The Refusal Camp
Stories
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- £7.49
Publisher Description
These dazzling stories show a crime fiction veteran at the height of his career.
In his first-ever collection, the award-winning author of the Billy Boyle World War II mysteries presents an eclectic mix of new and previously published mystery stories rife with historical detail and riveting wartime storytelling.
“The Horse Chestnut Tree” explores betrayal and murder during the American Revolution. In the speculative work “Glass,” an atomic supercollider and the breakdown of the time-space continuum change the lives of two cousins devoured by greed. “Vengeance Weapon,” a historical thriller about an enslaved Jewish laborer working at the Dora concentration camp, looks at how far someone will go to get revenge. And for his Billy Boyle fans, Benn delivers “Irish Tommy,” a police procedural set in 1944 Boston featuring Billy’s father and uncle.
Full of terror, action, amusement, and bliss, The Refusal Camp is a must-have collection from a crime fiction veteran at the height of his career.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Several of the nine stories in this eclectic if hit-or-miss collection from Benn (the Billy Boyle WWII mysteries) focus on life in prisoner of war camps. Benn is at his best when employing dark humor in otherwise grim situations, as shown in "Vengeance Weapon," about a Jewish concentration camp prisoner who manages to extract a strange form of revenge on his most hated guard years later when the two are working as colleagues in the U.S. Revenge is also the running idea in "The Horse Chestnut Tree," one of the volume's strongest entries, about an enslaved boy who finds a clever way to strike back at a white friend who betrayed him. The gripping"Red Christmas" examines treachery among prisoners in a 1950s-era North Korean prison camp. An enjoyable dystopian tale, "Glass," lays out what could happen, particularly in the publishing world, if someone found a functioning iPad, loaded with Stephen King novels, 30 years before Apple invented the device. Weaker entries include "Irish Tommy," a ho-hum police procedural set in 1940s Boston that lacks atmosphere as well as punch, and the plodding "Billy Boyle: The Lost Prologue," which leaves out Billy. Not just Billy Boyle fans will want to check out this one.
