Dolan's Cadillac, and Other Stories

by Stephen King, Tim Curry (Narrator), Whoopi Goldberg (Narrator)

Stephen King's unparalleled imagination is in full force in this collection of four unabridged short stories originally found in the classic, Nightmares & Dreamscapes. An all-star cast of readers bring to life these timeless stories from the darkest places, including the tale Dolan's Cadillac: soon to be a feature film starring Christian Slater, Wes Bentley, and Emmanuelle Vaugier.

A widowed husband spends seven years plotting revenge for his wife's murder in Dolan's Cadillac. A school teacher discovers her students are not what they seem in Suffer the Little Children. In Crouch End, a woman fears that supernatural events may have led to her husband's disappearance. And in Rainy Season, a young couple is forced into the ultimate battle of Man vs. Nature when torrential rain turns deadly.

Rob Lowe, Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Curry, and Yeardley Smith lend their voices to this haunting collection of classic stories that no Stephen King fan should be without.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Short Stories, Audiobook

Audio CD

First published June 30, 2009

About the author

Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.

Reviews

[Karla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating for ”Crouched End”

Story 3.25 stars**
Audio 4.5 stars**
Narrator Tim Curry

[Tom Mueller · Rating 4 out of 5]

More and more I find myself listening to the audio edition after I've read the work in print, nearly always in that order. I think I get a fuller impact of the author's intent doing this. Being a fan of Lovecraft and Sai King, I especially liked "Crouch End" when I read it; 'twas pretty far out there. The CD just about did me in at one point. I was driving down a very dark country road near midnight, no street lights . . . Very Dark. The sound effects at a particularly tense point scairt the crapola out of me, darn near jumped out of my seat. To intensify the moment, it came just as I was turning into the pitch black gravel drive of a very VERY dark country house that had the look of the quintessential haunted house. Remember too, I knew exactly what was coming. Like I said about getting the full impact? I'd put the fear factor at that moment of the print work at 5 - 6. Realizing King's FULL intent, the audio edition was a full TEN. The setting helped of course, but the audio presentation did a wonderful job. Needless to say, I Hurried into the house. Nearing the door, their [Big of course] dog lunged at me out of the blackness. He just wanted a 'howdy', but it topped the rest out nicely. That time I did yell. When I got inside, they asked if I was okay. I'm sure I was white as a ghost lol.

[T.E. Grau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, but not outstanding tales. The Lovecraftian offering, Couch End, was a bit hokey, while The Rainy Season was almost cartoonish, after a decent set-up. Dolan's Cadillac seemed like a long way to go in order to exact revenge. Suffer the Little Children was probably the strongest tale.

Still, I dig King, and always like to check out his shorter works, where I think he shines brightest.

[jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am in a very lovecraft mood

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduction - read by Stephen King - he never fails to have this Constant Reader smiling. He is not trying to change the world or just make money (of course he wants to make money..we all do right?) he is just trying to tell some stories, and hopefully you will get a shiver, or a smile, or a passing thought about those stories.
Suffer the Little Children - read by Whoopi Goldberg - a creepy story. At the end you just aren't sure.
Crouch End - read by Tim Curry - first let me say Tim Curry could read the dictionary to me and I would be happy, and this story is creepy in the what you don't see kind of way. Reminded me of King's rats in the sewers story a bit --
Rainy Season - read by Yeardly Smith - not a big fan of Yeardly as a reader, and after listening to this story, think I know where Scott Sigler got his inspiration for Iowa Monsoon -- different, but lots of similarities
Dolan's Cadillac - read by Rob Lowe - Stephen King's take on The Tell-Tale Heart, though it ends a little differently. I enjoyed this one quite a lot, Rob is a gread reader.

[Sherri Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

2017 REVIEW:
So glad this is one of those that I revisit every year because, no matter how much I *think* I remember the stories, I always find a new gem within them. Stephen King is a master story-teller and it is so evident in this particular collection. This is among my favorite revisits!


2016 REVIEW:
I had forgotten how GOOD this collection of Stephen King's is!! Definitely worth a revisit or a 1st time visit for any King and non-King fans alike!!

[Jack Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

More short stories. These are very entertaining for short periods.

[Calista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review for Suffer the little children

[Bunny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who picks the people who voice audio books? I'm curious, because whoever picked them for this did a DAMN fine job.

Save for "Crouch End", these are actually some of my favorite short stories by King. I've ALWAYS loved "Dolan's Cadillac", for the very sick reason that I love reading the meticulous details of precisely how he exacts his revenge on Dolan. Not because of the revenge, necessarily, just the planning. I'm sick, I need help.

But these stories with these voices? I enjoyed it even more than I thought I would. And with Crouch End, which is a little *too* out there for my enjoyment, hearing Tim Curry read it in that creepy-ass Pennywise-esque voice of his? Shivers up my spine, people.

Rob Lowe had entirely too much fun voicing Dolan's Cadillac. I'm just saying.

All that said, however. I will not be listening to any audio books done by King himself. I adore the man, I really do. But listening to his voice during the introduction grated every single inch of nerve ending I have. So no.

Very nice, indeed.

[Jami · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would give this a higher rating than the other collection from Nightmares & Dreamscapes, but not quite four stars. I definitely remember Suffer The Little Children and Whoopi Goldberg has a wonderful, purring voice. Tim Curry is great as usual, but his story was not my favorite. Rob Lowe does a great job reading Dolan's Cadillac and the story was good; however, Rainy Season was great. It's one of King's quirky tales and it is superbly read by Bart Simpson HERSELF, Yeardly Smith! At first, I thought her voice would be distracting. Not at all. I loved listening to her and the story was spot-on King.
I was a little disappointed that they didn't include my favorite from the N&D collection, the 10 o'clock people. That was a really great story.

