Book Review: Late Night Shots
By Elizabeth Suggs
Late Night Shots: Intoxicating Mystery & Suspense Stories by Charlotte Valentine with a special extra story by Laura Cation is a collection of four quick, mysterious short stories—perfect for a nice night in.
We start strong with “Ghost Writer,” which centers around Alan, who at one point was a bestselling author, yet as the years passed by and Alan continues to drink more heavily, the words won’t come. Worse than that, Alan’s publisher and agent have grown agitated with his less than lackluster work. He’s going to be out of a job, so what does he do? He drinks. And after a heavy night of drinking, his problems are solved, or so he thinks. This story is short but full of mystery and intrigue. I really enjoyed the foreshadowing in this story. Valentine is a talented writer who pays attention to detail.
Our second story is “Sinderalle,” a contemporary take on the timeless fairy tale Cinderella. Unlike many retellings, Valentine made this story her own by changing the character of Cinderella as a spoiled, beautiful girl who doesn’t want to share her father with her ugly stepsisters. I really enjoyed this story; in fact, this was my favorite story in the entire book. Compared to the rewrites of Cinderella, this creates its own refreshing take.
The third story is by a new author, which I find exciting. Cation’s story “You Must Stay Inside” is very different from Valentine’s work, so reading it was a little jarring at first until I got into the story. “You Must Stay Inside” is all about staying inside because of a virus. Not a bad story, but it felt a little out of place for me. I would have preferred a closer theme to the other stories.
Cation is just one of many authors Valentine spotlights in her stories, and she asks unpublished authors to submit for a chance to be in one of her many books. This is an awesome opportunity for new authors to get a chance to understand the publishing process. I really appreciate Valentine doing this for the writing community.
The fourth and final story is another by Valentine, “The Third Door.” This one’s creepy and leaves you disturbed throughout the entire story because what would you do if you found yourself in a house with a strange door over and over again?
Here are some fun quotes:
Time passed in a blur of little sleep, intermittent nicotine when Reynolds gave him a smoking break, and no alcohol. - “Ghostwriter”
She saw his face and knew instantly who he was. - ”The Third Door”
I finished this story in less than two hours, so if you’re looking for something fast with mystery and intrigue, then try this book!
Elizabeth Suggs is the owner and founder of Editing Mee and co-owner of Collective Tales Publishing. When she’s not writing or editing, she loves to dive deep into books (the weirder, the better!), and she loves to take random long walks to unplanned destinations. Check out her recently released book Collective Darkness with eleven other authors. Buy your copy here: www.CollectiveDarkness.com