This time We luckily have four fantastic stories in our hands, and the best part Is that one of them belongs to Holly Gibney! After Mercedes Man trilogy and Outsiders, I already missed the character and welcomed her with open arms.
This book brings back the joy of reading old-school King stories and a solid four stars. I ’m not big on short stories or novellas, I never have been. Primarily because if I drop into the fictive dream and I ’m enjoying the story I t ends too soon and I feel shorted. I
make the exception with King. I ’m still working my way through his short work. I started readinghis short work with Full Dark No Stars, what a great bevy of short stories.
If It Bleeds is comprised of our novellas, the first of which is Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. This one is
standard fare from King; I enjoyed it. For me, it was a tad predictable and not as creative as I’d come to expect from him.
The next one, all on Its own, was worth the price of admission. That’s t the way It goes sometimes. The Life of Chuck is excellent. It is creative not only in concept but in structure as
well, a true mind-bender with the comparison of the multitude of thoughts to the number of stars in the universe. For me It was stunning.
The third one, the title of the compilation, If It Bleeds, hit a sour note for me, a dud. This is the one t that kept the book from five-star status. It almost felt like King was writing a new novel, lost interest, waved his magic wand and called it a novella. Part of the problem, I think, is that the conflict wasn’t set well enough early enough. He didn’t catch my attention until the mole showed up, which was too far into the story.
The fourth and final storey, Rat, is back to the standard King fare. I enjoyed it and stayed up late
into the night to finish it. Again, this is a well-used trope that King breathed new life into.
These stories are not gory and are more haunting than horror. I recommend this one.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson Series.