Children of the Corn (Kindle Single) (A Vintage Short)Kindle

Children of the Corn was not a short story I expected to be so taken by, especially considering the almost dated relationship between Vicky and Burt. However, as the pages continued to flow I found myself growing more entranced by the concept, characters, and He Who Walks Behind The Rows.

This is a must-read if you're looking for a horror story that's short, concise, and scratches that eldritch itch you've been having.

I have read many of Stephen King’s novels, but I hate to say, in all my years of King reading, this was the first of his short stories I’ve ever read. I wasn’t let down! The action begins almost immediately, with Burt and Vicky running down a teen who springs from the cornfield as they travel down a lonely Nebraska highway. Of course, it wasn’t the car that would’ve killed this poor, hapless creature……

You get a sense and a feel for the characters right off the bat. An argumentative, unhappily-married couple who’ve lost the luster in a short time. For someone who’s been happily married for decades, King always does a fine job writing frustrated men who seem ready for their wives to keel over at anytime. I haven’t seen the movie version since I was a kid, so there was no Peter Horton or Linda Hamilton in my brain as I read this. I envisioned two different people, completely divorced from a film representation.

I won’t give spoilers (I must say this in every review I write), and I haven’t seen the movie in a LONG time (I’ll have to check it out soon), but I don’t think the story ends quite the same way.

Creepy kids, rows of corn (King’s description of the stalks, the wind, and smells of the crop) bring it all alive as if you’re there), and religion-gone-wrong. A great read.

I’m about to re-read Carrie for the first time in years, and with so much of King’s work out there, I feel like it will take the rest of my life to make a dent in his bibliography.