Review: Perverts: Stories by Mac Crane

 Perverts: Stories by Mac Crane

Blurb from Goodreads:

A full-frontal confrontation of the ways we perform desire and shame—from the downright bizarre to the frighteningly relatable—by the award-winning author of A Sharp Endless Need

An employee at a hunting ground where people pay to act out hate crimes prepares to meet their girlfriend’s parents for the first time. A self-destructive client engages in an affair with their therapist, careening their relationship toward its inevitable breaking point. At a theme park where men pay to ogle women dressed as sirens, a mild-mannered boat attendant gets engaged to the star performer. And in the title story, a pregnant internet sex worker blackmails her clients into attending a disastrous party.   

Nothing is off limits for Mac Crane as they rework classic stories of rejection, isolation, and connection to suggest that the so-called pervert, by existing in the margins of society, may be the one who sees the world most clearly. Crane brings their keen eye for the unsavory to seventeen transgressive stories that are as tantalizing and addictive as the characters’ experiences. A provocative and uproarious collection about pleasure, performance, and pain, Perverts is an exaltation of the awesome depravity of queer modernity.

My Review:

 

I just did not enjoy this, at all.  I found the characters to be insufferable.  I kept hoping for one of the stories to connect with something but I found them a bit odd, although very well written.  I think these will work some but they were not for me.

Perverts: Stories comes out next week on July 7, 2026, and you can purchase HERE.  

I sent the sex party invitations out on a Monday-the perverts wouldn't know what hit them. They'd be enjoying their coffee, or watching Grinch porn or maybe seashell porn, the ones where the women pretend to be beautiful seashells that bring the ocean to you, jerking and rubbing themselves silly, when they'd hear that familiar ding of a new email arriving all fresh and slutty in their inboxes. I could see it now-their faces cycling through every human emotion in a matter of seconds: surprise, terror, confusion, intrigue, submission. Yes, yes, yessing their ways onto the secret guest list for Friday.