Just After Sunset

Stephen King is the master of the short story. (Well, so is Bradbury, but still). Just After Sunset is his newest collection, the last thing of his to be released before his next epic, Under the Dome, comes out on November 10. There are thirteen tales this time around (and what a perfect number), each one a gem in of itself.

I'll just highlight a few this time. There's "The Things They Left Behind", which is sad and moving and very well done. There's the last of his old short stories, "The Cat from Hell", and it's got some loely over-the-top beats. "The Gingerbread Girl" feels like a short reworking of Duma Key, but with a female protagonist and no eerie paintings. Actually, it bears pretty much no resemblance to Duma Key. "A Very Tight Place" goes for the gross-out factor, being the story of a man fighting for survival whilst in a Port-O-San. And "N." is King's creepy masterpiece of the bunch, the one which, like "1408" in Everything's Eventual, will haunt your memory long after it has ended.

But that's less than half of the stories presented. There's a lot of enjoyment to be had in the reading here. King continually shows he is the master, and we would all do well to read some of his short stories.

My rating: 10/10

Coming Soon: More on my Top 25 List.