The Plot Thickens |  | Authors: Mary Higgins Clark, Lawrence Block, Edna Buchanan, Carol Higgins Clark, Lauren Demille, Nelson Demille, Janet Evanovich, Linda Fairstein, Walter Mosley, Nancy Pickard
Publisher: Pocket
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 60287
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.1 x 1
ISBN: 0671015575
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.087208
EAN: 9780671015572
ASIN: 0671015575
Publication Date: November 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Joining together for a good cause brings out the best in today's top mystery and suspense writers! For this marvelously entertaining anthology, these outstanding contributors rose to a unique literary challenge: each penned a tale that ingeniously features a thick fog, a thick book, and a thick steak. The result is a collection of wonderfully imaginative tales that both chill the spine and warm the heart: proceeds from The Plot Thickens will help bring the gift of reading to millions of disadvantaged Americans.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
 *** November 16, 2009
L. Figueroa (massachusetts, usa)
not as good as I thought it was gonna be. it still wasn't too bad. I love Mary Higgins Clark and her short story was great but I didn't like the other writers. They are nowhere as talented as her.
 My book October 19, 2009
Lisa Homan (Fort Dix, NJ USA)
Book came in record time. I will update review as soon as I find time to read it.
A mixed bad, some great stories, some terrible May 17, 2009
as
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a mixed bag, with some excellent stories, and some terrible ones.
I won't bother typing summaries of each story's plot as other reviewers have done that.
"How Far it Could Go" by Lawrence Block: Terrible
By far this is the worst story in the book. There is almost nothing to the story, if it can even be called a story. Lawrence Block should be ashamed of himself for submitting this, and the story should have been rejected by the publisher.
"Foolproof" by Edna Buchanan: Poor
A drop better than the first one, but pretty stupid at the end. Great build up, and then, plop, the story is just thrown away. Make the mummy a recent murder and you would have had a much more interesting story.
"The Man Next Door" by Mary Higgins Clark: Excellent
One of the best in the book. Her portrayal of the bad guy is amazingly realistic.
"Too Many Cooks" by Carol Higgins Clark: Good
Good, but pretty bland and with a massive plot hole: wouldn't the director try to finish the commercial quickly, and move on, instead of delaying things by many days?
"Revenge and Rebellion" by Nelson & Lauren DeMille: Weird
I didn't really understand this one, it's almost like the whole thing was an inside joke to other authors. None of the actions of the characters made any sense.
"The Last Peep" by Janet Evanovich: Excellent
The reason I got this book, and I was not disappointed.
"Going Under" by Linda Fairstein: Good
Good, but very straightforward, as soon as you find out what's going in, you know how it ends. But it's a short story, so I guess that's OK.
"Thick-Headed" by Walter Mosley: Very Good
Pretty hard to read. I nearly gave up at the paragraph containing: "Big Bill Baretti up in Frisco got a big load'a queer in." As hard as I tried to parse that paragraph, I could not figure out what was going on, and eventually decided to just continue. It's only at the very end that I figured out that "big load'a queer" meant "a lot of counterfeit money". And then the story made much more sense.
"Love's Cottage" by Nancy Pickard: Good
Not much mystery (or action), but good flavor, and unique amongst the rest for it's style.
"The Road Trip" by Ann Rule: Very Good
Suspenseful and well portrayed. The actions of the truck drivers didn't completely make sense, but an excellent twist.
"Take it Away" by Donald E. Westlake: Good
Sort of funny. Not a ton of plot, but it didn't need it.
Overall only some of the stories are worth reading. And it's really too bad the stories are in the alphabetical order by last name since the first two stories are so bad. Are there enough good stories in the book to make it worth getting? Hopefully my review will help you decide.
 The Plot Thickens March 16, 2009
Kathleen Andre (MA)
I'm about 3/4 finished...and yes I would recommend this book. It has one of my favorite authors, Janet Evanovich, and gives the opportunity to read other authors as well as money going to charity. I'd now will read Mary Higgins Clark.
A mixed bag, but fairly interesting reading June 11, 2008
Smeddley
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was basically a writing exercise compiled into a book of short stories: each story had to contain a thick steak, a thick fog, and a thick book. It was fun seeing what all the authors did with the prompt, and watching for how they worked in the items.
How Far it Could Go by Lawrence Block
This story lacked a decent ending, in my opinion. Even my feeble imagination came up with far more interesting endings then the one given. I liked the buildup, and the overall premise... but the end was a huge letdown.
Foolproof by Edna Buchanan
This was an interesting ethical dilemna, but... it seemed a little too coincidental and far-fetched for the type of story. I think the "similarities" were taken too far to be cute, and it would have been better served to focus on the real issue of the uniqueness of fingerprints.
The Man Next Door by Mary Higgins Clark
Good basic horror tale: serial killers, the nagging clue, a lot of suspense and twisted minds... It worked particularly well because you could 'see' the way to a good resolution, and you read it trying to 'will' the characters to see it, too.
Too Many Cooks by Carol Higgins Clark
This story shouldn't have been a short story. It left too many questions basically unanswered, and used the patented sitcom mentality to wrap up and explain loose ends. Great plot, but it needs an entire book to really flesh it out.
Revenge and Rebellion by Nelson & Lauren DeMille
This story lost me at the "aspartame in Sweet N Low" snafu. A small detail, but oh so wrong. But besides that, the whole story left me with a "yeah, and so what?" feel.
The Last Peep by Janet Evanovich
I'm not sure if it's cheating that she used existing characters, but I love Stephanie Plum and she did a great job of compressing an adventure into a short story and still giving us the great Plum feel.
Going Under by Linda Fairstein
This story really disturbed me, because it deals with dentistry gone horribly wrong. It was pretty well done, but nothing spectacular, plot or character wise. Just the really creepy dentist bit.
Thick-Headed by Walter Mosley
I had to make myself skim through this one. It didn't capture my attention at all, and was hard to follow.
Love's Cottage by Nancy Pickard
I didn't like the format of the story (mental letters composed to a loved one) but the idea behind the story was interesting, though not full enough to be anything more than speculative fluff.
The Road Trip by Ann Rule
This story just confused me. What was the point of the truck drivers? They were following her long before the motel, so that makes no sense whatsoever. I would rather they showed up for the first time at the motel, and it would have made sense. And the smarmy speech by the truck driver at the end - disjointed and weird - took away even more of the story's credibility. It could have been a good story, but... it wasn't.
Take it Away by Donald E. Westlake
This story wasn't bad at all - good character, simple, straightforward plot and some good wordplay.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 20
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