Thirty Hours with a Corpse by Maurice Level

Thirty Hours with a Corpse is a collection of short stories by a French writer named Maurice Level. Apparently he used to be super popular, but now he's an unknown.

Anyway, I actually put off reading this book for a few days, because I only had time to read at night and the cover scared me so that I only wanted to read it during the day. But the cover turned out to be the scariest thing.

I actually sort of recognised the first story in the collection. Or at least, I've read something similar - it's about a bank robber that leaves his loot under an assumed name... Then discovers he forgot it.

Oops, that may have been the twist. But the ending hasn't been given away. And there are a lot more stories in the book anyway.

Most of the stories are like the first. They're about the human nature rather than the supernatural or horror.

And they contain a twist.

The twist, and the liberal use of ellipses, are probably the two defining characteristics of the book. Which is why you really shouldn't read a bunch of them in a row, like I did. Sure, they're short and entertaining, but after a while, you learn to expect the unexpected, and the twist loses its impact.

Oh yeah, and the stories are really short. I wish they were longer, because they felt like snapshots rather than fully formed stories.

But overall, this was an entertaining collection. I don't know if the author wrote any novels that have been translated into English, but I would be interested in reading them if they exist.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.