Book Review: Just After Sunset by Stephen King

I'd like to start by saying that I'm not a big fan of short stories. There never seems to be enough time to develop anything. However, I also love Stephen King, so I found myself reading a book of his short stories thinking that it would probably be ok as one great would more than cancel out the bad. For the most part it was a great book. There were only a couple of the stories that didn't please me as much as they could have...had they been developed and expanded into full size books. So I'll give a short wrap-up of each one, but I don't want to give too much away.


1. Willa was a nice short little story to get the blood flowing and the eyes working. It was sweet and happy with a bit of sadness tossed in for flavor.

2. The Gingerbread Girl is a story of running, and how running can either save you or...well...not save you I guess. A woman finds herself pitted against quite a psycho.

3. Harvey's dream left me with one question....What? I totally missed the point on this one.

4. Rest Stop was one of the best in the book. A look at what would you do if you found yourself in a situation you needed to handle, but weren't sure if you could.

5. Stationary Bike was another excellent one, where imagination meets reality and a man may have gone too far trying to get into shape.

6. The Things They Left Behind was touching and moving, but it left me wondering What? agian. It was well written, but the topic deserved to have more to it than just a short story.

7. Graduation Afternoon is a great start for a book. It reads almost as if King started to write one and then stopped after the first chapter.

8. N. is probably my favorite in the book and actually kept me up late to finish. Good old fashioned Stephen King horror.

9. The Cat From Hell had me laughing, but I don't think I was supposed to. (Richard you will not want to read this one.)

10. The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates is one I hardy even remember reading. A story about moving on and accepting death.

11. Mute was very entertaining if predictable. What happens when you confess your innermost thoughts to a hitchhiker that you think is deaf and mute? Well, let me tell you it isn't what you expect.

12. Ayana reminded a bit of The Green Mile. A story of healing and miracles.

13. A Very Tight Place is probably my second favorite in the book. A good old fashioned suspense about a neighbor that takes his frustrations out on his gay neighbor...but maybe the tables will end up being turned.

So, there you have it. It wasn't a waste of time, but I would have ripped some of those pages out had I been the editor. But if I did that then we wouldn't have the magical number of thirteen stories!

3.5/5