Montana Noir
I can’t remember where I first heard about the Akashic Noir series from Akashic Books, but as a lover of film noir and gritty crime stories, I knew I needed to try these books, even if I don’t typically enjoy short stories. I received Montana Noir as a Christmas present and all I can say is Wow! What a collection to start with!
Like most anthologies, the stories here are of varying degrees of interest to a single reader. I expected to enjoy maybe half of the fourteen entries. I would have counted that as a success. This collection blew me away. The first and last tales did not speak to me the way the others did, but if you cut them out, the twelve that remain are five-star reads. There’s sadness, poor decision-making, bad luck, and some incredible twists that I did not see coming.
I don’t want to give anything away, so I’ll say no more, but if you enjoy noir at all, like short stories clustered around a central theme, or even if you just appreciate excellent storytelling, you can’t go wrong with Montana Noir. I don’t know how the rest of the series will compete, but I am definitely looking forward to reading them.
Tails from the Dog-side 