Award winning thriller novelist, Thomas Ryan, is also a prolific writer of short stories and he brings more of his sense of fun and adventure to his new collection, Short Stories Volume 2. From the creepy ‘Gerry’ to the humour of ‘A Christmas Story’ and the human drama of ‘The Best of Times’, there is more than enough variety to keep readers captivated. Ryan believes all good short stories should have unexpected twists and turns but mostly be entertaining to read. Applying his thriller techniques he manages to achieve this end with the suspenseful ‘Wooden Sword’ and ‘The Chest’ but it is in ‘John Wayne’ Ryan displays his accomplished storytelling skills as he documents a fictitious episode in the famous actor’s life that leads to his almost bringing an end to the Second World War and a little known walk on a beach with Eva Peron. Quoting a reviewer of Thomas Ryan’s work, ‘ Ryan doesn’t leave you without a shock to the system. Page turner writing that delves into things you may not consider, but once you do you’re stunned by his ability to knock your boots off. This is set your phasers on stun material because you won’t put it down till you’re done, and then wonder-How does he come up with this?’ ‘Short Stories Volume 2’ by Thomas Ryan is a must read.