To most people the name "Brian Hopkins" would usually be associated with horror stories with a sting in the tale. "These I Know By Heart" is so much more.

TIKBH is a collection of short stories that tell us, in many different ways, that life may not be quite what is seems. The collection starts with 'A Thousand Doors', a brief, heart-warming story of what may come after…..

The second story, 'Ten Days in July' covers, as the title suggests, 10 specific days in July 1992 when a variety of atrocities occurred. At first glance you would think it a little far fetched that so many dreadful things could happen within such a short space of time. However, if you turn to the Acknowledgements Brian Hopkins confirms that the first eight events can be verified in the press. Suddenly, when reading this fact, I began to wonder if the world was truly turning to rat-droppings.

Then I read 'Five Days in April'. Wow! This story revolves around the days following the Oklahoma bombing and the work done by the Urban Search and Rescue squads with their amazing sniffer dogs. I cannot remember ever reading a piece of prose that has had such a profound effect.

I am sure that the events of September 11 made me more receptive to this story but even so I have to admit to being left completely speechless at the end. I have since read the story a couple more times (and insisted that Steve read it as well) and my reaction does not change. Brian, if you ever find it is the right time to write about Sept 2001 I know that your work would stand as a true tribute to the thousands of people directly affected that day.

When a collection of stories has one that is so outstandingly good it is easy for the rest to fade away a little. In the case of the stories following 'Five Days in April' this is not the case. The rest of the collection is made up of poignant, thought-provoking tales of love, death, angels and miracles.

As you may imagine we have so many books to read and review that re-reading books is not usually possible. I will be making an exception in the case of TIKBH. Absolutely stunning.