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Playing Games

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An excellent collection of stories put together by Lawrence Block, with each story having something to do with a game. The games aren't always the center of attention in the stories, but they are nevertheless put to effective and sinister use. The amazing S.A. Crosby supplies a standout story having to do with checkers.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital advance review copy.

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There is no such thing as "a bad Lawrence Block anthology" and this book is absolute proof of that. Almost every story is excellent, with a few that are pretty good and a couple that were just okay. That's pretty standard fare for a collection of this type, but Block does a great job of selecting a great lineup of game-related tales. My top 3 favorites in this collection were King's Row by S.A. Cosby, Knock by James D. F. Hannah, and Paladin by Tod Goldberg.

Thank you to Subterranean Press and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review an early copy of this excellent anthology.

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This collection of short stories has editor Lawrence Block picking mystery writers who use games as a catalyst for the action. Rarely is the game what the story is actually about. The games are used to explore characters, render vengeance, heighten mysterious connections and usually surprise the reader. The best stories veer off from the games and take the reader into the psychic pain or mission of the protagonist. Yes, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Stories enjoyed were by Charles Ardai, (video games), S. A. Cosby (checkers), Jeffrey Deaver (Candyland), and James D. F. Hannah (gin rummy). Recommended. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this title.

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I'm a sucker for any Lawrence Block anthology and this one did not disappoint. Each story has a connection to a game. Of course I loved the one by LB best! But David Morrell and Jeffrey Deaver (among others) make excellent contributions. I'd like another a Block book but this is a great way to whet my appetite!

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BLURB: "From hide-and-seek to Russian roulette, from mahjong to Mouse Trap, it’s a game lover’s dream—but beware: your turn is coming, and while winning isn’t everything, sometimes losing can be deadly… "

Playing Games consists of sixteen all new short stories plus one bonus "classic" from Lawrence Block. Block, a Mystery Writers of America Grandmaster, has made a second career out of putting together these great anthology collections and he always manages to get some of the best writers in the business.

The subject for this one encompasses a wide range so, as one might expect, the stories run the gambit from "traditional" mystery to noir-ish crime fiction to more nuanced literary fiction in the mystery-of-life vein. I'm on the fence about several of these that are too far on the outside fringes of mystery/crime fiction for my personal taste; not bad just not for me.

The ones I really enjoyed, the standout 5-star stories, were: King's Row by S.A. Cosby (the game is Checkers), Paladin by Tod Goldberg (Dungeons and Dragons), Knock by James D. F. Hannah (Gin Rummy), With the Right Bait by Gar Anthony Haywood (Mouse Trap), Lightning Round by Warren Moore (Trivia/Trivial Pursuit), and Chance by Wallace Strody (Russian roulette). And as an additional (unintended) bonus I was introduced to the work of James D. F. Hannah which, in turn, led me to his Shamus award-winning Henry Malone mystery series.

I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as I have most of Mr. Block's previous anthologies but the enigmatic hodgepodge of stories in this collection is almost certain to have something for every reader.

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“Playing Games” is a collection of mystery short stories edited by Lawrence Block, all of which have some sort of game as part of the story. We see everything from board games to party games to Russian roulette (!). As is usual in these types of collections, the quality of the stories varies, with some being outstanding while others not so much. And it seems like it was really a stretch to fit some of these stories in a mysteries collection.

“Seek and You Will Find,” by Patricia Abbott. A very weird story about an older lady sticking her nose into other people’s business, with poor consequences and a weird game of hide-and-seek. Not my favorite.

Next is “Game Over” by Charles Ardai. A boy gets falsely accused of stealing quarters from video games. A good tale.

“King’s Row,” by S. A. Cosby. A catatonic man in a care facility gets visited by an old friend with whom he used to play checkers is really about a fallout among thieves, one comes back looking for his cut. Enjoyable.

“The Babysitter” by Jeffrey Deaver was a tense thriller about a couple whose babysitter saw something she shouldn’t have, and now they hire a hitman to take the babysitter out. It turns the tables in unexpected ways.

“Paladin,” by Tod Goldberg had a Dungeons and Dragons aspect, a story about a missing boy and the consequences, small town secrets.

