There are a lot of dead bodies in this book and people who get away with it. In a way this is alluded to in the title. It is not just about people who survived Katrina, some of the stories are also about survivors who appear to survive the crimes they have committed.

I enjoyed this volume of stories because the stories are murder mysteries in reverse. We get to see the 'why' of the murder and in some cases feel quite sympathetic towards the murderer. Also the murderer doesn't always get caught.

This volume of stories muddies the waters with twists and turns and the unexpected. They are quite dark stories and subversive too and I thoroughly enjoyed them. This is a really good book.

A man desperately waits for rescue after the devastation of Katrina, but what really happened to his wife? A woman basks in the delight of new love only to discover she might be living with a serial killer and so she takes familiar steps to protect herself. A woman tries to protect her father's literary legacy and in so doing hides the darkness of her past.

In most of his mysteries Greg Herren gives us murder mysteries without ethical conflict. The murderers are bad and deserve to be caught and we cheer as Chance, Venus, Scotty and his men, track down those who try to hide their crimes, but in this volume Greg Herren serves up stories that are deliciously dark and twisted and we hope for the loop holes that will see the crimes hidden and murderers escaping justice.

If you like to teeter on the brink of falling into darkness, if you like twists and turns or if you like to cheer the bad guys now and again then this one is for you!

Copy provided by Bold Stroke Books via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The collection of short stories were ok. Some of them fell a little short, but that's understandable with this particular genre. My personal favorites were 'An Arrow for Sebastian' and 'Cold Beer No Flies'

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley!!


This is a collection of crime short stories. As with all collections, some stories fell short for me and missed the "survivor's guilt" theme that was supposed to be there.

Overall, i'd recommend the book to friends.

Greg Herren writes wonderful gay male murder mysteries featuring fun detectives. The Scotty Bradley Mysteries in particular hold a warm place in my heart. Herren bridges the gap between sexy and sane so beautifully. Thanks to NetGalley, I was able to read Herren's new series of crime short stories, Survivor's Guilt and Other Stories. It took me awhile to get into the groove. There was a little too much murder for me. I prefer more of the story to be about the mystery solving the crime, than the actual crime. I was going to give Survivor's Guilt a 3.5, but the final two new stories captivated me, so I'm up-ing my rating to a 4. My Brother's Keeper (a Chanse MacLeod mystery short) and Don't Look Down really shone bright int this solid crime anthology.

Most of the stories start off with a fairly simple scene setting premise. Then, like a drop of ink in water, what was perfectly clear takes on a pervading murkiness with sinister tendrils swirling through the story. I got my love of short stories by reading Roald Dahl and it’s also probably why I like them darker and with a twist. It’s definitely what I liked about most of the stories in this anthology.

I’ve taken my time in reading them because they’re all by the same author, and I’ve enjoyed nearly all of them. The characters of each story are given a strong presence with concise writing. There is a nice mix of stories with a twist, some that are just dark, some with an aspect of horror, those where you’re in the mind of the spectator and those that have an intense pathos about them.

Many of the stories have gay characters but their sexual orientation seems more about representation than the focus of the story. My favourites were “The Email Always Pings Twice”, “Keeper of the Flame” and “An Arrow for Sebastian”.

Survivor’s Guilt
Sitting on the roof of his house in the blazing heat following the hurricane, Mike is waiting and hoping to be rescued. He’s run out of water and there’s no respite from the heat because the attic is like an oven. There is a clever and dark unfolding of the story.

The Email Always Pings Twice
Emily’s mother is distressed that she’s moved in with her new boyfriend, Joey, after only knowing him for three months. Emily argues her point but gets that sinking feeling when she receives what may or may not be a malicious email. I’m a fan of short stories that are unexpected.

Keeper of the Flame
Colleen is in Las Vegas waiting to be interviewed by a blogger about her father’s fame as an author. She’s bitter and not terribly interested in being interviewed by a young man who has probably never worked in a proper newsroom but she needs to keep her father’s legacy alive.
Superb. And dreadful.

A Streetcar Named Death
Barry tamps down his anxiety and irritation at not having his car when he boards a streetcar to get himself home. Everything he was trying to put behind him comes crashing back when he watches a man get onto the same streetcar. What follows is a tense unravelling of Barry’s experience.

An Arrow for Sebastian
Slogging his way through a dinner party where the hostess is notorious for things never being quite right, David watches the other guests. A young man named Sebastian piques his interest because his facial expressions are at odds with what his boyfriend is saying. I found this one quite sad and thought-provoking.

Housecleaning
As David gets busy with his housecleaning he starts reminiscing about his mother and her cleanliness habits. His thoughts move to his childhood and some of his mother’s pearls of wisdom.

Acts of Contrition
Michael is a defrocked priest whose nights are plagued with disturbing dreams. He works with homeless kids on the streets of New Orleans but somebody is out there killing them. I didn’t really enjoy this story because I found I was quite distant from it. It didn’t elicit any emotion in me, positive or negative, for Michael and there wasn’t enough about Molly for me to have any empathy for her.

