You Like it Darker by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A thrilling collection of tales from the master of horror.

'You Like It Darker' is a horror thriller collection by Stephen King, featuring a novella, three novelettes, and eight short stories, plus a bonus short story, bringing the total to thirteen, for the paperback edition. Collected from shorts written for miscellaneous publications and new stories for the collection, including King delving into his own archive and returning to a story that remained unfinished for decades, we are treated to tales of serial killers, psychic phenomena, extraterrestrials and mad scientists, ghosts and creatures natural and unnatural. Featuring a variety of characters and visiting different locations and time periods, including revisiting the locale of Castle Rock more than once and including a sequel to one of his most-loved works, King explores horrors both extraordinary and everyday, those that may be supernatural in origin and others disturbingly human.

The four longer stories were amongst my personal favourites:

“Two Talented Bastids”
⭐⭐⭐⭐
The opening memoir ponders the question of how an artist finds inspiration, whether it is innate talent or if this gift is gifted by an external force, as the narrator looks back on the lives and careers of his father and his father’s friend, who both excelled in their artistic fields as a writer and painter respectively. A thought-provoking, retrospective tale.

“Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The novella of the collection revisits another of King’s signature tropes of psychic powers, as the eponymous Danny Coughlin dreams of the location of a murder victim’s body and then finds himself the lead suspect for her murder. Hounded by the detectives investigating the case, Danny’s life crumbles in a chilling story of obsession and injustice.

“Rattlesnakes”
⭐⭐⭐⭐
In a sequel to ‘Cujo’, many years after those horrific and tragic events, Vic Trenton is staying at Rattlesnake Key, having needed an escape from his everyday life. A sprawling narrative of death and grief, hauntings and persecution, this is tragic, moving and deliciously creepy. Duma Key, now largely underwater, also features, within view of Rattlesnake Key, adding to the nostalgia of this long-awaited emotional sequel to one of King’s early works of terror.

“The Answer Man”
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
In the poignant, thought-provoking final novelette of the collection, Phil Parker looks back on his past and the three times he encountered the mysterious Answer Man at crucial junctures in the tapestry of his life, pondering decisions and memories. A tale of immense pain and incredible joy, and everything in between, this is a beautifully written tale and one that will stay with you afterwards.

Additional favourites amongst the short stories were:
“The Fifth Step” – a chance meeting, a confession and a perfect twist;
“The Turbulence Expert” – a secretive profession of sacrifice and mortal peril;
“The Dreamers” – an experiment in parapsychological research that turns deadly.

Overall, ‘You Like It Darker’ is a superb selection of stories, a mix of bite-sized chillers and introspective, character-driven tales, some dark and philosophical, others rife with black humour. Often looking back on a life lived, exploring themes of aging and family, the long reaches of loss and grief, the burdens of regret and guilt, the scars of trauma and tragedy, characters are haunted by events of the past as much as they may be by present circumstances or entities that lurk in the shadows. A compendium of twisted morsels of mystery, suspense and drama, some fast-paced, others slow burns, we delve into concepts of morality, fate and life itself in an immersive and captivating collection.



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