Book #4 of 2024: Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse edited by John Joseph Adams This 2008 anthology collects 22 short stories about life after various apocalyptic scenarios, all but one of which had been previously published elsewhere (although Stephen King’s plague journal “The End of the Whole Mess” was the only entry I’d read before). …
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Book #110 of 2023: Holly by Stephen King This is the sixth Stephen King story to feature private investigator Holly Gibney, following the Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes; Finders Keepers; End of Watch), the novel The Outsider, and the novella If It Bleeds. The previous three entries all found that protagonist and her friends facing …
Book #141 of 2022: Fairy Tale by Stephen King This new portal fantasy from Stephen King is fine, but its tale of an ordinary kid finding his way into a magical world is not exactly breaking fresh ground for the author of such works as The Waste Lands or The Talisman. There’s also an awful …
Book #38 of 2022: Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar (The Button Box #3) I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed this latest Stephen King / Richard Chizmar collaboration, given how I was generally lukewarm on the authors’ original Gwendy’s Button Box and cared even less for Chizmar’s solo followup Gwendy’s …
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Book #239 of 2021: Billy Summers by Stephen King I really enjoy the first section of this crime thriller about a hitman with a conscience, detailing the slow build-up to his intended last kill. Enmeshed for weeks in a community while waiting for his target to arrive, he’s able to construct two alternate identities for …
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Book #72 of 2021: Later by Stephen King This new novel from author Stephen King finds the horror master at his creepiest, blending a ghost story, a coming-of-age journey, and a crime thriller with the usual aplomb. Our child protagonist can see and speak with the recently deceased, not all of whom are necessarily friendly, …
Book #176 of 2020: The Running Man by Richard Bachman I still love the propulsive adrenaline rush of this pseudonymous Stephen King dystopian piece, but I had forgotten just how needlessly steeped in bigotry it is. Presumably in an effort to make his protagonist more of a hard case, the author has him think and …
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Book #105 of 2020: If It Bleeds by Stephen King The latest Stephen King release is a collection of four unrelated novellas, probably not the best introduction to his style but definitely worthwhile for existing fans. My individual mini-reviews below: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. This story about a boy’s elderly neighbor getting his first smartphone is …
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Book #243 of 2019: Full Throttle by Joe Hill I don’t really know what to do with this latest Joe Hill collection. My average rating over its thirteen short stories is a 3-out-of-5 stars, but the most common score that I’d give to the individual entries would be a 2. Overall, I guess it’s a …
Book #213 of 2019: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King Given a recent string of underwhelming titles, I decided to revisit this old favorite of mine. It was the first Stephen King book that I ever read, and it got me hooked on the author at a stage when I didn’t feel brave …
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