“Psychiatrist,” by Jane Hamilton has very little mystery to it, mostly a reminiscence of a party game gone wrong.

“Knock,” by James D. F. Hannah involves an ex-mafia guy in the witness protection program, dealing with a young podcaster who wants to know the truth. A very good short story.

“With the Right Bait,” by Gar Anthony Haywood involves murder for hire and Mousetrap, a fun combination.

“Two Norths, Two Souths, Two East, Two West, Two Reds, Two Whites, and Two Greens,” by Elaine Kagan visited four women who regularly played mahjong, and really had nothing to do with mystery or murder. A story that really didn’t fit in this collection.

“A Crokinole Tale,” by Avri Klemer is another story that really doesn’t fit the “mystery” theme, about a Canadian game that I have never heard of. A player talks about his history as a camp counselor trying to save a tree.

“Red Billie,” by Joe R. Lansdale is another example of a story that doesn’t really have a mystery aspect, more of a magical/mystical fantasy story. A strange girl comes to town who happens to be really good at shooting marbles. Good story but a bit out of the element here.

“Lightning Round,” by Warren Moore is about a weekly bar trivia contest with unexpected results.

“The Puzzle Master,” by David Morrell is another example of a nice story with very little mystery. A couple who likes doing puzzles realizes that a man is telling his life story through puzzles.

“Challenge Cube,” by Kevin Quigley. A grown man confronts his abusive father, with Boggle in the background.

“A Tip on a Turtle,” by Robert Silverberg. A stranger at a Caribbean hotel seems to have unbeatable luck in betting on the turtle races, as well as with the single ladies looking for love. One of these ladies realizes his secret.

“Chance” by Wallace Stroby is a great story, a tense look at a secret club where down-on-their-luck people play Russian Roulette to entertain rich weirdos. Every time you win a round you get $10,000, while the rich all place their bets on when you’ll die. A man finds his way into this tournament for a special reason.

Lawrence Block also contributes a story with “Strangers on a Handball Court”, a riff on the Strangers on a Train concept about two guys who meet on a public handball court, both have divorce problems that would go away if they could just eliminate a certain person. A fun twist at the end, a story from a great master.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Subterranean Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

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When I had the opportunity to read Playing Games, I thought the book was a collection of short stories by Lawrence Block. Block has been a favorite writer of mine for many decades. However, with the exception of the final story, this is an anthology of short stories by authors other than Block. The stories all contain the element of a game being played in the story. Some are games I’ve never heard of, such as Psychiatrist and Crokinole, while other stories involve common games and activities such as marbles, checkers, and jigsaw puzzles.

As with any collection of stories, some are good, a few excellent, and a few not so good. This is of course subjective, but I found four of the stories excellent, seven stories that were not good at all, and the rest fell somewhere between the two extremes. Below is a brief summary of each story below and my rating for each story.

The book leads off with “Seek and You Will Find,” by Patricia Abbott. This story involves the ancient children’s game of hide and seek. While it has an element of mystery and horror at the end, overall, it missed the mark for me.

Next is “Game Over” by Charles Ardai. This was a good story involving the playing of video games. I enjoyed this story very much.

“King’s Row,” by S. A. Cosby was a decent story. This story involved the game of checkers and a seemingly comatose man. This story fell in the middle range for me; not great, but not bad either.

“The Babysitter,” by Jeffrey Deaver involved the children’s game of Candyland. It was a good story involving a murder with a twist ending you won’t see coming.

“Paladin,” by Tod Goldberg was a disappointing story. This story involved the game Dungeons and Dragons. I won’t go into any specifics so as not to spoil the ending, but I saw the ending very quickly. The supposed twist ending was evident early on. This was a very disappointing story.

“Psychiatrist,” by Jane Hamilton involved a game I have never heard of, called Psychiatrist. The game seemed pointless to me and due to its nature, can only be played once by the participants. If the story had been told from the perspective of the person trying to figure out the game, the story would have been better. But the story is told from the perspective of the game players, thus any suspense was removed. I failed to see the point in either this story or the dumb parlor game being played.

