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Publisher's Weekly
The author of original and literate suspense novels, Westlake excels also at creating mystery adventures in science-fiction settings. The selections in this volume, nine short stories and a book-length story, Anarchaos , originally appeared in SF magazines. Anarchy/chaos is the condition of society on the planet where Rolf Malone arrives from Earth after serving time for murder. While he lacks most human emotions, Rolf does love his brother Gar who was killed on Anarchaos, and he is bent on vegeance. Westlake conveys unbridled horror as the lone Earthling, though cunning and violent, is outnumbered by creatures of Hell, the city where events reach a climax. Both the novella and a much shorter cautionary tale, ''Hydra,'' carry an implied warning about future life in a polluted world. Other entries relieve the grimness, displaying the author's sense of humor, particularly in a sendup of Hammett's fat man seeking the fabled bird and Poe's detective spotting the missing paper, ''The Ultimate Caper: The Purloined Letter.''
Library Journal
Like many short story collections, this audio anthology by the popular Westlake (The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution, Audio Reviews, LJ 11/15/91) is a mixed bag. As in viewing a slasher movie, the listener is often implanted through first-person narrative into the psyche of some unsavory criminal types, such as the protagonist of "Anarchaos," who talks about values even though he has killed five people before the story begins and anguishes more over killing a horse than the dozen or so people, some innocent, whom he kills in the course of the story. Narrator Theodore Bikel saves his best voices for this otherwise weak tale. The rest of the stories range from the macabre (a ghost as narrator) to the silly (a twist on the sacrificial virgin ritual). Despite the title, not all the stories are futuristic. Westlake's name may make this popular in public libraries.-Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, N.C.
Genre: Mystery
The author of original and literate suspense novels, Westlake excels also at creating mystery adventures in science-fiction settings. The selections in this volume, nine short stories and a book-length story, Anarchaos , originally appeared in SF magazines. Anarchy/chaos is the condition of society on the planet where Rolf Malone arrives from Earth after serving time for murder. While he lacks most human emotions, Rolf does love his brother Gar who was killed on Anarchaos, and he is bent on vegeance. Westlake conveys unbridled horror as the lone Earthling, though cunning and violent, is outnumbered by creatures of Hell, the city where events reach a climax. Both the novella and a much shorter cautionary tale, ''Hydra,'' carry an implied warning about future life in a polluted world. Other entries relieve the grimness, displaying the author's sense of humor, particularly in a sendup of Hammett's fat man seeking the fabled bird and Poe's detective spotting the missing paper, ''The Ultimate Caper: The Purloined Letter.''
Library Journal
Like many short story collections, this audio anthology by the popular Westlake (The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution, Audio Reviews, LJ 11/15/91) is a mixed bag. As in viewing a slasher movie, the listener is often implanted through first-person narrative into the psyche of some unsavory criminal types, such as the protagonist of "Anarchaos," who talks about values even though he has killed five people before the story begins and anguishes more over killing a horse than the dozen or so people, some innocent, whom he kills in the course of the story. Narrator Theodore Bikel saves his best voices for this otherwise weak tale. The rest of the stories range from the macabre (a ghost as narrator) to the silly (a twist on the sacrificial virgin ritual). Despite the title, not all the stories are futuristic. Westlake's name may make this popular in public libraries.-Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, N.C.
Genre: Mystery
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