AUTHOR-Stephen King
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
PRICE-$6.35
After watching the film versions of "A Good Marriage" and "Big Driver",I wanted to re-read this collection of 4 novellas.I got this originally as soon as the paperback was out. After the Dark Tower series ended,I have gotten where I wait on the paperbacks of King's books. Plus for the past 20 years I have found his short stories and novellas the best stuff he has done.
In a few interviews King was doing to promote the book he talked about how he had wanted to write some darker stuff.And talked about how much he enjoys reading Jack Ketchum. That desire to write darker stuff comes through in the 4 novellas and one short story in this collection.
1922 is the first novella in the collection. Set in Nebraska in 1922,it is about a man who's wife wants him to sell off their farmland and move to a big city. He doesn't want to do this. And convinces his son to help him kill the wife.
After she is killed the body is dumped in an old abandoned well. Which fills with rats.The husband believes the dead wife is haunting him. And a series of bad things happen to him and his son.
I like that this story is set in the town Mother Abigal in the Stand was from. Plus IIRC one of the kids in IT moved to this town when he grew up. Overall this is a well done story. It feels very Edgar Allen Poe inspired.
Big Driver is the second novella.Tess is an author of mystery novels. And her fanbase is mostly elderly women.She goes to a small town library to give a speech. And one of the ladies gives her directions for a short cut. Of course this being a King story something has to happen.
While using the short cut,Tess's car hits some boards with nails and gets a flat. She has no idea how to change the tire. And there is no cell signal out there,so she has to wait on someone to drive by. Finally a huge man in a truck stops and offers to help. While he is trying to change the tire,Tess notices boards with nails in them in the back of his truck.
He then attacks,rapes and then leaves Tess for dead in a drainage ditch. She escapes and plots her revenge.
This story really has a much darker feel that pretty much anything King has written since the mid 80s.This ended up being my second favorite story in the book.
Fair Extension is next.And it is a twist on the normal sell your soul to the devil. It is a nice dark comedy. And King is decent at writing that kind of stuff.
The final novella is my favorite,A Good Marriage. This is King's fictionalized version of the BTK killer story.
A wife discovers her husband is a fairly infamous serial killer. And then plots out his death.
Last year this was made into a film. And I am not surprised. It has a very cinematic feel. And is my favorite novella King has written.
And only in the paperback we get a short story. Under the weather is the title of it. It is fairly short and has a twist I called 1 page in. But not a bad story.
Full Dark,No Stars gets a 4.87 outta 5
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