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beastreader's review
4.0
Faceoff is a thriller fan's dream. It is a rockin' good anthology. The idea of a bunch of huge names in the thriller book world clashing head to head in battles with some of their best characters is cool. Although I have not read all of these authors books. Some were new to me authors, others it has been a while, and then there were my favorite authors.
What I found the most interesting was the background story about how the two authors met and came up with the short stories. I liked getting this information prior to me reading the story. It added to the stories and helped them. Some of my favorite stories were written by Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly, R.L. Stine vs. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Steve Martini vs. Linda Fairstein, and Lee Child vs. Joseph Finder. Pick up several copies of this anthology for yourself and a friend. You and your friend could have your own read "faceoff".
What I found the most interesting was the background story about how the two authors met and came up with the short stories. I liked getting this information prior to me reading the story. It added to the stories and helped them. Some of my favorite stories were written by Dennis Lehane vs. Michael Connelly, R.L. Stine vs. Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, Steve Martini vs. Linda Fairstein, and Lee Child vs. Joseph Finder. Pick up several copies of this anthology for yourself and a friend. You and your friend could have your own read "faceoff".
misskamibee's review
5.0
what a great concept! and amazingly executed. I am about to be obsessed with so many new writers :) anyone who is fan of the thriller genre MUST check this out!
fotoshopguy52's review against another edition
3.0
While I was very intrigued by the concept of pairing thriller writers and their protagonists together, after reading a few of the short stories, I started to have my doubts. Unfortunately, to a certain degree, these doubts were valid, as some of the stories were mediocre, and IMHO, would not be construed as "thrillers" in any way, shape, or form. The only reason I gave three stars was because a few of the stories were well done, and kept my interest throughout. Nice try, but only recommended if you are a fan of some of the authors involved.
cjeanne99's review
medium-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
A delightful anthology of some of my fave writers - and an introduction to a couple of new people. Very well done. Baldacci writes and “intro” to each short story to give some background on the two authors and their characters and set the stage, if necessary. Laughed out loud at the description of how Aloysious Pendegrast came about - Child saying that they needed a different police character to balance Vincent D’Agosta - and Preston retorting with - You mean, like an albino FBI agent from New Orleans?
The stories are great, and the concept of the collaboration involving each author’s characters worked really well. Loved it.
The stories are great, and the concept of the collaboration involving each author’s characters worked really well. Loved it.
jrobles76's review
5.0
Crossovers are always fun. Discovered several new writers to read and collect. I will say Davenport and Rhyme were my favorite, with Reacher and Heller a close 2nd.
fwagler's review
3.0
I think if I knew all the characters in this book, it would be a lot more of an interesting book. The concept of seeing two worlds, with two characters, from two author's, collide is pretty cool, but I just didn't know enough of the characters to get hooked.
cgcang's review against another edition
2.0
I have no idea what I was thinking, getting into this.
These anthologies almost never work. Some chapters are nice, some are alright, most are garbage. That's not the first time I'm seeing this, so I have been avoiding such anthologies for a long time.
In the end I decided to give this a shot and I'm not pleased.
Some stories are sort of nice. The Connelly and Lehane one is probably the best. The Child and Finder one was fun to read but also criminally short and underwhelming. That goes for the whole of this book, it's underwhelming.
I don't know what goes wrong with thriller short story anthologies. They just don't work in my experience. So I'll quietly go back to avoiding them if it's all the same to ITW. After all I bought their book and made them some money, and at the end of the day that's what all this is about.
These anthologies almost never work. Some chapters are nice, some are alright, most are garbage. That's not the first time I'm seeing this, so I have been avoiding such anthologies for a long time.
In the end I decided to give this a shot and I'm not pleased.
Some stories are sort of nice. The Connelly and Lehane one is probably the best. The Child and Finder one was fun to read but also criminally short and underwhelming. That goes for the whole of this book, it's underwhelming.
I don't know what goes wrong with thriller short story anthologies. They just don't work in my experience. So I'll quietly go back to avoiding them if it's all the same to ITW. After all I bought their book and made them some money, and at the end of the day that's what all this is about.
xenlinde's review
5.0
This wasn't what I was expecting but that's all right. I knew a few of the characters involved and it was nice being introduced to some others. I will definitely be checking out some of these authors now as a result of this anthology.
cpalisa's review against another edition
3.0
I think maybe I just don't like short stories. I loved the premise of this, two different thriller authors each take one of their serial characters and they combine the two and both write a story. I grabbed it because my favorite author, John Sandford, had a story in there with his Lucas Davenport character. I also thought maybe I'd find another author that I'd like to read. In the end, I think there just wasn't enough time to 'get' the characters. Also, the combining seemed like it was kind of awkward. Anyway, my favorite story was the John Sandford story, though he was combined with Lincoln Rhymes, who I actually don't like. Whatever.
claradetierra's review
5.0
It's fun to see different authors' characters together, and discover new characters I might want to read in a full-length story. This is a great sampler of thriller writers in bite size.