I was going to read this as one of my "Cat on the Cover" themed reads, but, as you can see, this is the wrong edition. So it's here in my short fiction theme instead.
This is the latest compilation of novellas by King. He has of course done this several times now starting with Different Seasons, and they're normally very good collections.
I say "the latest" as if it's a new book, when of course it came out in early 2020 and the author's note at the end is dated 2019. The date of writing did lead to a bit of dissonance in one of the stories where the chapters' headings are the dates - set in late 2020 - and there's no mention of what we all know happened. It was only momentary, It made me check the copyright page, and with a brief mental note that King might be a genius writer, but he's not psychic, I carried on with the book.
To be completely honest, the worst thing was it made me realise how long this book has been sat in my TBR... I really need a spare 376 and a bit years with nothing to do but read.
Anyway - 4 novellas, kicking off with Mr Harrigan's Phone. This is King at his folksiest. Craig is a young boy growing up in small small small-town USA. Thanks to his reading in church, he's invited to read for a local newcomer who owns the big house on the hill. Mr Harrigan is is a curmudgeonly old geezer who just happens to be a multi millionaire recently retired businessman. He also doesn't know about technology and it's up to Craig to show him how a first gen iPhone works. Naturally, this being King, something bad is going to happen. Old Mr Harrigan dies and is buried with the iPhone Craig gifted him. When Craig phones him, things happen. is it coincidence or are strange things happening from beyond the grave?
This story is low on incident even by King's standards but is a nice enough opener with good characters we can can care about, and some dark overtones.
The Life of Chuck -This isn't so much a novella as three tenuously linked short stories placed in reverse order to chart a few incidents in the life of Chuck from his death to early childhood. the first of these stories is one of my favourite things I've read from King. A slow apocalypse is happening. the world seems to be ending piece by piece and people are just trying to get on with their lives. Meanwhile, there are billboards and adverts popping up everywhere thanking Chuck, but who the heck is Chuck? The depiction of people just trying to get on with their day as the world is literally falling apart around them is spot on. A million dead in Asia? sad. A hole's appeared in the high street so I'll have to drive the long way to work? Goddammit! Can this day get any worse?
The second of Chuck's stories is a great little character piece about a drummer in the street busking when a businessman (Chuck) in a suit starts dancing with a woman who just happens to be walking past. All three are painted in minute detail over the few pages that this story covers. Even as someone who detests dancing, I could feel the joy it gave the three characters in this bizarre interlude. bravo Mr King
The final part of Chuck's story goes back to his childhood and (almost) ties the three stories together into a coherent narrative. It tells of the room young Chuck must never enter in his grandparent's house. to say more would be spoilers.
Taken together, these three tales make a very surreal account of a man's life, but one that i adored reading.
If It Bleeds - The return of Holly Gibney and her first solo case. This really does need the reader to have read the Outsider first. If only for the very strong continuity between the stories, meaning that this gives a lot of spoilers for the Outsider.
The basic story is that there's another Outsider on the loose and Holly is on the case. This one has committed an atrocity in the opening chapter of the novella. Holly's recent experiences lead her to quickly deduce the identity of the killer, but now she needs to prove that her mad theories could possibly be true, and of course, stop this new monster from ever doing it again.
This is an exciting cat and mouse chase and the finale is a masterclass in how to build tension.
Rat - Stephen king's writer protagonists really need to stop going to remote cabins in the woods in the middle of winter to write their novels. It never seems to go well for them. In this iteration on the scenario, Drew Larson falls badly ill with flu, is trapped in the middle of the largest storm in years and encounters a talking rat that offers him a Faustian pact. Like Misery, this is as much a story about the creative process as it is about the characters that King chooses to put through hell for our entertainment. It's a lot more playful than Misery though. It feels like King has tried to write a Grimm type fairy tale, but in his own unique style, and I loved it.
So overall, this book is low on horror, with only the title story really competing for that genre, but high on King's style and talent. and I read King for his style and talent. He could write in any genre and I would give it a chance. This collection is one I would recommend unreservedly. It's playful and surreal, charming and scary, occasionally moving and quite funny too when he wanted.
I really want to read the Bitter springs novel that Drew was writing in Rat as well...
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