I'm so happy I got my wish and finally read DJM writing for adults and it was as fun as I thought it would be. Having said that, most of the stories were just all right but not mindblowing except for the shining exception being "Time Trials, Unlimited". Holy fųcking shit, was that short story DJM excellence! Nearly perfect! Definitely my favorite from the collection. That's the book DJ should write next and not The Paper Trail, if you ask me, but I'll still be seated and waiting for that book and reading it whole. I have my hopes with Holly and her redhead ghost. Honorable mention: "Influence Island", that short story was crazy and though I saw Derrick's fate coming bc he was unhinged and kinda stupid and the writing didn't hint any redeemable ending for him, I was still like this 😲 with the twist lol My least favorite story is "The Scout". I read the original to see how the "redux" would go (I didn't like it, btw) and I was disappointed to see it was just a changing from third person to first person pov plus a coda that just irritated me (the last sentences kinda slayed tho) and made me dislike this story even more. The story is too dramatic and heavy-handed with some weird anti-immigrant and ecofascist vibes. A very unneeded story that probably took space for something better.