FaceOff

The concept brought together characters that you don't normally, if ever, see together in the same story. Like most collections, some stories will interest you more than others, and it probably depends on which authors are your favorites. I rarely rate a collection at five stars, but some individual stories might be five plus. They are all stand alone stories, and they can be read in any order. I started with the last one, written by two of my favorite authors. So, to the stories, taken in the order they appear in the collection -"Red Eye," by Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane, sends Harry Bosch to Boston to investigate a lead in a cold case. He teams up with Patrick Kenzie who is working as a PI trying to find someone's recently missing daughter. They have a good lead, and neither is concerned about a little illegal entry."In the Nick of Time," by Ian Rankin and Peter James, sends John Rebus down to Brighton where he teams up with Roy Grace to investigate a crime from years earlier. A man was stabbed in a gang fight. Events turn out a lot different than expected for everyone concerned."Gaslighted," by R. L. Stine, Douglas Preston, and Lincoln Child steps back in time, and is an eerie story about a man who does not know whether he is dealing with reality or a dream."The Laughing Buddha," by M. J. Rose and Lisa Gardner starts with a murder in the past and deals with things magical. It concerns the question of people having past lives, and their efforts to remember previous lives. Starting in the past when a man is murdered for the secrets he may have found, it fast forwards to the future when another man is murdered because he may have possession. Events don't turn out as people expected."Surfing the Panther," by Steve Martini and Linda Fairstein concerns missing antiquities and forgery of the same. Some collectors are willing to buy stolen artwork for their own very private collections. But how do they know if they are buying the real thing, if the real thing is never recovered. A skillful forger could easily sell multiple copies, and who would dare talk. But a sale to the wrong person could have deadly results."Rhymes with Prey," by Jeffrey Deaver and John Sandford brings us a case where Lucas Davenport travels to New York City to meet with Lincoln Rhyme in a case involving a serial killer. This is another case where the killer has a secret chamber. There are other things going on, and events do not turn out quite as expected."Infernal Night," by Heather Graham and F. Paul Wilson sends Repairman Jack to New Orleans to assist in recovering an artifact. But Michael Quinn is also involved. There are strange things about that artifact. Be careful what you wish for."Pit Stop," by Raymond Khoury and Linwood Barclay finds Glen Garber and his daughter taking a travel break at a highway service area when he becomes distracted and then sees his vehicle (with daughter still inside) heading out onto the highway. The chase is on as he joins Sean Reilly who had been trailing the man who stole Barber's vehicle. There are some unexpected consequences."Silent Hunt" by John Lescroart and T. Jefferson Parker finds Wyatt Hunt heading to La Paz for some saltwater fly fishing when he meets up with Joe Trona, also going fishing. Nothing is ever simple. Some bad guys show up looking for some reported gold. Ah, but Hunt and Trona come up with a plan to deal with the situation. There is more than one way to skin a cat, or to deal with criminals."The Devil's Bones," by Steve Berry and James Rollins finds Commander Gray Pierce on a riverboat on the Amazon River trying to obtain a vial of a potent nerve poison in the possession of a scientist more interested in money than in patriotism or public good. Cotton Malone happens to be on the same riverboat on the same mission. They team up when things go very wrong, and the end result is not quite what they might have expected."Good and Valuable Consideration," by Lee Child and Joseph Finder places Jack Reacher and Nick Heller in the same bar in Boston for the same reason - to watch a baseball game. But baseball games tend to move slowly, and they take note of other people in the bar, and team up to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity. Reacher discovered something long ago - if bad guys lose something of value, whom are they going to report it to?  Good and Valuable Consideration: Jack Reacher vs. Nick Heller The editor provides short introductions to the stories and biographies of the authors.

