You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Plot
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Mrs Todd's Shortcut was my favorite.

One issue with a collection of short stories: they’re hit or miss.
dark emotional mysterious tense
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
dark mysterious medium-paced

Some bangers, some flops. Some horror, some sci-fi, some mystery. A mini palette of the larger palette of Stephen King.

really enjoyed this collection! though it is plauged with king's rasism, sexism + fatphobia so readers beware

I read this collection for the first time when I was probably far too young to actually be reading it (Stephen King Before the Age of 10 Xennial Gang rise up?) and spent the last...long while reading it aloud to my 14y/o before bed. The kid thinks maybe Night Shift was a stronger collection overall, but this one had their favourite stories.

Which were:

"The Jaunt' - did something I've never done before and gave myself goosebumps while reading aloud. 

"Paranoid: a Chant" - the kid got v excited at Stephen King writing poetry, but then was super disappointed by "For Owen" later in the book. 

"Word Processor of the Gods" - they hated the selfishness of the narrator and the way he talked about his family, and hope that maybe he didn't get his HEA after all. 

"Nona" - we finished this one with them pacing back and forth in the living room, wringing their hands and saying "what. was. that." over and over. 

"Survivor Type" - had to pause while reading this one bc the description of a healing itch was so visceral it made them light-headed; offered to skip, they said no. 10000% my child. 

"Gramma" - read this one over a few nights, and they almost had me skip it bc they weren't super into it at the beginning, but sat there shaking their head saying "WOW" repeatedly at the end. 
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated