A review by jayneyh314
Danse Macabre by Stephen King

dark informative medium-paced

4.0

“Danse Macabre” explores the horror genre as a whole; from film and TV to books and radio, King analyses it all in his own inimitable fashion. 

I don’t know what happened here. I read “Danse Macabre” back in May and I wrote a review but it doesn’t appear that I ever actually posted that review on my blog or on StoryGraph and it’s now gone so I’ve had to go again! 

I wouldn’t ever claim to be a horror aficionado, I do like some things that would fit into this genre but not others. King’s passion for the genre absolutely shines through here though and he has given me food for thought as to some books and films to check out. 

The book section particularly interested me as this is obviously a big passion of mine. 

There was also a section towards the end where he discusses the link between the horror genre and criminals, particularly killers. King himself has removed a book from publication, “Rage”, due to its supposed links to perpetrators of mass shootings. Generally, I agree with his take that people who are going to kill will do so regardless of what books and films they see. They may take ideas as to the manner of that murder from the horror genre but that doesn’t mean we should be banning things. 

Overall, I did enjoy this, my one complaint would be that sometimes it was a little too detailed for me but that probably wouldn’t be the case for some big horror fans.