A review by kierano
You Like It Darker by Stephen King

4.0

Ranking All 12 Stories in Stephen King’s Latest Collection: ‘You Like It Darker’

I’m roughly nine months late with this, but new Stephen King books are precious things to me and I only dive into them when I’m good and ready. You Like It Darker is King’s most recent tome and is a collection of short stories and novellas that range from gruesome snapshots of grisly crimes to lengthy introspections on grief (complete with a ghost or two).

Even the ‘worst’ of these stories isn’t a complete waste of time, and the best serve as continued proof that King is one of the greatest writers who ever lived. Regardless, enjoy this numbered list. No spoilers, of course.

12. Finn

I don’t know what convinced Stephen King that he should write a story set in Ireland—I wonder if he even knows himself—but it just didn’t work. I’ll admit that much of what didn’t work was that King doesn’t know enough about the small idiosyncrasies of daily Irish life for his normally sharp characterisations to be worth anything. Every time he got something wrong—a speech pattern; the colour of our currency—it ruined my immersion in the story.

The concept itself isn’t that bad. It’s a zippy tale about a young man—Finn—cursed with a shocking case of bad luck that has followed him his entire life, culminating in a case of mistaken identity that might cost him his life. King is great at writing characters put in unjust situations (more on that later), and the story presented a tidy little arc for Finn…

But the character’s voice and the small details that King kept getting wrong simply ruined the experience for me. It’s likely that if you’re not Irish you won’t have as bad a time with this one as I did, but I’m still confident in placing this at the bottom of the pile. 

Full Review: 
https://www.kieran-obrien.com/post/ranking-all-12-stories-in-stephen-king-s-latest-collection-you-like-it-darker