Death Do Us Part

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Death Do Us Part, by brothers J.L. Salter and Charles A. Salter, is an anthology of the unusual. This short story collection is comprised of ten imaginative and tautly written page-turners, reminiscent of The Twilight Zone but with a new and fresh take. The stories contain well-drawn characters that keep readers rooting for them. Some have surprise endings or a mystery to solve, while others drop readers into strange and unfamiliar worlds. Each story is a carefully conceived wire-mesh gate that leads into a world where the bizarre and unpredictable happens. One cannot help but turn the page and be all in.

The book opens with “Buddies Forever,” a story about an American soldier in Vietnam. Everyone keeps calling him by his best buddy’s name. Their names are similar; Donahue vs. Donague (pronounced Don-ah-GHEE), but the men are polar opposites. What at first may seem like a simple mix-up turns into a mind-bender. In another military-themed story titled “That ASMR Girl,” an FBI agent is assigned a case on an Army base where leaders are dying under strange circumstances. But is he the right man for the job? “The Herndon Secret” is a well-paced thriller that amps up the tension. Two men must race against the clock to rescue an agent’s wife, and their back-and-forth banter provides some much-needed comic relief. “A Lousy Way to Rye” and “The Room” keep readers guessing who is the hero of the story. In “Murder on Her Mind,” an attentive husband is accused of attempting matricide by his wife’s best friend. “As His Excellency Wishes” provides a different kind of twist when a husband is surprised to learn that his wife already knows the leader of a violent coup. “Time Conscious” is a touching story that slows down the pace. An elderly woman relays an important incident that allowed her to see events in the future, thanks to her bedroom clock. “Blades of Grass” is set several years in the future and told from the point of view of an octogenarian farmer. When a stranger arrives on his remote farm, the farmer must determine whether he is a friend or foe. The book closes with “The Caves of Lonesanne Blu,” a fantasy tale with a crippled war hero who rescues a young woman marked for death.

The Salter brothers bring us a familiar style of fiction that imparts new wisdom to its readers. But proceed at your own risk. For those whose interests run weird, Death Do Us Part is a hard book to put down.


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Author
Star Count 4.5/5
Format Trade
Page Count 262 pages
Publisher Dingbat Publishing
Publish Date 2019-12-19
ISBN 0000021520001
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue February 2020
Category Mystery, Crime, Thriller
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