Review: A twist on the familiar
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 02 27, 2013
Synopsis: The good Mr Twist (what a wonderful name for these kind of stories) has brought to us fifteen tales, inspired by the works of the legendary Mr Poe. Fifteen tales, dipping into the darkness, touching on a variety of man's vices. Fifteen tales, which set out to disturb, and sneak their way under the reader's skin.There's a nice familiarity to the stories on offer here. By familiarity, please be assured that I do not mean "blatant rip off" - they're not. Instead, they pay a nice tribute to earlier works by past masters in tone, if not in content. Twist plays with some classic themes, most notably and most frequently greed and opportunities with money. The suspense is well handled. The tension builds well, and there are some very good stories in the mix (personal favourites include Quid Pro Quo, Moneybag, Time is Money, Gary's Home and Coldest Bottle - a good choice for a starter). There are, understandably, a couple of duffers - with One Can Only Hope being a clichéd  piece of work which just doesn't deserve to be in this compilation.There's no doubt that Twist is a very good writer. However (yes, there's always a "however". Welcome to my mind), whilst there are some good-great stories in there, there's an awful lot of average/forgettable ones, where Twist's storytelling skills lets down his writing ability.Elements of Darkness is certainly worth picking up, and I'll be looking out for future volumes. I would hope to see future selections of his short stories being sharper and of a better overall selection, matching the quality (or even exceeding) the best of this volume.*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*