Lightning Bugs in a Jar
Celia watches her husband, Philip Blackburn, holding court with his masters students. It’s become a tradition to host the new students at his home. They idolise him but they barely see Celia. It’s a good story in terms of its building up of characters and unravelling of the past.

Spin Cycle
Joe has been living in the carriage house for nine months after Katrina. In an effort to be neighbourly he offers the use of his washing machine to the elderly lady next door. Things start to go downhill from there.

Cold Beer No Flies
Twenty-year-old Dane opens up the bar he works at thinking about his future plans. Being bullied led him to drop out of school but it’s not going to hold him back. It’s hard not to feel for Dane in this sad story.

Annunciation Shotgun
Anthony is trying to get through the last of the edits on his latest manuscript when his tenant calls him and asks for help. Anthony is sorry he didn’t terminate Phillip’s lease ages before but he’s such a likeable guy that he didn’t have the heart to. The only problem is that trouble follows Phillip wherever he goes.

Quiet Desperation
Driving passed the fishing camps on Lake Catherine, Barry is looking for a place to dump a body. Alligators would help too.

The Weight of a Feather
Max doesn’t seem to have any choice but to pay off the blackmailer. He wants the photos and the negatives so he goes to meet him to avoid his reputation being ruined. There are a couple of pieces of this puzzle that don’t quite connect for me.

My Brother’s Keeper
It’s been 24 years since Chanse MacLeod saw his wayward brother but he returns to the town he grew up in where Ash is being held for the murder of his lover’s husband. While the story isn’t twisted it is a good unfolding of what happened.

Don’t Look Down
Jase gets an opportunity to interview his childhood idol, Billy Starr, in Italy. An elderly villager warns him off staying in the village.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

The descriptive bit: This is a collection of dark-themed suspense stories. Essentially, it’s a collection of tales about murder and untimely or suspicious death. There are bodies everywhere! Guilty people abound!

My thoughts bit: The stories in this book hit you with horror where you live. RIGHT in your own mind. It’s filled up with murderous spouses and partners pushed tot he edge, people are driven mad by loss, minds tangled up with too many personalities, people driven to commit horrific acts because of everyday annoyances.

It’s difficult to review a collection of short works without giving up too much information about them. But, it’s going to be obvious when you dive into this collection that there are going to be a lot of dead bodies by the end! The one thing that I loved about all these stories is that there was always a twist; something that I didn’t see coming or was surprised by. Having a bit of a mystery in each tale kept me reading.

This may be the perfect book to have along for summer! I kept it on my Kobo and found it great for sneaking in some reading while I was waiting for things around me to happen!

There are LGBTQIA characters in most of the stories, but what I enjoyed was that Queer wasn’t the plot! Queer is just what some of the people in the stories are. It was a pleasure to read stories with such diversity (ie. there are all kinds of couples and relationships).

New Orleans is a prominent character throughout this collection. Now, I’ve never been there – although I really want to – my research indicates that Herren captures New Orleans perfectly. I like the way the city creeps into all the stories, almost as though it’s lurking there and, may just be part of the darkness.

These stories are definitely worth a read!

The warnings bit: Please be aware, I’m by no means an expert on what may or may not have the potential to disturb people. I simply list things that I think a reader might want to be aware of.

In this book: dead bodies, various deaths, descriptions of corpses, violence, murder ! You get the idea.



I received an ARC of Survivor’s Guilt And Other Stories by Greg Herren from Bold Strokes Books, Inc. via NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

“You’ve said it a million times anyone can get away with a murder if they’re careful.” He crossed his arms. “I mean, you write about stuff like that all the time, right?”

Greg Herren writes a gripping short story. Not all writers can capture and hold the reader’s attention in only a few thousand words. Herren is a master of the craft. If the first two stories in the book don’t push you back on your heels you don’t have a pulse. It’s rare to read an anthology where every single story grabs and holds your attention. It doesn’t hurt that a lot of the tales are set in post Katrina New Orleans. It’s a perfect setting for the cold-blooded mercenaries among us. Lots of places to hide the bodies.

I was impressed by the richly developed characters and Herren’s ability to shock and surprise me with clever twists and many “I didn’t see that coming” moments. It’s not a spoiler to say there will be dead bodies in every story you read. Yes, there is survivor’s guilt as the title implies. There are also revenge filled lovers and one entertaining story called Housecleaning which is a study of a mother’s love…for murder.

Don’t be put off by the beefcake on the cover. There are stories featuring gay men but there are het couples as well. A main character’s sexual orientation is of less importance than how effective he is at hiding the bodies. I loved this book. I loved the murder and mayhem and clever crafting of so many memorable tales.

5 Glorious stars.

ARC received with thanks from BSB via NetGalley for review.