Three Twisted Stories by Karin Slaughter

Three Twisted Stories
By Karin Slaughter
Published by Cornerstone, Random House UK (10 February 2015)
ISBN: 978-1473535329

Publisher's description
From the hallucinatory noir story 'Go Deep' to the twisted short stories 'Necessary Women' and 'Remmy Rothstein Toes the Line,' this collection showcases the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author’s dark humour, limitless imagination, and masterly command of voice and character. ('Go Deep' and 'Remmy Rothstein Toes the Line' also available as single stories and 'Necessary Women' also available as part of a bundle with 'The Mean Time')


Go Deep
Growing up dirt poor, Charlie Lam worked his ass off to make something of himself, no thanks to his deadbeat father or his long-suffering mother. And now a lot of people depend on Charlie: by his last count, sixty-eight employees at his Atlanta auto dealership, eleven shiftless brothers and sisters, an ungrateful wife, a spoiled daughter, a shameless girlfriend. Who could really blame him for wanting a little extra?
The arrangement is simple: Charlie picks up a suit from the dry cleaner’s. In the suit pocket is the name of a very important man. The next day, that man walks into the dealership, drives out in a new car, and Charlie gets a fat envelope full of cash. Everyone’s happy. No one gets hurt. So long as Charlie doesn’t cross his business partner. But with one twist of a knife, the unthinkable happens. And suddenly Charlie is in deeper trouble than he could have possibly imagined.

Necessary Women
In a border town between Georgia and Alabama, in a three-room house made of cement block, a fourteen-year-old girl watches her mother die. Her father is a long-haul trucker, away for weeks, sometimes months, at a time. Her mother, with two menial jobs cleaning restrooms and working nights at the laundry, had been just thirty years old.
A week before she died, noticing her daughter getting attention from a boy, the girl’s mother warned her not to make the same mistakes she did. Now, her father tells her, she’s the woman of the house, and she must do all the necessary things the woman must do: the cleaning, the cooking, the laundry. But there’s a lot more to being a woman than fixing dinner and doing the wash. Her mother was right: She won’t end up like her - and she’ll do anything to prove it.

Remmy Rothstein Toes the Line
As an intrepid adjudicator of World Records, Mindy Patel has met lots of strange people in lots of strange places. But they’re no match for the Swampers of the Georgia bayou. Mindy has braved the oppressive August heat in search of Remmy Rothstein, who they call 'The Cajun Jew'. If the photos are indeed accurate, she might be about to certify Remmy as the World Record Holder for Longest Tongue in the World . . . and maybe even the Widest!
First Mindy meets Remmy’s half-brother, Buell Rabinowitz, surely the world’s only one-legged, albino, Jewish African American. Then she makes the acquaintance of Remmy’s mother, a foul-mouthed old woman with an impressive beard. None of which prepares her for an eyeful of Remmy: a man who measures up to his singular reputation in ways that will change the course of Mindy’s life.

My verdict
I don't usually read short stories, but I am a big fan of Karin Slaughter's Will Trent and Grant County series, which is why I wanted to read Three Twisted Stories.

The book contains three stories - Go Deep (the longest story, with nine chapters), Necessary Women and Remmy Rothstein Toes the Line. Each story is well written and highly readable and I didn't feel like I was missing out by not reading a longer novel.

Go Deep was my favourite of the three stories. It was a little slow to start with, but then picked up. It is dark, off beat and good fun. A great satirical tale.

Necessary Women was short but certainly not sweet. It was very dark and very cleverly thought out.

Remmy Rothstein Toes the Line was my least favourite, although that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I just found the story didn't flow as well as the other two in the book. I thought the author was trying too hard to make it humorous. However, I loved the ending.

Karen Slaughter fans will find Three Twisted Stories to be completely different from her usual offering. But if you like dark humour, this is a quick enjoyable read.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.