Reviews - Four Past Midnight

711 reviews for:

First off, I wish more authors did this. Collecting short stories or novellas. I love the format.

Four Past Midnight is a long read, but fun and flavorful. I did find it a bit of a mixed bag though.

The Langoliers is a wonder of a trip into another dimension with a movie-type stock cast but a great plot with a great payoff. Probably my favorite of the bunch.

I enjoyed Secret Window, Secret Garden less because I thought it telegraphed where it was headed far too much so that when it was over, I felt a little underwhelmed despite the apt antagonist that King created.

The Library Policeman was a step back up, a delightfully relatable tale for those of us who grew up with small town libraries. King does what he does, Kingifying it, and I really enjoyed the narrative and the character's traits even if the characters themselves weren't quite as interesting.

The Sun Dog brought up the tail end, dragging and wagging along. I found this one the least entertaining--a wonderful idea that got weighed down by slow pace and, again, a little too much telegraphing (I really enjoyed the ending epilogue though).

There's probably a reason we don't see this kind of effort more often. Novellas are hard to market, yet it's hard to argue against Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight. This latter doesn't live up to the former, but if you like King, or if you're looking for a little change of pace, I can recommend this one.

lmconway_ak's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

A good spooky read.

ladyfrances80's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

sams84's review against another edition

5.0

A stunning collection of novellas, I loved everyone of the stories in this collection although I think it helped that I havn't seen the film version of Secret Window. I still can't get on a plane without thinking of the Langoliers and I always make sure my library books are back in plenty of time. I must say the Sun Dog was the best of the four as the descriptions of each picture was fantastic and terrifying both at the same time. How glad was I when digital cameras came out...