Five twisted tales of murder and revenge.
Time doesn’t heal; it’s an incubator for old wounds.
Lucy’s return – No one remembers Lucy at the school reunion, but she remembers them. Especially one boy who made her life hell, and now she’s going to do the same to him.
The Tallyman – Donna is in debt, and the loan shark is making her life unbearable, with increasingly vile demands when she can’t make her payments. But her elderly neighbour, Elsie, has the perfect solution to get rid of the tallyman once and for all.
Last Orders – Jeff Tully’s wife has left him. Trying to run his pub single-handedly, he increasingly turns to his barmaid, Alyson, for help. But when Alyson tells him of her own troubles, they hatch a plan to get rid of Alyson’s violent, abusive husband. But will Jeff live to regret he ever got involved with his barmaid?
Ballad of the Unsung Hero – Retired shopkeeper Jennifer Price is at her wits end. Her husband Kenneth thinks more of his fishing than he does of her. But when she meets the man of her dreams at a spiritual church, Jennifer is hell-bent on getting her man – whatever it takes.
Private Museum – Retired nurse Mandy Rostron never thought she’d find love again after her husband died, but in Anthony Mallard she’s found the perfect gentleman. Or so she thinks. Mallard has some very dark secrets in his basement, or his Private Museum as he calls it, and Mandy is about to discover the truth about the man of her dreams.
My thoughts
Interesting loved the poem at the beginning and I am not a person who likes poetry.
The first story started off well showing a person who didn’t know what had happened to his wife just she was gone. It wasn’t terrifying or twisted like I had expected very different from what I know this author normally writes like.
The first story had me in tears because of the abuse mentally that Aly was going through. It was so hard for me as I was abused by an ex mentally and it made the whole story just seebecome a terror. While I so love it I can see that those who are newer to the situation would be triggered easily by this story.
I did kind of guess the ending and figured out what happened but just getting to that point was well I won’t say fun it was entertaining and still not sure that I like the story as it did trigger some of my memories that I thought were long since barried.
Lucy’s Return story 2
The start was good and didn’t fill me with dread. I love the premise behind this story as it just feels like death bed confessions which shows a lot of what I love in some of the stories in the past that I have watched and read.
School especially high school is a tough time for everyone but more especially when you don’t fit the mold of what beauty or looks should be. The main character in this story seems to be the outcaste and one who was bullied.
I can relate to this story a lot as I was always bullied in school from young age up until I left high school and went to college. I feel for the girl as she seems to have had this impact everything she did in her life. You never truly getget over those issues you just hide them better until they don’t impact you as much.
A very interesting take on the revenge trope. I alwaysalways enjoy these stories as you get to see something and maybe even contemplate what you would do if you were to be able to do as Vanessa does.
Private museum the 3rd story
This story is not what I expected at all. There was so much that was setting off alarms for me in regards to the relationship and the controlling nature of things in that marriage.
It is shocking story but it is well written just it’s hard to read this as you can see the lack of confidence in the wife as well I see a lot of bad issues that would have me running for the hills.
Mandy drives me nuts as you can see that she is being abused mentally bit she refuses to do anything about it. We all know how hard it is to leave I have been through it myself. Audrey feels like the well meaning and interfering friend who just doesn’t understand what Mandy needs.
Anthony didn’t see him much but he is a piece of work and with him you see the side of reality that you hope to never experience.
The Ballad of the Unsung Hero story 4
This one I am really on the fence about as it had a great story but I just felt it was a bit incomplete. I wanted to find out what happened on the end to Jennifer and to see of she ever got her happily ever after.
It was a good story just I didn’t feel satisfaction at the end like I normally did as there was still so much up in the air.
The Tallyman story 5
The last story was my favourite. It just had everything I look for in a story. It had a fitting ending and had memorable characters who had both good points and bad points.
All in total the book was very good not as twisted as my expectations especially from this author. It was very good despite some of the triggers it had for me. Even then I couldn’t see stop reading the book.
Crazy Canadian Writing 