Students who savor harrowing tales will appreciate this tense, well-written collection. In the first title, stories set in different historical periods tell terrifying accounts of survival under impossible-to-imagine situations. Readers will be amazed survivors overcame incredibly desperate, sometimes quite gory, circumstances and marvel they emerged victorious. The second book focuses on true-crime tales, also from varied periods in time, and emphasize police procedure and crime detection. These tales are graphic in more ways than one, yet deliver interesting scientific information and will especially appeal to budding criminologists, forensic pathologists, and scene-of-crime officers. Some racial and ethnic diversity is represented; women are shown involved in investigations—and also as criminals. Stories in both volumes open with brief descriptions of leading characters, dates, and places; new vocabulary is boldfaced and defined in glossaries. The writing is terse and clipped. The tales are essentially told through characters and dialogue, which arouses empathy and heightens suspense. Graphic panels are easy to navigate, enabling readers to focus on the action; the artwork is crisp, with easy-to-distinguish details, and clearly evokes characters’ expressions. Each volume’s back matter includes a glossary (no pronunciation guides), further resources, and an index. VERDICT These spellbinding tales are not for the squeamish, as some are quite gruesome, but they’ll hopefully arouse sympathy, too. Recommended for school and public collections where graphic stories are popular.