[Mel Steadman Hunt · Rating 3 out of 5]

* I only listened to Suffer the Little Children *
I was searching for some short stories when I came across this free Stephen King audiobook online. It was short, 35 minutes long, so I decided to give it a go, and I'm glad I did. Although not something I'd normally read/listen to, it was dark, gritty, and definitely different. It takes place in a school, where a teacher starts realising something strange is going on with the children in her class. I did find the story quite creepy, especially the ending, so I would recommend this if you are looking for a quick, short story horror.

[William Orellana santamaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a nice story. The sacrifice in a man who seeks revenge at all cost. It comes to a point where you feel like telling the main character to take a rest, but then you imagine Elizabeth telling him not to listen and continue digging. Nice one.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good so far.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fun but nothing spectacular. Just a couple stories to exercise the imagination. Good reading on the Audios. English accent on the story in London was a nice touch.

[Efraín · Rating 3 out of 5]

I nice story about imigrants and mab

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Haunting

[Roxy Boroughs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed all the stories. Tim Curry's performance in the talking book was especially good.

[Kandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suffer the Little Children - **** Weird, and just long enough, exactly enough detail (and things left to the imagination) to frighten just a bit.

Crouch End - ***** Narrated by Tim Curry I enjoyed this so much more than when I read it on the page. I always remember it having a very Lovecraftian feel to it, but as I listened this time, that didn't seem as prevalent. The glimpses of oddness caused such a low lying feeling of dread that this is almost a masterpiece.

Rainy Season - **** As read by Bart Simpson! In this tiny tale, King does what he does best. He paints a locale, complete with residents and history. And he does this in the midst of some world class what-the-fuckery. By the time you realize what they say is going to happen really does happen, you are so deep in the story that you can't back out!

Dolan's Cadillac - **** Rob Lowe reads this with the exact amount of "Jo Blow from Kokomo" realism to make it infinitely believable. He is so committed to avenging his love that you simply must root for him. King also manages to write about a writer (and the process) even when he isn't writing about a writer! Our narrator does research posing as one, and I can only imagine this is how King himself goes about it.

I digress, but one of my favorite stories King and his son Joe Hill tell (independently) is one of King asking Joe to let his dad tie him to the bedposts of his parent's bed and then trying his best to "skin the cat." This happens as King is trying to figure out how Jesse Burlingame is going to escape Gerald's sex bonds. When Tabby walks in and protests loudly, Joe just says "It's just some of dad's shit, ma." Research man, research.

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honestly, hands down this is one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to! Tim Curry, Yeardley Smith, Whoopi Goldberg and Rob Lowe each read a story in this fascinating and compelling collection of short stories.

I found this little collection at a used bookstore in Florida and didn't expect too much but was excited to listen to an audiobook read by actors instead of just your random run-of-the-mill audio-book readers.

If you can find this collection, it's worth the money just for Rob Lowe and Whoopi Goldberg's performance alone! Both of them did a stupendous job voicing all the characters and altering their voices for each individual character. I could even see Rob Lowe starring as Robinson in a Dolan's Cadillac adaptation. Whoopi Goldberg was a perfect choice for the narrator in the story Suffer the Little Children, her voice reverberates when she reads the terrifying and haunting words penned by the legendary Stephen King which further haunts your dreams.

Tim Curry and Yeardley Smith did a fantastic job as well.

[Courtney Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Crouch End is bang on. Great story and a 10/10 from me. So glad this is included in the NSW Year 12 English Curriculum for the craft of writing. I found some parallels between this and 'In the Tall Grass' by Joe Hill. See if you can spot them too.

[Nicolette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Audiobook. King is so hit or miss for me. Some of the goriness is unnecessary.

[Cindy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not too scary but certainly creepy.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

Looking at ‘Suffer the Little Children’, a good eerie story about a teachers concerns over little children at school. In story line wise, similar to ‘invasion of the body snatcher’ but with school kids.

With regards to “Rainy Season”, again, a great idea and premise for a story. An out of town couple come to a sleepy place and warned off. They don’t listen; obviously and something happens. It appears to be on a seven year cycle. The failing of this story is like a story with zombies; slow, easily killed, backward, gets stuck by a closed door; YET, the people are dim enough NOT to get in a car and leave. They could have escaped simply by jogging away, NOT by what they did. I mean, have you ever noticed the slowest dimmest creature ALWAYS WINS? Want to beat off an advanced alien invasion, sit back, have a beer, set 1 or 2 Zombies on them. That’ll do. Ok, this story isn’t about zombies, but. Without ruining the story, the analogy stands.

[Trinity · Rating 3 out of 5]

rating for crouch end in nightmares and dreamscapes : i haven’t read a stephen king book in a MINUTE and even this short story managed to unsettle me

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are lots of great little stories in here. Some better, some worse. But it's all fun to get through.

[IWB · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 Stars

[Reina Angulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es la pesadilla de todos los que trabajanos con niños

[Ariana · Rating 3 out of 5]

digamos que es "the rainy season" no estuvo mal but idk esperaba más sinceramente

[Medhat The Fanatic Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Only reviewing Suffer the Children:

A disturbing story that would creep under your skin.