Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King - Book Review

The stories within may not be as long as some, but while they may lack the length of words, they never lack the punch.

Each carries its own fears, the shadows within teaming with everything that goes bump in the night.

Begin with the story of a man whose wife no longer agrees with his decisions. Wilfred faces little choice, taking the only course left open to him. But sometimes, decisions come back to haunt us, the will of the horror heard scratching at the walls of our sanity.

Another tale will open your eyes to the reality of a woman left for dead after enduring an unspeakable crime, her vengeance driving her to retribution. The third tale will offer a second chance to a man carrying a death sentence inside him.

Offered the chance to change his fortune by passing his own to someone else, this is one “what if” worth reading.

The final one is best described as the reality of never truly knowing who you’re married to. Could we all have skeletons in our closet that might one day jump out, telling our secrets to the unsuspecting?

Stephen King has written many short stories, creating several books filled with them. While some are good, other can be overlooked after their initial discovery. I found this collection to be one of the better ones, each story almost a book by themselves.

The stories in this group all come together in a way that seems to gel. All creepy, all terrifying in their own way and all richly satisfying when put together.

If you had to choose a collection based on quality and quantity, this would be one of my first choices.