A review by bruinrocks
Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

This collection of short stories started off real strong with some of Stephen King’s most atmospheric stories with characters that I found I cared for and wondered what would happen to them as the stories went on. As I neared the end I found the stories to start becoming a little nonsensical and I had a hard time following that last 5-6 stories. Some of the standouts were The Raft, one of King’s most claustrophobic stories, 4 kids stuck on a raft, a monster lurks in the water, what will become of them? The Monkey was another really strong one that was very unsettling and creepy, a monkey that bangs cymbals, each time he does bad things happen, read it to find out what. Survivor Type, King’s most grisly story, a man stuck on a pile of rocks in the middle of the ocean with no means of escape or hope for help, hunger sets in, how hungry can a man get? Mrs. Todd’s Shortcut, a beautiful imaginative romp through a mysterious world, finding ways to get from Point A to Point B in the shortest way possible, but is it really possible? The Jaunt, King’s version of a space sci-fi, jump on the Jaunt and have a look for yourself. 

I’d recommend this collection to any fan of Stephen King, and anyone looking for some grisly and atmospheric horror stories. Not for the ones with a weak stomach, this collection gets messy. 

Overall I give this collection a 3/5. The performances were exceptional some really good narration in this collection, with only a few weak ones sprinkled throughout. The writing of the stories varied in quality with some of King’s best work, but also some of his worst, with the last 5-6 stories being fairly uninteresting and hard to follow. 
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