A new collection of four never-before-published stories from Stephen King.
1922
The story opens with the confession of Wilfred James to the murder of his wife, Arlette, following their move to Hemingford, Nebraska onto land willed to Arlette by her father.
Big Driver
Mystery writer, Tess, has been supplementing her writing income for years by doing speaking engagements with no problems. But following a last-minute invitation to a book club 60 miles away, she takes a shortcut home with dire consequences.
Fair Extension
Harry Streeter, who is suffering from cancer, decides to make a deal with the devil but, as always, there is a price to pay.
A Good Marriage
Darcy Anderson learns more about her husband of over twenty years than she would have liked to know when she stumbles literally upon a box under a worktable in their garage. (Goodreads)
This was a page turner!! A psychological thriller with characters that could very well be me or you. An average run of the mill person faced into a traumatic situation, then the inner psyche goes bananas. Here, Mr. King tackles four scenarios.
A very intriguing read but because it is dark, be prepared to feel a bitter after taste.
Here's my brief take on each story:
1922: An otherwise decent man that just ended up having one too many screw loose. Interesting storyline and drawing characters. An overall feel of seeing an episode from The Twilight Zone TV show.
The Big Driver: I found this to be the most disturbing of the four stories. That kind of violation always gets under my skin. But Tess did something totally different from the norm. A vendetta story that turned very ugly!
Fair Extension: Clever title and the shortest of the four novellas. I did not like Harry. A very selfish man but he made a profound point in the end about human fairness ...awful but some people believe it.
A Good Marriage: This one enthralled me. Darcy found out that her husband lives a double life. Twenty seven years together and she had no clue. What should she do now? Leading up to what she ended up doing was a nail biting read.
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Glad you liked this one. I also thought Big Driver & A Good Marriage were the best stories of the book. It was certainly a dark set of stories but oddly enough there was a touch of macabre humour in them, too. I'm anxiously awaiting King's next book, 11/22/63 out next month.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I'll have to check into that new book! Thanks for the heads up ... and I learned a new word ..macabre ..you're right this book did have that kind of humor. ;) ~Thanks for stoppin' by Teacher/Learner.
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