“Knock,” by James Hannah was one of the best stories in the collection. It involved the card game, Gin Rummy, and a man with a new identity in the Federal Witness Protection Program. This is a very good story.

“With the Right Bait,” by Gar Haywood, was another excellent story. This story revolved around the children’s game of Mousetrap. Who didn’t own that game as a kid? The Mousetrap game in the story covers three days and ends with a murder, but not as expected. I really enjoyed this story a lot.

Unfortunately, “Two Norths, Two Souths, Tow East, Two West, Two Reds, Two Whites, and Two Greens,” by Elaine Kagan was one of the most disappointing stories in the book. This story centered around the game of mahjong.

“A Crokinole Tale,” by Auri Kllemer was another poor story. It was a story of a tree at a summer camp where the narrator was a camp counselor. I failed to see the point of this story.

“Red Billie,” by Joe Lansdale, was an abject disaster of a story in my opinion. This story centered around a game of marbles and also involved a touch of magical realism, which I enjoy reading if written by an author sufficiently talented to pull it off. It appeared the author tried too hard to make the story work and forced the elements where there was no need to do so.

The story was filled with idiotic analogies such as “no more interest in that place than one might have in trying to give a rattlesnake a tonsillectomy with a pair of tweezers,” or “the air conditioner panted in the house like a dying dog, sucked that Freon as if with a straw, and “I might as well have gone into trying to catch cicada farts in a jar.” Many paragraphs were filled with phrases like this. One or two in a story is fine, but the author seemed to be forcing them in where they were not needed.
“Lightning Round,” by Warren Moore was one of the better stories in the book. This story revolves around a game of trivia played in a bar. The lady who operates the game used the questions to convey a message to one of the players regarding her abusive boyfriend. I really enjoyed this story.

“The Puzzle Master,” by David Morrell, while not the best of stories, was a touching story of a couple putting together a jigsaw puzzle that revealed the story of a man’s life told through the scenes depicted in a series of puzzles he created. As I said, this was a very touching and emotional story.

“Challenge Cube,” by Kevin Quigley centered around the game of Boggle. This story really missed the mark in my opinion. It is about a man who was challenged as a child by his dyslexia.

“A Tip on a Turtle,” in my opinion was the worst story in the collection for two reasons. First, the story was too long, way too long. Secondly, the actions of Nicholas were bizarre and failed to make sense. He could see the future, yet allowed himself to die when it was not necessary and served no purpose. The game involved in this story is gambling on turtle races.

“Chance,” by Wallace Stroby was one of the best stories in the book. It centered around a game of Russian Roulette in a club that plays the game on a regular basis. This story really engaged me and I did not see the ending coming at all. A very good story.

The final story by Lawrence Block was “Strangers on a Handball Court.” It ranked among the best in the book. I cannot reveal details about the story without spoiling the ending, but let me say it was an excellent story with a twist ending I failed to see coming.

Even though almost half of these stories were disappointing to me and only about half were good or excellent, overall, I have to give the collection 4 stars. The best stories in the book made up for the poorer stories. Despite having so many inadequate stories, I still recommend this book.

I want to thank Net Galley for providing me with a copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

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Very good read. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Which I expected to do as this was an anthology edited by THE Lawrence Block whom I had the pleasure of meeting at Bouchercon Dallas a few years ago before the world went mad with Covid and everything else.

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Good stuff. A nice variety of stories and styles and authors. I didn't love all of the stories, but that's common. Overall, a great set of stories.

Thanks very much for the free ARC for review!!

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Full Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of Playing Game, edited by Lawrence Block, from Subterranean Press via NetGalley.

Playing Games is an anthology of short stories incorporating...SURPRISE...games. Card games, board games, everything is fair game. For a book full of games, it was not nearly as "fun" as I would have expected. I felt like many of the stories were on the darker side, sinister or sad. I think my favorite story was about a mystery hidden in jigsaw puzzles. There was also a really good one about Mouse Trap which I always wanted to play but rarely encountered someone with a full set. No matter your choice of game, if you like mysteries and thrillers and the games people play, you will surely find a story in here for you.

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