You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Stephen King’s “You Like It Darker” is my favorite short story collection of his so far. While most short story collections have a few stories that don’t quite hit the mark for me, this one stands out. It’s a dark and creepy collection that made me cringe, gasp in terror, and even feel sad.
To highlight some of my favorite stories, “The Fifth Step” resonated with my past work as a substance abuse therapist, but the ending was absolutely mind-blowing! “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” the longest story in the collection, is incredibly creative and kept me on the edge of my seat with every page turn. “Rattlesnakes” is a story that will linger in my mind for a long time. I especially enjoyed the return to “Cujo” and “Duma Key,” two of King’s exceptional novels.
This collection of stories is a perfect blend of entertainment, shock, and horror. It’s the ideal book to spend time with during the upcoming spooky reading season.
I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
http://abookandadog.com/blog/you-like-it-darker
To highlight some of my favorite stories, “The Fifth Step” resonated with my past work as a substance abuse therapist, but the ending was absolutely mind-blowing! “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” the longest story in the collection, is incredibly creative and kept me on the edge of my seat with every page turn. “Rattlesnakes” is a story that will linger in my mind for a long time. I especially enjoyed the return to “Cujo” and “Duma Key,” two of King’s exceptional novels.
This collection of stories is a perfect blend of entertainment, shock, and horror. It’s the ideal book to spend time with during the upcoming spooky reading season.
I have photos and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
http://abookandadog.com/blog/you-like-it-darker
Two Talented Bastids - 3.5/5 Not bad not great.
Fifth Step - 5/5 Creep gallore. This is classic King. Dreadful in the best way.
Willie the Weirdo - 5/5 Vague in it's *weirdness* but leaves you guessing, wondering, scratching the surface until the very end.
Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream 6/5 - Perfectly New King™, no notes of critique. I read it twice in a row. It's pretty obvious King is focusing a lot on the meaning of death in his new work. His themes tend to have eras or phases and I predict we will see stories like this cooked up for awhile. He's fascinated by it and in all likelihood tormented too. This story fully encapsulates that.
Finn - 4/5 I enjoyed it but it's not perfect. I have a lot of questions, and not all of them are great. When King brings kids into his world of good vs evil, you know it's going to be nothing shy of ambiguous and.. utterly depressing.
On Slide Inn Road - 5/5 LFG, who would have thought? No really, who. would. have. thought? Me in my Full Dark, No Stars era is screaming.
Red Screen - 5/5 immediately a re read. This is old school short story King. Reminiscent of some of my absolute favorites. Explores what I love to see the most in his short stories; you have dread, you have good vs evil, you have the gray area between content and absolutely out-of-your-mind, the inner workings of a consciousness going through... Stuff.... Amplify the stuff over and over into this ultra-short read that has left me wanting more. Give me a deteriorating ego topped with existential dread, and don't forget a drizzle of the Old King™ (plus or minus a covid mention). This is probably the shortest story in the book but it will propel us through his mind as he enters his next phase of life. We are Night Shift modern times with this one, folks.
The Turbulence Expert - 5/5 this was published in Flight or Fright with Bev Vincent in 2018 and was overshadowed by several other stories. (Lest we not forget I had a short Twitter convo with Bev several years ago and we geeked out about King). I'm not surprised he added it here though. It's an episode of The Twilight Zone. It pains me to recommend it when I want everyone to read Flight or Fright in it's entirety.
Laurie - 3.5/5 clearly a prologue to the next story in this collection. This was oddly feel-good and a previously published but newly edited one-off from Elevation. It is what it is but it pairs better with
Rattlesnakes - 5/5 this is a sequel to Cujo, I highly recommend it if you enjoyed that story at all. This won't pack a big enough punch if you've never read Cujo, and King threw in a plethora of Duma Key as well. This is probably the scariest in the short story collection. I kept thinking of Pet Sematary in the creep factor. Absolutely brilliant. This man's mind is a wonder.
The Dreamers - 5/5 I don't really know what to say about this until I re read it. The ending is satisfying and I'll be re reading it soon.
