Review: An Astounding Collection of Short Stories!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 3, 2014
Find this review and more at Lusty Penguin Reviews!Lovers of short story collections should be adding Michael Twist to their list of must-read authors. Twist has put together another astounding collection of short stories complete with his patented twist in Elements of Darkness, the fourth collection in the Twist’s Tales series.At times I find it difficult to review collections because of the various stories. Twist does a masterful job of writing multiple stories within a theme that are all completely different from each other but still form a cohesive collection. Once again, I thoroughly enjoyed the collection as whole, especially since the stories all touch on the various kinds of evil within man, such as greed, apathy, and selfishness. As with most collections, , one story stood out more than the others, and in this collection, that story is “Ticker.”  In debt up to his eyeballs, Steve Porter hopes that huge winning streak at the blackjack tables will provide him with the money to get out of debt. Of course, Steve wins but isn’t smart enough to leave the tables when the getting was good and loses it all. With all hope lost, Steve gives his broken watch to a stranger in exchange for the winning Keno numbers to solve all of his financial problems. But, the numbers come with strings attached, which Steve chooses to ignore, leading to the stunning twist that was surprising as it was fitting.Elements of Darkness is a fantastic collection of short stories that delve into the dark nature of man. I have mentioned before that I normally don’t read short stories, but Twist’s collections are so well done that I can’t wait to read his stories.