Horror

★★★★☆ | Horror | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

I set a goal a few years ago to read every Stephen King novel. I had already read many of his books, as I consider him our generation’s master storyteller. Since then, I’ve made good progress. I’ve read 25 of his books in the last three years, with just a handful to go. As I reviewed which book to read next, I kept passing over Firestarter. I saw the movie many years ago, which was pretty awful. I wasn’t keen on reading an entire novel centered on a tweener child with pyrotechnic powers. 

I finally read it, and like almost all Stephen King novels, it had unexpected dimensions to the story and characters that elevated it from typical horror to something greater. The suspense begins on page one as we are thrust into a frantic escape scene in medias res. Through flashbacks, we learn the origin story of how this young girl came to possess her powers. A corrupt government agency illegally tested experimental drugs on a group of unwitting college students. Many died, but two developed mental powers, got married, and had a child. Ultimately, it’s the bond of family love that fuels the story. What would you not do to save your child, even one who could incinerate you in a crying fit? 

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Firestarter by Stephen KingRead More »

★★★☆☆ | Horror | Audio | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

My multi-year quest to read the entire Stephen King catalog continues with this 2015 short-story collection. I listened to this one, which included a bonus story (Cookie Jar) not in the original print edition. 

King shows his range of writing styles in this collection. There are straight-up horror stories, mysteries, a western, a creepy noir story, a sparse, depressing story that felt very much like a Raymond Carver story, and a short epic poem. 

My favorite was UR, a novella featuring an e-reader that taps into books and news stories from millions of parallel universes. This is a must-read for any diehard Dark Tower fans. 

In looking back over the twenty other stories, there were two really good ones (A Death and Summer Thunder), but the majority were just okay. King wrote introductions for most of the stories, which I often liked as much as the stories themselves. There were some terrific insights into how he approaches the craft of writing. Our generation’s greatest storyteller makes it look effortless, but, as he says in one introduction, “easy reading is the product of hard writing.”

I’ve now read all twelve short story/novella collections King has written (so far). For me, this one ranked near the bottom in terms of overall enjoyment. My top two recommendations in this category are Night Shift and You Like It Darker. 

★★★★☆ | Horror | Audio | Own | StoryGraph |  Goodreads

Continuing my quest to read all of Stephen King’s published works with this Richard Bachman dystopian thriller, published in 1982. The Running Man is set in a 2025 America with extreme income inequality, a polluted environment, an authoritarian government, and a population obsessed and controlled by streaming media and ultra-violent reality TV.

The hero of the story is Benjamin Richards, who signs up for the most dangerous “Free-Vee” show to save his sick daughter.  Richards is tough, gritty, and smart. A badass that we rarely see as a protagonist in a Stephen King novel (hence the Richard Bachman pseudonym).

Hijinks ensue as Richards attempts to evade his would-be game show killers. It’s a fast-paced read with some good plot twists. I won’t spoil the ending, other than to say it’s another example of King’s uncanny ability to predict future events.

★★★★☆  | Horror | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

What a fun, creepy book! I loved the slow build of suspense and the unexpected twists. And the ending … Whew.

It’s hard to believe this was written almost sixty years ago. So much of it still feels fresh. Levin created a blueprint for generations of suspense and horror writers to follow.

★★★★☆ | Horror | Digital + Audio | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

I read this one before, some twenty years ago, but I didn’t remember much of it other than the setting: a log cabin set on a lake in western Maine. I had a hankering to revisit this place long locked away in my memory.

This is a classic haunted house with enough mystery and spooky parts to keep the pages turning. We meet many of the residents of this lakeside Maine setting, and King captures both the joy and discontent of multi-generational life in an isolated community. Having spent over twenty years on a rural island in Washington state, I laughed and cringed at the similarities.

But, like most good Stephen King novels, it’s the exploration of the deeper human condition that lingers.  In this case, the grief of losing a soulmate and how a loss like that changes you.

Grief is like a drunken house guest, always coming back for one more goodbye hug.

The narrator is a well-known writer who suffers from a debilitating bout of writer’s block. Through him, we learn a lot about the highs and lows of the publishing industry. The title is borrowed from a Thomas Hardy quote after he stopped writing novels: “the most brilliantly drawn character in a novel is but a bag of bones.” It’s a humble admission from our generation’s greatest storyteller that, as effortless as the final product seems to readers, writing is a tough business.

Highlights

I think reality is thin, you know, thin as lake ice after a thaw, and we fill our lives with noise and light and motion to hide that thinness from ourselves.

This is how we go on: one day at a time, one meal at a time, one pain at a time, one breath at a time. Dentists go on one root-canal at a time; boat-builders go on one hull at a time. If you write books, you go on one page at a time. We turn from all we know and all we fear. We study catalogues, watch football games, choose Sprint over AT&T. We count the birds in the sky and will not turn from the window when we hear the footsteps behind us as something comes up the hall; we say yes, I agree that clouds often look like other things – fish and unicorns and men on horseback – but they are really only clouds. Even when the lightening flashes inside them we say they are only clouds and turn our attention to the next meal, the next pain, the next breath, the next page. This is how we go on.

★★★★☆ | Horror | Audio/Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads 

I’m continuing my quest to read every book published by Stephen King. I’m down to short story collections and a few of his less (ahem) popular novels.

Nightmares and Dreamscapes isn’t King’s best short story collection. I think that award goes to You Like It Darker from last year. But any collection of stories by this generation’s master storyteller is still pretty great.

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Nightmares and Dreamscapes by Stephen KingRead More »

★★★☆☆ | Horror | Digital | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Stephen King must have felt he needed a challenge when he started this one. How about a horror novel with just one character handcuffed to a bed with the only way to move the story along is through inner dialogue. Oh, and let that character be a woman, and let that woman be sexually abused by her father as a child. Yep, that would be a challenge.

And, I guess he succeeded? Maybe? I’m torn over this one, because it feels offensive to me that a male author would attempt to put himself in the tortured mind of an abused woman.

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Gerald’s Game by Stephen KingRead More »

★★★★☆ | Horror | Audio | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

On a quest to read the few Stephen King books I missed along the way. I forgot how great of a short story writer King is. Probably some of his novels should have been short stories! Gingerbread Girl and N were my favorites in this collection.

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Just After Sunset by Stephen KingRead More »

★★★☆☆ | Horror | Digital | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

Another completion in my quest to read every Stephen King book. This one missed the mark for me. To execute the pretty good idea for this horror tale, King had to involve way too many characters — almost the entire town of Castle Rock. With so many characters, I had a hard time connecting with any of them. Any other author would get a two stars, but King gets a pass. 

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Needful Things by Stephen KingRead More »

★★★☆☆ | Horror | Digital | Own | StoryGraph | Goodreads

My journey to read all of Stephen King continues.  Normally, I enjoy the supernatural aspects of King’s novels.  In this case, I think the story would have been better without any of the other-world part. Rosie is an abused woman who digs deep and finds strength to leave and ultimately confront her abusive husband with the help of her new friends.  Having to rely on the supernatural powers to ultimately defeat her beast of a husband felt like a let down.

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Rose Madder by Stephen KingRead More »