Eight Very Bad Nights

 Book 62 of my 2025 Reading Challenge

read from August 22 - 24

Eight Very Bad Nights: a Collection of Hanukkah Noir

published 2024

My Opinion

3 stars

This is a collection of 11 mysteries relating to Hanukkah.  Overall, it was fine...mostly entertaining while I was reading but not super memorable.  My favorite was "Twenty Centuries".

Like I do with books by multiple authors, I have a few individual thoughts about each story included below.

Johnny Christmas

I was absorbed in the story and it was a somewhat unpredictable ending.

Shamash

Depressing but poignant.

Twenty Centuries

This was my favorite story in the book.  It was fully fledged out with details that filled the story but it didn't feel too long.

If I Were a Rich Man

A story with many turns that kept my interest and it had a decent ending.

Come Let Us Kiss and Part

It felt more like an excerpt of a longer book than a standalone short story because of an abrupt, unresolved ending.

Mi Shebeirach

For such a dark story it was surprisingly hopeful.

Dead Weight

I found this story to be confusing and unclear.

Lighting the Remora

I didn't connect with this because it felt anticlimactic and I didn't see the point of the story.

Not a Dinner Party Person

There was lots about the FDA trials with zero resolutions or follow-up.  I hope Nina messed up his computer.

The Demo

It was fine.  There were lots of layers/double-crosses so I was unsure who to root for.

Eight Very Bad Nights

This is a full story.  I know people like Jack who are able to bumble along making poor, impulsive choices yet somehow having things work out for them.  Hopefully the people I know are less extreme than Jack though.