Synopsis
A web of lies
Where do you go for truth in an age of social media illusions and deep divisions? How do you trust what you think you know about your friends and family? In stories featuring conspirators, psychics, deceptive lovers, and desperate killers, some of today’s most popular and award-winning crime writers explore the very nature of truth and the risks in uncovering the lies.
Book Ratings
- Snowflakes by Ruth Ware ★★★☆☆
- Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite ★★★★☆
- Slow Burner by Laura Lippman ★★★☆☆
- Buried by Jeffrey Deaver ★★★★★
- The Gift by Alison Gaylin ☆☆☆☆☆
- Let Her Be by Lisa Unger ★★☆☆☆
- Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
My Thoughts
The Hush Collection is the first of Amazon’s Original Stories that I completed the entire collection and I had very mixed feelings. I am a huge fan of short literature and so I always love picking up these stories before I go to sleep or when I’m out traveling. I really wanted to like this collection more than I did, as the concept sounded great. The genres in this collection are all over the place, from dark satire to dystopia, so the collection feels a little disjointed from one story to the next. Crime is perhaps the only connecting genre, but even then it is a weak connection.
If anything I would sooner place these stories under the contemporary genre tag, as each one dealt in modern-day social issues, most notably the #MeToo movement which is at least mentioned in most stories. Let Her Be and Treasure also cast a spotlight on social media and influencers as central plot points.
Overall most of the stories I found to be merely okay, not because of poor writing but instead poor plotting and predictability. I outright hated The Gift but I seem to be in the minority on that one. It could be because these stories are shorts and they are not well suited to the short form. Actually, I was in the minority for a lot of my ratings, as Treasure ended up with the lowest average, but that was one of the ones I liked the most.
Buried is easily the strongest story in this series, and it helps that it is also the longest. This seems to be the consensus based on Goodreads as well, as it is the only story to maintain a rating over 4. If there was one story in the series that I would say was worth reading, it would definitely be this one.
Overall this collection was okay and would only recommend it for readers that really enjoy stories with some aspect of mystery with a lot of commentary about current social issues in America. At the very least, it is a decent introduction to a lot of authors and is a good way to see if that author’s work is for you. As a collection overall, I personally found it to be pretty weak and can easily be skipped if you are not interested in mystery/thriller authors.
In Summary
- Pros: Decent mystery stories in different genres that are relevant to the modern age.
- Cons: Many of the stories were only okay and had some issues, only one story that I would view as worth reading. I also didn’t care for the vague political commentary in most of the stories.