Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Reprise Review: Malocclusion by @VSKemanis



Genre: Short Story Collection

Description:
Tempting little wrongs, moral dilemmas, subconscious desires. Blinded by self-deception, even the best of us are led astray. In these 14 stories, you'll encounter familiar misdemeanants from every walk of life and their unwitting—or complicit—victims.”

Author:
V.S. Kemanis is a California native and currently resides in New York. As an attorney, she has been a criminal prosecutor for county and state agencies, argued criminal appeals for the prosecution and defense, conducted complex civil litigation, and worked for state appellate courts.”

Kemanis also has three short story collections available and is working on the second novel in her Dana Hargrove legal mystery series. For more, visit her website.

Appraisal:
This is a collection of slice-of-life stories, each with a character who has a flaw, often exacerbated by a dose of self-delusion. With the exception of that flaw, they could be just like us. (Or maybe they are just like us and we don’t want to admit it.) Each is well told, with interesting characters, which might go without saying since it is usually the imperfections that make a character unique.

A few of the stories stood out, each for different reasons. Cat, for the twist ending that snuck up on me. Where I Am stood out because it is much different from the other stories in setting and genre, although that reality was slow in penetrating my consciousness. Last, A Simple Case, because it features Dana Hargrove, the protagonist in Kemanis’ novel Thursday’s List, which I had previously read. This story takes place prior to the novel. Dana learns some lessons that will be beneficial for her future.

Buy now from:    Amazon US    Amazon UK

FYI: Added for Reprise Review: Malocclusion was a nominee in the Short Story Collections and Anthologies category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran October 31, 2013

Format/Typo Issues:
No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words


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