Gutshots: Ten Blows To The Abdomen ~Review~

Synopsis:

Gutshots: Ten Blows to the Abdomen is a collection of hardboiled short stories of revenge, retribution and renegades.

Humourous, shocking and touching by turn, the ten short stories will leave you begging for more.

And there is more! Five stories previously shown online or in other publications have been included as bonus material.

Each tale comes with a short introduction detailing the story behind the story.

My Rating: 5/5

My Review: 

My “fix” of Mr Smith, has sadly come to an end with the final of the short story compilations I have read this week.  Although these are earlier works, I cannot say I was left wanting anything but more, more, more!

Gutshots: Ten Blows To The Abdomen  does exactly what it says on the tin.  Each story has similar themes running throughout as outlined in the synopsis: revenge, retribution and renegades.  What I loved about the stories though was the delivery of OMFG moments and believe me…they were incredible!

The author’s use of irony, tragedy and humour was masterfully interwoven through the plots of each of the ten stories and the bonus stories at the end.  Mr Smith is clever in the way he captures the readers interest from the start and teases you into believing one thing before dishing out the one-liners at the ending that leave you wanting to fist-pump the air while shouting “Hell Yeah!”

As much as I loved each of the stories, three stories really stood out for me. Author Meets Reviewer tells the tale of an author who receives the dreaded bad review and he wants to seek out the cause of his hurt ego and exact his revenge.  There was humour with a mix of morbid intensity and a cracking twist which made me laugh. Note to self: if I ever give this author a bad review….shut down all social media and move!

The Mourning After is just plain twisted.  It started out really intense, with a guy waking up and blood everywhere. After a night out, his memory is fuzzy. I don’t want to say too much, but the ending…well I gagged, I laughed and I think it brought out my twisted side as I freakin loved it!

But my favourite had to be a continuation of a story from Eleven The Hardest Way – this one titled Star Struck Shooter.  The main character is an assassin who is still seeking revenge.  Carefully planning his kill, he sets the wheels in motion but all is not as it seems.  No spoilers…but again…superb story telling…I actually hope to see this story carried on at some point.

I am on a bit of a come-down now and will certainly be going through withdrawal in a painful way.  I need more from this author and STAT!  If you have not read any of Graham Smith’s work…well…WHY THE HELL NOT?! I suggest..no insist…you head over to amazon and join in my addiction…I guarantee, you will not be sorry!

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