You Like It Darker

I am a fan of Mister King, & have devoured his books as all other "Constant Readers" have. Really enjoy his short story collections, so purchased this in advance to receive the hard back version on day of wide release (yep, I'm old). Every story is good, most are great, his attention to detail in a concise manner has gotten better with each compilation. This book has wonderfully written, beautiful prose, & (of course) frightening tales (many are not supernatural conventional ghost stories, the reality of our world poses natural fear, predatory creatures (snakes and alligators anyone?), but mostly the monsters posing as people. Hard times lately, fearsome thinking--I NEEDED this book, & consider it a privilege to have been able to enjoy it. In the afterword, King wrote that several of these stories had been languishing in an old chest, mostly forgotten until brought to his attention by friend/family that encouraged him to finish/flesh out these individual tales, & God bless 'em for that...keep digging, I may have to get a larger bookcase to accomodate my collection (my friends), would love to add another 50 or so to my shelves. Fornit Sum Fornis, Godspeed to you, Mr. King, & thank you for continuing to write & publish.....

• When a man dreams of a dead body, he anonymously gives the exact location of the murder victim. However, because of the psychic phenomenon, now he is the number one suspect of a corrupt investigation.

  • A man kills his wife in cold blood. Stabs her three times. His defense? That wasn’t my wife, it was…something else.

  • When a man’s father passes away, he leaves behind an unusual secret, revealing what really happened on that annual hunting trip in the Fall of 1978. Gifts are never earned, only given from the mind-altering “deadlights”.

  You Like It Darker by Stephen King is his newest collection of creepiness. From an organization whose job is to keep airplanes safe, to a deadly infestation of rattlesnakes, to a complete stranger and his icepick, King wedges into the reader’s imagination and nerve-endings. His twisted tales of terror seem to always have an underlying morbid moral agenda. Such as, “bad things happens to kids sometimes” or “we always think that there’s time, then time runs out.” All of these stories have an unexpected eerinesses in common that only the Twilight Zone can hold a creepy candle to.

  What can you say about Stephen King that hasn’t already been said. His tales of growing up with childhood friends, his infatuation with death and of course his psychopathic villains, they’re all here. Also included are those subtle tie-ins from past stories, like Castle Rock, Duma Key and of course that precious St. Bernard named Cujo, they’re all here too. I don’t know about you, but when there’s a new King book I drop everything to see what Dirty Deeds have been Done Dirt Cheap.

  Shock, terror and an impending sense of doom…do you like it darker? If you do, pay attention to that seatbelt sign, buckle up and bring out the airsick bag, King’s plane ride is gonna have some horrifying turbulence. Until next review…see ya later alligators. A Horror Bookworm Recommendation.

Most non-fans of Mr. King think of him as a horror writer (usually thinking of gore - which he does very well), and are unaware he gave the world The Green Mile, (Rita Hayworth and) The Shawshank Redemption, Dolores Claiborne, and (The Body) Stand By Me. When I was a bookstore owner, I used those as a comeback to the countless customers who told me they did not like King's writing. In this set of stories "Two Talented Bastids" is wonderful literature masquerading as a bit of SciFi. I wish I were very wealthy so I could buy movie rights to this one, as that would be an excellent investment. I'm sure many "friends of Bill" will not like what Mr. King has done for the 12 Steps in "The Fifth Step," but I found it to be an extremely funny look at an idea. The main character here is going to have real problems when it comes to making amends, though. "Willie the Wierdo" actually is a horror story, but it is also close to Jacob's hundred-plus year old classic "The Monkey's Paw". "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream" is another I would love to have enough money to invest in the movie/TV rights. It is going to be an excellent production. I could see exactly the right actors for the cast all the way through it. It is also the second story here that felt to me like exquisite writing. The story "Finn" reminds me very much of a Faustian idea I once had for writing a book, but I never got around to writing it. Thank you, Mr. King for doing the hard work for me. There is no horror or supernatural in "On Slide Inn Road". It is just a very good, very tight action short story that is very satisfying. Mr. King gives a nod to O'Connor, so I guess I'll have to try reading some. "Red Screen" is a brief glimpse into a world and some characters that you know how things are going to be, but you want it to go on anyway to find out how right or wrong you are. I have to say "The Turbulence Expert" is one that just did not impress me all that much. It was an interesting idea, and I liked the characters, but it just did not take me anywhere. "Laurie" is a nice story that moves a little slowly, but that's ok because it doesn't seem to have anywhere that it wants to go. It just introduces you to some diverse characters that are very much like people in your neighborhood and family. There is a bit of excitement, but no horror or supernatural to it. "Rattlesnakes" is another that will be a good production, either movie or TV. Again I would be willing to invest in the rights for it. It comes with a tip of the hat to John D. McDonald, who is another writer whose every work I read voraciously. This one does drift into the world of supernatural and good versus evil, but not as heavily as some of Mr. King's gargantuan novels. It brings back a character from Cujo in a setting close-by Duma Key, but you don't need to have read either of those to enjoy it (to be honest, I did not recall the character actually making an appearance in Cujo). The TV/movie script will be enormously bolstered by the very real, likable ancillary characters that work throughout this novella. "The Dreamers" was an interesting idea, but for whatever reason it did not do it for me. I really liked, and felt for the narrator, but the story left me flat. I did not grasp Mr. King's reference to Cormac McCarthy, whose beautiful prose in horrific, sometimes painful to read stories, I love. The advice to performing artists is to "Always leave 'em wanting more." And Mr. King certainly does that with "The Answer Man" as the finale for this publication. As a better reviewer remarked this story "reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful." At the conclusion of this beautifully written piece, you definitely want more while at the same time it gives a great feeling of satisfaction. And that is good writing!