The Answer Man - 7/5 Have I already claimed one of these stories is the best of them all? Probably, but this is the best of them all. I devoured this and it's nonsensical madness. You'll live an entire life with the MC and the consequences of his actions - which aren't to say they're entirely negative. Like I said before, we are in a new King era and he is fascinated by death and what comes from it... With it? we get a healthy dose of that here.
King is my favorite author and everyone that knows me knows my reviews might be slightly biased. But your brain isn't always logical and sometimes you have to contend with the repercussions of a festering idea. Please read this and enjoy it with me.
Fifth Step - 5/5 Creep gallore. This is classic King. Dreadful in the best way.
Willie the Weirdo - 5/5 Vague in it's *weirdness* but leaves you guessing, wondering, scratching the surface until the very end.
Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream 6/5 - Perfectly New King™, no notes of critique. I read it twice in a row. It's pretty obvious King is focusing a lot on the meaning of death in his new work. His themes tend to have eras or phases and I predict we will see stories like this cooked up for awhile. He's fascinated by it and in all likelihood tormented too. This story fully encapsulates that.
Finn - 4/5 I enjoyed it but it's not perfect. I have a lot of questions, and not all of them are great. When King brings kids into his world of good vs evil, you know it's going to be nothing shy of ambiguous and.. utterly depressing.
On Slide Inn Road - 5/5 LFG, who would have thought? No really, who. would. have. thought? Me in my Full Dark, No Stars era is screaming.
Red Screen - 5/5 immediately a re read. This is old school short story King. Reminiscent of some of my absolute favorites. Explores what I love to see the most in his short stories; you have dread, you have good vs evil, you have the gray area between content and absolutely out-of-your-mind, the inner workings of a consciousness going through... Stuff.... Amplify the stuff over and over into this ultra-short read that has left me wanting more. Give me a deteriorating ego topped with existential dread, and don't forget a drizzle of the Old King™ (plus or minus a covid mention). This is probably the shortest story in the book but it will propel us through his mind as he enters his next phase of life. We are Night Shift modern times with this one, folks.
The Turbulence Expert - 5/5 this was published in Flight or Fright with Bev Vincent in 2018 and was overshadowed by several other stories. (Lest we not forget I had a short Twitter convo with Bev several years ago and we geeked out about King). I'm not surprised he added it here though. It's an episode of The Twilight Zone. It pains me to recommend it when I want everyone to read Flight or Fright in it's entirety.
Laurie - 3.5/5 clearly a prologue to the next story in this collection. This was oddly feel-good and a previously published but newly edited one-off from Elevation. It is what it is but it pairs better with
Rattlesnakes - 5/5 this is a sequel to Cujo, I highly recommend it if you enjoyed that story at all. This won't pack a big enough punch if you've never read Cujo, and King threw in a plethora of Duma Key as well. This is probably the scariest in the short story collection. I kept thinking of Pet Sematary in the creep factor. Absolutely brilliant. This man's mind is a wonder.
The Dreamers - 5/5 I don't really know what to say about this until I re read it. The ending is satisfying and I'll be re reading it soon.
The Answer Man - 7/5 Have I already claimed one of these stories is the best of them all? Probably, but this is the best of them all. I devoured this and it's nonsensical madness. You'll live an entire life with the MC and the consequences of his actions - which aren't to say they're entirely negative. Like I said before, we are in a new King era and he is fascinated by death and what comes from it... With it? we get a healthy dose of that here.
King is my favorite author and everyone that knows me knows my reviews might be slightly biased. But your brain isn't always logical and sometimes you have to contend with the repercussions of a festering idea. Please read this and enjoy it with me.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
slow-paced
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I'm not a huge fan of short stories (although some of these are not that short) - they always feel a little lacking in detail and I don't have time to connect with the characters, so I don't care what happens to them - so I didn't particularly like this book.
Some stories are so "meh", I could live without them. But the last three stories, especially the last one, are perfect and exactly what you expect from Stephen King.
Some stories are so "meh", I could live without them. But the last three stories, especially the last one, are perfect and exactly what you expect from Stephen King.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Terminal illness, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes