Flint Kill Creek by Joyce Carol Oates ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

These new, recent, and reformulated stories by Joyce Carol Oates, collected here for the first time, showcase a wide range of crime fiction and psychological suspense. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.i

November 2024; Highbridge Audio; 9781696616782
audio (9h 28m), ebook, print; short stories

Flint Kill Creek is a collection of 12 short stories by Joyce Carol Oates. Most of the time when I read anthologies there are different authors. This might be the first time I've read a collection that just featured one author. I hadn't read anything by Oates before so I wasn't exactly sure what I would get with her stories of mystery and suspense.

There is a variety of stories, most aren't the classic mystery or crime fiction story. Some of the stories I enjoyed more than others. Some left me wondering what happened as it ended without a satisfying conclusion or I wasn't sure what the story was about. 

But then there were the poignant ones like "***" (yes that is the title of the story). The main character (actually he's basically the only character) is an older man who can't remember why he marked the day with three asterisks. In his system of importance when noting important things on his calendar three asterisks is the top priority and rarely used but for the life of him he can't remember what it is supposed to be for. We all have those days when we can't remember what our short-hand coded reminder means. Gradually it becomes evident to the reader that the man suffers from some form of dementia. 

There is also a very disturbing story, "Mick & Minn". It features a child abuse case. It was difficult to listen to.

I'm not a huge fan of short stories because I often feel like there isn't enough time to connect with the characters and I love character-driven stories (which is probably why "***" was my favorite in this collection). I didn't love these but they were good - I think it is more just a preference thing rather than anything wrong with the stories themselves. 

Kelli Tager is the narrator for these stories and she does a good job with a variety of voices.

Buy Flint Kill Creek at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

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