Suicide, murder, religion, and mayhem collide in Carmine Pari's electrifying short story collection, No More Time.

Evoking the darkness and mystery of the macabre, Pari packs an emotional punch in even the most tightly-worded sentence.

From a shopkeeper's effort to placate a hopeful young girl in "Duck or Doll" to a dying man's unusual-and violent-last wish in "The Payment," each of the sixteen narratives contained in this compilation challenges readers to contemplate the quiet moments that make up a life.

With many of its stories' endings open for...