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A review by matt2thefuture
Four Past Midnight by Stephen King
3.0
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.
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.