Short stories can be a hard sell for teens, which is a shame. A good short story gives you all of the best elements of a novel in a couple dozen pages. You get a few exciting moments and a surprising amount of character development distilled into a tight, economical package. This particular collection is something of a mixed bag. Some stories are funny, though most are serious. A few fall into the "evil killer teen" trope that I don't care for. A few had confusing twists. Still, a solid choice for a busy or reluctant reader.

While my middle school students are constantly begging me for books with mystery and death, the focus of this collection being on murder and some of the stories being a bit on the graphic side, this is something that is much better suited for high schools than middle school.

An anthology of short stories about death. I was disappointed in some, ran through some, and truly enjoyed some. The best were In Plain Sight, Summer Job, Concealment, What I Did On my Summer Vacation, and The Things We Don't Talk About. Each of them had some relationships behind the death and its repercussions.

Those alone were worth reading for. Skim a few.

I always say I hate anthologies and what do I do? I keep reading them. But anything with R.L. Stine can be an exception to every rule in the book. This was one of the better anthologies I have read as of late, and perfect for October/Halloween time.

Personally speaking, any anthology usually contains hit or misses. I loved Caleb Roehig's, enjoyed a few others, and mildly English degree-appreciated a couple, but for the most part, this just didn't leave much of an impact for me.

That being said, I don't think it's a bad or poorly written one. It just lacked the particular flavor of "oomph" I like in my mysteries. Librarian-speaking, I'm still recommending we purchase it, because it's well written, has good variety, has diversity in it, and I truly believe that while I'm a little "meh" about it, more people (particularly the junior high to high schoolers that make up the primary YA audience of my YA Fiction section) will like it than dislike it.

Like all short story collections that I have read in the past, Life is Short and Then You Die contains some really good short stories, some okay short stories, and some not so good short stories. Edited by Kelley Armstrong, Life is Short and Then You Die contains 18 short stories that tell of teens' first exposure to death. Each story is told from the perspective of the victim, witness, or killer - sometimes, the point of view character even assumed multiple roles by the short story's completion (i.e. witness and killer).

The best aspect of the book has to be the variety of storytelling. As readers progress through the short story collection, they read about teens' many different first-time exposures to death.

I love a good mystery and dove into this anthology with very high expectations but ended up not truly enjoying it? Maybe 2 stories registered but for the most part, none of them really stuck with me or grabbed my attention. Pretty disappointed because there are so many big name authors collaborating on this and I was really looking forward to all the short stories.

The concept of this anthology is really great. But reading it, some of the stories bled into one another, and as a whole, it just felt like a spark was missing. Caleb Roehrig's story was a highlight, however.

This is a collection of murder stories of all kinds. There are contemporary stories, historical fiction, and even one with a little fantasy thrown in. The tales are told by the murderer, the victim, and witnesses. For a collection of so many stories, all about the same thing, there is a wonderful variety here. No two are even a little bit alike. It should be easy for anyone (with the exception of those who avoid murder stories at all costs) to find a story that appeals to them, and of course they will likely also find some they do not enjoy even a little. That is generally the way it goes in anthology. Overall an enjoyable read, that will be an easy sell to teens who seek this kind of story out (especially this time of year!)

Some of these are excellent. Some of these are meh. I would rate it as a 3.5 as an overall good collection worthy of being in most teen collections. I think the title alone will easily grab their attention.

Creepy, creepy, creepy! I can't wait to bring this awesome collection of scary short stories with me into classrooms this fall. This book is perfect for horror fans and will delight reluctant readers. I love a good anthology.