Finally, I’m done with this. All I can think right now is that Joyce Carol Oates and I do not share a taste in mystery stories. So what I need to do is read some more of her own stories (I have read a few) and see if I like what she writes.
For one thing, there was a noted change by Otto Penszler, the series editor, about how he was formulizing the genre of mystery. No more just cops and robbers and gumshoe detectives, but any story where a crime was ever committed. This I sort of agreed with, but if I were a hard core traditional mystery reader, I’d sure be scratching my head in dire disappointment over this selection. That’s okay; genre can change and improve with exploration. However, not a single one of these stories really came shining through. (Remember, I did like almost every story of the 2005 Best American Short Stories.)
This opening is from the last story in the book, Barracuda, by Scott Wolvern, who has made this collection four times.
The bag of clear liquid hung suspended above me, hooked to a metal pole, and ran into my right arm through a clear plastic tube.
Very nice opening, filled with question as to why the narrator is in the hospital. There’s the mystery starting right there. However, I may be wrong, but I believe it is a grammatically incorrect sentence in that as worded, it would appear that the "bag….ran into my right arm," rather than the clear liquid it was filled with.
I realize I’m getting annoyed and nitpicky when something this minor will bother me so much, but also realize that the annoyance is because there hasn’t really been a forgiving factor of good story in the book.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology