From the Civil War-era south, to 1950's New York, to the present day's gritty cities and seemingly innocuous suburbs, the 18 stories in this anthology, edited by the award-winning mystery writer Harlan Coben, chart the complications - always surprising, sometimes deadly - that arise between lovers, dear friends, and even complete strangers coming together for a single, shocking encounter.

In Lee Child's "Safe Enough", a blue-collar city boy takes up with a wealthy suburban wife, with dire consequences. In Harlan Coben's "Entrapped", a woman's husband disappears and is replaced by a handsome impostor. In Laura Lippman's "One True Love", a high-end prostitute seeks a radical solution to a public relations problem. Finally, in P. J. Parrish's "One Shot", a man returns to his childhood home to learn the truth about a long-ago tragedy.

Other contributors of original stories include Ridley Pearson, R. L. Stine, Jim Fusilli, Jeff Abbott, Charles Todd, and Tom Savage.