The title of this book is slightly misleading. Instead of being a collection of stories where the characters FaceOff,it most of the stories involve characters teaming up. Of course, TeamUp wouldn't really have been as cool of a title.As this book was written to benefit the International Thriller Writers, the characters in question are from popular thriller series. At least I assume they're popular. I'm not really all that well read in the genre and mainly picked the book up for the Repairman Jack story and the story with Grayson Pierce of Sigma Force. While most of the stories weren't super great, I generally enjoyed them and will probably try to read the original series the various characters came from.I might as well give my thoughts on the individual stories:"Red Eye" featuring Denis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie and Michael Connely's Harry Bosch - I definitely enjoyed this story of a detective and a cop teaming up to rescue a little girl from a pedophile. It was a good lead off for the book."In the Nick of Time" featuring Ian Rankin's John Rebus and Peter Jame's Roy Grace - This one was more of mystery than a thriller. It is about two British cops solving a 50 year old stabbing case after a man confesses on his deathbed. It wasn't as action-filled as I'd expect from a thriller, but it was still good."Gaslighted" featuring R. L. Stine's Slappy the Ventriloquist Dummy and Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child's Aloysius Pendergast - I did enjoy this one, but I was rather disappointed by how little a part Slappy played in the story. Still, not having read the Goosebumps books, for all I know he could have just sat there and stared at people in them, too."The Laughing Buddha" featuring M. J. Rose's Malachai Samuels and Lisa Gardener's D. D. Warren - This is another one that's a bit more of a mystery than a thriller. It involves the murder of an antiques dealer and reincarnation, which does make for a good story. While I enjoyed it, I don't think the crossover aspect worked that well and almost felt tacked on."Surfing the Panther" featuring Steve Martini's Paul Madriani and Linda Fairstein's Alexandra Cooper - Legal thrillers aren't my cup of tea. I did still enjoy it, but not as much as the others."Rhymes with Prey" featuring Jeffery Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme and John Sandford's Lucas Davenport - This was definitely my least favorite story in the collection, which is unfortunate as it is also by far the longest story in the collection. I think the length might be part of the issue I had with this, as the story just seemed to drag."Infernal Night" featuring F. Paul Wilson's Repairman Jack and Heather Graham's Michael Quinn - This was the story I was most looking forward to, and while I enjoyed it, it didn't feel very Repairman Jack-ish. I think it might just be that Jack works best in New York, and this is set in New Orleans."Pit Stop" featuring Raymond Khoury's Sean Reilly and Linwood Barcaly's Glen Garber - This was one of the more fast-paced stories. It involves a car chase, a kidnapped girl, and a deadly bioweapon. It's a good story."Silent Hunt" featuring John Lescroart's Wyatt Hunt and T. Jefferson Parker's Joe Trona - While this story starts off slow, it has a lot of action involving Mexican drug traffickers and a gold mine. It's a cool story with an ending I liked a lot."The Devil's Bones" featuring Steve Berry's Cotton Malone and James Rollin's Gray Pierce - This is the story I was second most anxious to read, and I actually enjoyed in more than the Repairman Jack story. This is a team up that worked very well, and produced a story with lots of action."Good and Valuable Consideration" featuring Lee Child's Jack Reacher and Joseph Finder's Nick Heller - Two thriller heroes walk into a bar ... it sounds like some sort of joke, but it's the premise of this story. It's not a bad story but it's not as actiony as I'd like for the finale of a collection of thrillers.While the book could have been better, it's still well worth reading, especially since it supports a worthy cause.

When this came up in my recommendations I thought I was in for a treat. Crime stories in which established authors teamed up their detectives? Brilliant idea for an anthology. I settled down with a cup of tea to read great stories by favourite masters of the genre, and to be introduced to writers/characters as yet unfamiliar. Not disappointed for one minute. However, one thing nearly made me splutter my tea all over the carpet. In the Rebus/Grace story they investigate a stabbing. I won't spoil it, but simply say would anyone go armed into the night with... a bread knife? And how successful would that stabbing be? Has either author ever been in a kitchen. It will make an interesting exercise for my criminalistics students - spot the anomaly. Great book though

Crime anthologies are an established feature on the literary landscape. But "Face Off" to the best of my knowledge is unique. It pairs in one volume 23 crime writers in 11 stories featuring their series characters. So, for example, Lee Child's Jack Reacher bumps into Joseph Finder's Nick Heller in a Boston bar; Linwood Barclay's Glen Garber goes along for the ride of a lifetime with Raymond Khoury's Sean Reilly; and John Sandford's Lucas Davenport travels to Manhatten to team up with Jeffrey Deaver's Lincoln Rhyme in the hunt for a serial killer.It is an intriguing concept which works well. And I was introduced to a couple of authors I have not heard of before leaving me wanting to read more. Some stories work better than others (a matter of personal taste of course) but they are all good.If you like crime thrillers and short stories you should like this volume. I certainly did. Highly recommended.

I've never previously considered buying a book of short stories, but I was attracted to this book by seeing the names of a couple of my favourite authors. What a wonderful surprise to find a series of excellent short stories written by pairs of authors some of which I'd never really heard of. This tome is filled from front to back with excellent stories and will definitely steer me towards more of the authors I have had the pleasure to read. Thank you for a great idea.

The concept of having two main characters from two well known authors meet in a story is a very bold attempt. However, I feel the stories were too short to go into any depth, plus you need to know both characters from their original book to really appreciate the story line.

I really enjoyed this and the concept. A number of the contributors are on my regular reading list bit I also got introduced to a number of new characters who I'll now have to check out.Just thinking wouldn't it be great to have the likes of Clive Cussler, Scott Mariani and Chris Kuzneski and others contributein the next... Just an idea