Review: "Safe Enough and Other Stories" by Lee Child

 

Safe Enough and Other Stories by Lee Child Mysterious Press, 2024   Lee Child is best known as the creator of Jack Reacher, which makes sense because estimates place the number of books sold north of 200-million. This, along with a couple big budget Hollywood movies and a hit television series, have made Reacher a pop-culture icon. But—and many of you will disagree with me here—my favorite of Lee Child’s writing are his standalone short stories. I like them because they showcase Child’s craft, the precise plotting, and the subtle and ironic humor without the built-in expectations of a series character. All of this is why Child’s new collection, Safe Enough and Other Stories, featuring 20 of his standalone tales, made me happy when it crossed my desk. The stories, published between 2004 and 2020, are easily categorized as mystery and thriller and there is nary a dud in the pack. “The Greatest Trick of All” is a wicked-ironic take on an altogether too greedy hitman. The titular, “Safe Enough,” is a smashing story about murder and betrayal, but it ranges far from the expected and it left this reader with a smile. “The .50 Solution” is another hitman job but this time the surprise is—well, it’s better left unsaid, but it is a surprising, if somewhat violent, solution. “Me and Mr. Rafferty” is a cockeyed serial killer tale about the symbiotic relationship between detective and deviant. “Addicted to Sweetness” is about drugs and murder and, ultimately, just rewards (of a sort). “My First Drug Trial” is a clever take on marijuana use and laws in the United States. It felt just about right, too, with the added benefit of being fun. “New Blank Document,” which is the most serious story in the collection, is about racism and secrets. And my favorite story, “Normal in Every Way,” is about a brilliant but awkward policeman relegated to file clerk duty in the San Francisco of the 1950s. He was the police department’s database before everything was moved into the ether, but did he get any of the credit? Safe Enough and Other Stories is the kind of collection that reads easy. Most readers will devour its stories in a few sittings and enjoy every second of it, but don’t take my word—read it yourself.

Click here to purchase the Kindle edition or here for the hardcover at Amazon.