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|title=Promises to Keep: A Short Story
|author=Elizabeth Haynes
|date=February 2014
|isbn=
|website=|videocover=B00I9GXP2M|amazonukaznuk=<amazonuk>B00I9GXP2M</amazonuk>|amazonusaznus=<amazonus>B00I9GXP2M</amazonus>
}}
Short stories are difficult: there's only a limited amount of time to create a story ''and'' develop the characters. Elizabeth Haynes does this remarkably well and she's brilliant at creating atmosphere: I was stunned by the sheer menace which came off the page whilst Sam was running in the woods. I knew enough about the main characters to empathise with them - but I was completely under the spell of that eleven-year-old boy who came into the country hidden behind the wind deflector on the top of a lorry.
There's an old saying about mouths and gift horses, but I'll confess to a feeling of disappointment at the end of this story - but although not at the ''ending''. As I read my Kindle told me what percentage of the 'book' I'd read and I was delighted: there looked to be a novella here rather than a short story. Then 65% of the way through - the story finished and the balance was an excerpt from one of Haynes' full-length novels. I know you can't be short-changed when you haven't ''paid'' for the story but it felt like being given a big box of chocolates only to find that there isn't a bottom layer. Please don't be put off reading the story - it's very good and it's enlightening - just adjust your expectations about how long your pleasure is going to last.
For another crime short story you might like to try [[Cherringham - Murder on Thames: A Cozy Crime Series by Matthew Costello and Neil Richards]], but whilst it might be longer it doesn't have the same quality as ''Promises to Keep''.
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[[Category:Crime]]
