As with many others I picked this one up on the strength of the cover — which is one of the best of the year.

That said, the stories within don’t really ever feel like they belong to the same book there’s a missing cohesion throughout what could have been an interesting selection of individual releases.

I was disappointed in this collection. The language used seems over the top more like showing off. The choices of subjects feed on old racist stereotypes, and I'm just over that.

I liked this. Excellent writing and interesting stories. Each has its own feel to it. Recommended.

I really appreciate the free copy for review!!

First let's address the cover of this book. It's definitely an eyecatcher and will cause anyone browsing for their next read to pick it up out of curiousity. Once reading the stories, you'd find it's a reference to one of the stories and depicts exactly the "visual" I had while reading. It takes some skill for an author to create those visuals.
THE MAN WHO contains four short stories and a novella. If you had to assign a genre, they are mostly westerns, which is a genre I maintain is very under rated. The stories may have a western background but they are more about the person/ people who populate the story. How each responds to the situations in which they find themselves. I found each story an excellent read and the book as a whole pretty outstanding. Thom Cree skillfully builds the stories and lets them shine on their own. Their short length may lend to the fact that there is no extras added to them just to make them book length. Spare, but definitely worth the time I spent reading them. I've not read any of Cree's back library, but I'm on my way to check them out. Definite 5 star read.

An interesting collection of short western stories, contemporary ones set in Egypt and Nubia, and a longer espionage novella.

Unfortunately, not once did I feel the need to pick this book up out of pure interest in the stories. While reading the cold war espionage novella, too much of my concentration went on remembering the names and trying to figure out who was talking to whom. There were too many characters without any specific descriptions which would help distinguish them.

The historical westerns are violent and graphic, the writing correlating to the story. The two contemporary stories were probably my favorites. They were pure feeling without plot.

I believe the writing is the strongest and most interesting part of the book. While it took a while to get used to it, it was a clever choice. It is dry and gruesome for westerns, poetic and nostalgic for contemporaries, and narrative for the espionage novella. Unfortunately, that is probably the only part of this book I'll remember.

Thank you to NetGalley and Matador for providing me with an eARC copy of The Man Who by Thom Cree.

After doing a little bit of research on the author, it seems like they write under a few different pen names and are more known for his poetry work along with one science fiction novel. While I understand that using a pen names help keep the privacy of the author, it would make more sense just to stick to one to look up other work to get a feel for their style of writing as this collection of short stories read more like a long winded poems. The long paragraphs and lack of dialog quotations really put me of. That being said, I enjoyed the Western and the espionage, the rest of it wasn't memorable and some might enjoy it all. It just depends on your taste and the style of writing you enjoy.

This extraordinary book is a book of two halves. The first half glows with innovative style as the author rejoices in a passionate resurrection of the Western genre. The stories are vivid, vicious and visceral. An almost photographic image of the Old West is achieved through succinct wordplay. In place of punctuation there is verve and raw energy.
The novella which comprises the second half of the book is a spy thriller and reads like something by Eric Ambler or John le Carrè. The craft of espionage and counter espionage is written with precision. The characters speak the right jargon and drive the right cars.
Characters in a book by Thom Cree run the risk of being scalped by Comanches or castrated by Russians. Not many writers have the skill or the nerve!

This book.. you either love it or get very confused by it. I am both I guess.

It was certainly a wild ride and intense. It was poetic and captivating, but it cost me a lot of energy and time to read it properly. The vocabulary used is quite out of my own league and that hindered my reading speed. (My first language isnt English).
I do think the story had enough impact for me, despite the advanced wordings, to keep me wanting to read more and I also to add more words to my vocabulary! It was interesting. I would recommend this as an art and appreciation read, rather than a quick read despite the length of the book.

I'd like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

The Man Who by Thom Cree is a diverse short story collection covering stories from traditional westerns to Russian espionage. As with most short story collections, this is hard to give a rating, with some stories being hits and others misses. This collection in particular is difficult to rate because of the vast diversity in the kinds of stories included, but I'm happy to say that I enjoyed the collection for the most part.

Based on the table of contents, the book is broken into three different themes of stories: Historical Western, Contemporary, and Cold War Espionage. I found that the author's talented writing style was on full display in the four historical western stories. They were all uniquely rich, complex, and deeply engaging if not terribly brutal at times. I appreciated how the prose complemented what we would call "flowery" language of the time (think Ulysses Everett from O Brother, Where Art Thou). The hyper-focus on the individual experience from seemingly random people of that time painted a really interesting picture of what life might have been like. Is it authentic? I don't know, I don't really care. I enjoyed them all.

The contemporary stories I remember less of. There were only two of them, and they didn't stick with me. I remember being surprised that the bordering on purple prose didn't carry over to the contemporary stories, and I think that's a testament to the author's versatility.

Lastly we have the cold war espionage, this was actually one story, and took up most of the book. I suppose it was less of a short story and more of a novella, but I have mixed feelings about it. While a high level summary of the story might lead one to think it was very engaging and fast paced, I found myself confused and struggling to keep the characters straight in my head for the majority of the time. It all came together nicely in the end, but the confusion I had made this story really drag on for me.

Overall, a mixed bag when it came to the stories, but I enjoyed the collection as a whole. I find myself wishing there were more western stories, and I would have really liked to see more installments in the contemporary category, but this was very strong.

This collection of short stories was a DNF for me for a few reasons. First of all, I have an aversion to explicit violence and within the first few pages there were graphic descriptions of murders. Secondly, I don’t have an interest in reading narratives that paint Indigenous people as “heathen cutthroats”. Finally, the style of writing was difficult for me to focus on, there were many run on sentences with very little (or purposefully sparse) punctuation. The cover is fantastic, though.

oof, that’s a big no from me. we’re in the year of our lord 2023 – please stop writing stories about poor white kids whose families have just been slaughtered by the Bad Indians. i seriously can’t take this anymore.

Unfortunately I dnf’ed this book at the end of the first story.
I personally could not understand what was happening plot-wise and when reading, it felt like it was taking ages to just grasp what was being said in a single sentence.
I feel as though if I were to continue I would have wasted my time.

Happy to have a challenge and try new authors so especial thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy. The first four short stories are set in 19th century America and essentially present violent, gory, unpleasant deaths, cruelty and depravity. Uncomfortable reading albeit probably true at least some of the times on the frontier. I don't need the 'handsome cowboy heading off into the sunset on his paint pony with girl sitting behind him' but these stories are just so much the opposite as to be as bad. Writing style is interesting - if you can use 6 adverbs/adjectives when one or two would do, let's have 8. This does not add anything to the story for me. The two next short stories - set in Egypt - lots of innuendo rather less 'story'. The final novella set during the Cold War again. focused on the negative of the human condition and the story just did not keep me engrossed. I guess that this is an author I shall not be following as the contexts just do not appeal to me but do appreciate the opportunity to try.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher Matador for an advance copy of this collection of short stories from a very accomplished writer.

Short story collections usually share a theme of some sort, be it horror, dragons, science fiction, or even sad people of a certain generation trying to figure out where their lives went off the rails. Most don't offer contemporary stories of modern relationships, westerns tales and a story about spies, traitors and deception. The characters are all different, some taciturn, some lost, some confused and many lying to the reader, and themselves. The theme that links these stories is , the stories are very good, going in places one does not expect and sometimes places readers don't want them to go. Another theme could be that the writer asks a lot both themself and from the readers, the writer putting in the effort, hoping the reader will put in that effort while reading. The effect is a group of stories that remain with the reader long after the book is closed and placed away. The Man Who by Thom Cree features stories about loss, for people, places, relationships and loyalty, all told in a very unique way and style.

The book consists of six stories and one longer novella. Four of these stories are westerns, the modern western as shown in the acknowledgements to modern portrayers of the west. A boy sees his family destroyed by Comanche, leaving him alone and voiceless. A hunter tracks a wounded stag, and finds a wagon train that he sits among. A son buries a father, remembering his past, and the acts his father did for him. The novella is a spy stories, mixing real people and events, with real terminology, and that broken feeling that all characters in a John le Carré seem to bear, a story that becomes familiar as one reads on.

The stories have an impact that are all exclusive to their own story There is a sparseness to the writing, a lack of punctuation, with sentences and paragraphs that go one for long periods. There is also a lot of imagery, making the stories seem more like poetry than short stories, with lots of environment descriptions and a strong feeling for the locale. Information is doled out carefully, dates given to explain events, but nothing is dropped incautiously, there is a deliberateness to what is told, and what is not shared. Readers might have to work a little harder to get at wat Cree is working too, and looking for, but the enjoyment one gets is worth the effort.

Recommended for readers who have grown tired with the usual tales. The stories seem simple in description, but there is a lot going on, and a lot that will be left in the reader's mind when completed. A very diverse and interesting collection.

I've read the majority of this book now and I have really enjoyed it. I like the writing style, it kept me interested and the collection of stories are different to what I have read before.

I will re-read this and would recommend.