Cameron Trost
Written on Feb 3, 2016
A number of the tales were either very predictable or unoriginal to the point of being pointless, even considering their age, and the contributions of a couple of writers I greatly admire (Agatha Christie, Somerset Maugham) were far from their best.
There were, however, a handful of notable contributions. As far as I'm concerned, Patricia Highsmith's "The Snail Watcher" is one of the finest short stories ever written. To put it bluntly, it was a shame to see this perfect example of the short story in this anthology. Another excellent tale, which I had also read previously, was "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner. G. K. Chesterton's "The Angry Street" was original, well-written, and thought-provoking. "Earth to Earth" by Robert Graves wasn't bad either, and quite creepy. John Steinbeck's "The Affair at 7 rue de M-" was frightening and funny... or frighteningly funny.
So, a bit of a mixed bag really. I'd be interested in hearing what others think of it.