A review by petersenftleben
Just After Sunset by Stephen King

3.0

All in all, I have to say I was pretty disappointed in this collection. Usually I'm a fan of SK's work, especially his shorter fiction. It's not an easy medium to work in, and he more often than not does a great job. But these stories just didn't do it for me, with the exception of a handful. King's novels tend to be a little...how shall I put this...wordy, and his typically economical stories felt more long-winded than usual here. I found most of them to be tedious ("Stationary Bike"), plodding ("Stationary Bike"), or frankly, unoriginal ("Stationary Bike"). How many drops can he squeeze out of the "art coming to life" concept? "Rest Stop" was completely unnecessary and pointless, "Harvey's Dream", "Graduation Afternoon", and "The Cat from Hell" were all pedestrian until the turns at the end, none of which were especially unexpected. "Willa" had a great atmosphere, though, and I thought "Gingerbread Girl" was a nice thriller. "The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates" was alright, and I thought "The Things They Left Behind" dealt with similar themes in a more compelling manner. "N.", while intriguing, could have used some paring down, which I find ironic considering SK's rule in "On Writing" is to cut 10% while editing.