King gives us a good mix of story lengths, with each story exactly the length it should be. Some of these tales bite quick and hard; others slowly gnaw at you while you stare, unable to look away. Like many of his works, he seems to draw heavily from his own experiences and a sense of mortality seems to run through these stories more intensely than his previous fare. Some of the characters are older and King writes about them in knowing ways that only someone his age could. There are nods to past works, including a character with ties to Cujo, and a set of twin ghosts (boys this time). This is also no surprise as King has often had Easter eggs in the form of overlapping locations or characters throughout his books. It makes them feel familiar and lends solidness to the scenery without being repetitive or serial. When I finish a new King book, I’m always afraid it will be the last one. This was no different. You Like It Darker sucked me in and left me hungry for more.

"Republican-leaning hicks from the sticks." And, a character surmising that Kamal Harris' body has been taken over by an alien mind, waiting for amtrack Joe to croak and gain the levers of power. A few other just as benign political references can be found throughout but nothing over the top. If I want politics I'll go to the current affairs authors. Those of us constant readers who have been put off by some of Mr. King's recent Trump bashing infested offerings but kept buying his books can be more than pleased with this collection. While there were some leanings into horror, this is not one one that will keep you up at night from fright, but maybe to keep reading through to the end. With music, sometimes one song is worth the cost of the CD. While all the stories here are well written and enjoyable, 'Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream' might could have sold on its own, my favorite. Whether you have never read King or you're another constant reader, you just might enjoy this collection.

I feel like I've made this comment before, but it's hard not to think about how much Stephen King is aging as you read his recent works, which are increasingly aware of King's impending mortality and questions of what he will leave behind - and those questions are undeniably present throughout many of the stories (and, not coincidentally, the best stories) in You Like It Darker, a collection of short fiction and novellas. The most notable here is "Rattlesnakes," which finds us revisiting Vic Trenton from Cujo in the present, many years removed from the events of that book, but nonetheless haunted by them as he moves into a Florida neighborhood and encounters an elderly woman who pushes around a stroller to carry what she claims to be her twin boys - boys who died decades ago. "Rattlesnakes" is undeniably a horror tale - perhaps the most effective in the book - but it's also a fascinating reminder of that character and a thoughtful take on what might have happened to him in the many years since, to say nothing of being a portrait of parents left dealing with the scar tissue left behind when a child dies. It's an affecting, unsettling tale, and single-handed justifies the collection, even though there are plenty of other solid entries here. "Two Talented Bastids," for instance, takes a look at how "regular" people become geniuses, and while the tale itself is a good one, orbiting around a young man in the aftermath of the death of his famous author father, it's the kicker that turns it into something special, giving us a rough ending that hurts in a wholly unexpected way. Meanwhile, "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream" is a great premise that fits perfectly into its novella length, delivering a supernatural premise that feels like a spiritual cousin to both King's own The Outsider but also to Les Miserables's iconic Javert, pacing out some great suspense and strangeness along the way. You Like It Darker is full of solid tales, and if the others beyond this one are never quite "essential," they're also never bad at all - King is too capable of a writer for that, and his imagination is still as fresh and rich here as it ever has been, whether he's delivering a tribute to Flannery O'Connor in "On Slide Inn Road" or digging into the questions of fate in "The Answer Man." It's the perfect literary equivalent of Selznick's "three good scenes, no bad ones" approach to filmmaking; while it won't make the top tier of King's works, it's still a great piece of entertainment, and gives us a few classics - especially "Bastids" and "Rattlesnakes" - to more than justify your time.

