-husband's butt, to prove who the real artist in the family is. In Judith Kelman's "Just Deserts," we begin to see, early on, that the characters, along with their plan for revenge, are deeply flawed. Special kudos to Lia Matera for this superb collection as well as for her haunting story, "If It Can't Be True" about a farm family that is utterly destroyed by an unexplained cow mutilation. "Irreconcilable Differences" is like a string of pearls, with every story an authentic and uniquely, perfectly, imperfect pearl - proof that differences, though irreconcilable, are entertaining. In the future, I will be following all these writer's work.

A great short story anthology

This short story collection centers on the impact of separations and divorce on the participants including extended family members. However, the twenty tales share a dark look at IRRECONCILABLE DIFFERENCES as the audience is treated to situations that do not end as peacefully as our current legal system expects. Lia Matera has put together a remarkable anthology that has several excellent stories, some very good tales, and no poor entry. The cross-genre contributors are a modern day who's who with such noted authors like Oates, Cross, Deaver, Lutz, Buchanan, and Muller, etc. None of the writers are lightweights as they all hold their own with the heavyweights. Anyone who enjoyed the Battle of the Roses will fully relish each tale that paints a very dismal look at broken relationships. Harriet Klausner