LiveFree or Tri is a collection of three short stories by Judy Penz Sheluk:
“Life Free or Die” — Emmy meets the suave Jack when he gets transferred to the Toronto branch of the insurance company where he works. They spend about two months together before she meets his fiancee.
“Murder in the Marsh” — Carrie Anne is busy learning cycling in order to compete in a triathlon. While practicing on the road for the first time, Carrie Ann runs into a produce truck that contains in it a body.
“The Cycopaths” — The Cycopaths is a triathlon club. One day while they are training together, Sunny dies in the water.
This short little book of short stories delivers a kick with each story. The conclusions do not give a direct answer, but they imply a potential solution to each or, in the case of the third, speculate on a solution, in a somewhat eerie manner. These stories remind me a little bit of those by O. Henry, but with less obvious irony. The first two stories use third person narration, while the last uses third person, but each contains very little dialogue.
Kate Tyler performs the stories in the audio edition of this book. She does a good job of taking her time to give the book extra emphasis and drawing out our focus. Her spoken expression is fairly even, given that the stories use very little dialogue.
Die Free or Tri, which is an hour long, is a nice little book of stories, ideal for someone with just a short time for listening and who can’t spend long to focus on a plot line. The subtle irony makes the stories intriguing. I give this collection four stars.
Disclaimer: I received this collection of short stories for free from the author, but that had no effect on the content of my review.
To purchase this book for yourself, click here on Amazon.