I am a fan of Stephen King's writing - Especially his short stories. I just finished his latest short story collection "You Like It Darker". The book has some very short stories such as "The Turbulence Expert" or "Red Screen" and some longer stories such as "Rattlesnakes". The shorter stories get developed quicker and are focused on one concept, though you may not know where the story is going until you've half way through it. The longer stories let the terror and horror build up more slowly and are more multi-dimensional. I enjoy both.

One thing I appreciate in a Stephen King story is that you really don't know where the plot is headed for after the first few pages so instead of trying to puzzle the upcoming events out, you just hang on for the ride.

Some stories are about seemingly mundane things - The kind of thing that you might learn about on the evening news - But now you know the rest of the story. And in some stories like "The Dreamers" you get a glimpse of something terrible behind our day to day experiences and hope you never encounter that.

One of the things that makes many of these stories "work" is that the main character is seemingly an ordinary person like you or me. But that person has an unusual encounter that brings them to the brink of destruction like in "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream". There are relatively few "heroes" in this book - Mostly are average seeming people experiencing extraordinary things but usually finding a way to survive their brush with the darker side of our universe.

Stephen King was born 3 years before me and I am now 74. If you are a senior you will recognize the aches and pains and difficulties of being older in some of the characters in the story. For me that rings true. But that doesn't mean most of the main characters in the story are all elderly - But it does mean that some are, at least at some point in their story.

Several stories explore the concept of "Do you really want to know?" Such as what if you dreamed you knew exactly where a murder victim was buried - How would you let the authorities know? And then what would happen? (Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream). If you could take a peek on the other side of our "reality" would you, should you? (The Dreamers). If you encountered "The Answer Man"what questions would you ultimately want answered? Or even why has my spouse become so cranky? (Red Screen).

I very much enjoyed this latest book by Stephen King. Its not my most favorite - Nightmares and Dreamscapes Is my favorite. But its enjoyable in that Steven King sort of way if you enjoy stories that start off like "real life" but somehow take a turn from the ordinary into a gripping tale. I do recommend the book if you like the genre.

Overall, I really liked most of the short stories in this book. They are classic Stephen King- always gnawing at something unpleasant that's under the surface. With some of these short stories, that unpleasantness is a typical monster/ghost/ghoul, in other cases the biggest antagonist is sometimes is the character themselves- in terms of their personality or flaws that get in the way of their story.

Before going into the individual stories- one thing that has bothered me about the last few Stephen King books is the fact that he continues to bring up Covid. In several stories within this book, Covid comes up and plays some role in the story, sometimes minor, sometimes just mentioned and nothing more. I wish that King would stop doing this. I read Stephen King to escape from the horrors of real-life, and I really would prefer to move on from that two years of my life- and not have to read about it within the short stories/novels that I read, especially from King.

My favorite short story within this book really wasn't scary at all- Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream. In this story, a man dreams of finding a dead body- then ventures out and finds it exactly where it was in his dream. He then finds himself in a situation where he's struggling to prove that he isn't the killer- as his dream starts to derail his whole life. This was an excellent story- kinda in the genre of King's true-crime novels. It's one of the longest stories within this book- but it was a very quick read because I couldn't put it down.

Another favorite was Rattlesnakes- which is typical King horror. You'll meet a character that connects with a novel from King's early years- and that alone added a lot to the story line. The only thing that I didn't like abou this one was the whole Covid thing that came up a few times.

The Answer Man was the final story- and it was also enjoyable. Not scary at all- but interesting and engaging nonetheless. As a bonus, King talks about that short story a bit in his afterword.

If you are a King fan, this won't disappoint. I've struggled with a few of his short story collections- losing interest or putting it down for a few weeks between readings. Not this one- it keeps your interest and you really are able to connect with the characters. It's worth a read.