A Therapeutic Death: Violent Short Stories (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781956957044)

Crammed with twisted thrills, dark secrets, and elusive grasps at redemption, this collection of short crime stories will have you turning pages deep into the night.

In the opening story, we encounter two veterans struggling to resolve a problem that a haunting war crime started. Next, we read about a mixed-martial-arts fighter who makes a split-second decision and risks his soul in the process. This is followed by the tale of an assassin who must fight through a cabal of drug dealing circus clowns to keep her young daughter safe. Further in, we learn of two buddies who prove their friend innocent of homicide, despite being stuck in an 80s themed booze cruise. Later, in a true-crime piece, a rookie U.S. Marshal encounters the depravity of man in a dank basement.

These stories, and numerous others, present a series of characters in impossible situations, raging against the never-ending injustices of life. These people try to carve out a piece of happiness, often with disastrous results. The search for salvation brawls against life's harsh reality and the struggle can be overwhelming, but it makes for great reading.

"J.B. Stevens writes with compassion and nuance about ex-soldiers struggling to negotiate civilian life. His lyric prose is filled with sudden shifts that explode off the page."

-Chris Offutt, author of The Killing Hills

"A Therapeutic Death is a gathering of hard-hitting, fast-paced stories, littered with hardworn souls grasping for grace in deep and grim places. In other words, exactly what you want to see in a collection of stories unafraid of the dark."

-Michael Farris Smith, author of Nick and The Fighter

"Knockout prose in a fistful of words. I'll read anything J.B. Stevens writes."

-Marc Cameron, NYT Best Selling author of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan thrillers

"J.B. Stevens writes whoop ass-fiction with the real-life experience to back up every word. You're in for a gut-punch of a read."

-Mark Westmoreland, author of A Violent Gospel