Six off 66

David Daniel's knack for mystery shines in these stories that are marked most by what details are left unwritten. Each piece is masterfully crafted, stunningly clear as it wanders off to end in defiance of expectation, but not of experience. In 'Collecting,' things go fast when an out-of-work family man takes to knocking over hoodlums rather than taking up the dole; but rather than escalate into a preachy and hackneyed resolution, his crimes stop just as quickly when he returns to his senses. 'The Man Who Dreamed of Death' doesn't die and it doesn't matter. These and the other Four Off 66 thrill for what Daniel reveals and obscures. We have not only to reflect upon what does or doesn't happen in these stories, but also on the choices behind them and, finally, all the other ways that things could be.