There’s no doubting that Stephen King is both prolific and versatile. In recent years he’s moved into different genres, such as crime mystery, whilst many people, myself included, started out as fans of his paranormal stuff. And let’s not forget his ability to just spin a good yarn. Good news - there’s something for everyone here.

Stephen King Audiobooks

I enjoyed his recent crime output such as ‘Billy Summers’, ‘Holly’ and even a bit of fantasy (‘Fairy Tale’) but for me they don’t hold a candle to his earlier output. I was looking forward to enjoying more stories with a supernatural/ horror slant, as well as the usual strong world building and character led stories. He’s had some fine short story collections over the years such as 'Skeleton Crew’ and more recently ‘If it bleeds’ so I was all in on this.

I went for the audiobook, as he’s one of those writers I find it easy to disappear into - not always the case for me with fictional audiobooks. I find his writing and images strong and clear.

Bill Pullman is the narrator in the audiobook, and does a superb job. He always sounds quite laconic and has just enough variety in his repertoire to make the characters sound different, while not annoying so. There’s a bit of slang and swear words used by Kings characters (especially the older ones) and he made me laugh throughout.

Stories

‘Two talented bastids’ is a great opener and an equally good yarn. It made me think a bit of ‘The Tommyknockers’ but I was fine with that. It’s a bit eerie and pulls you along, and the ending was a bit darker than I expected.

In ‘On writing’ he talks about how he gets many of his stories from simply asking ‘What if'?’ In ‘Danny Coughlins bad dream’ he asks - what if a man dreams the location of a murder victim, that’s so real he goes to the actual location and alerts the authorities. And by doing so he becomes the chief suspect? I kept imagining the actor Michael Shannon as the investigator Frank Jalbert in this story for some reason - I could easily imagine his intensity - I was thinking of his tenacious character from ‘Boardwalk Empire’.

I found the length of this story to be a bit annoying - over six hours, and it felt like an unfinished novel - because I listened to this audiobook in the early morning and cursed having to get out of bed and leave it behind me for the deeply unsatisying world of work. If you liked ‘The outsider’ you’ll enjoy this one.

Rattlesnakes

I was really looking forward to ‘Rattlesnakes’, which was billed as a follow up to ‘Cujo’ which teenage me read and loved (just a couple of years ago….) and it didn’t disappoint. I wouldn’t say you have to have read ‘Cujo’ to enjoy this story, but there enough references/spoilers to make it worth your while. I felt the depiction of the relationship between Vic and Donna felt both sad and real. It also definitely harks back to his supernatural work and who says King can’t still come up with a horrific image? In his hands, strollers become a menacing sight.

I got a chill out of this one, and it left me unsettled in the best way that only Kings books can do. Bill Pullman is in peak form during this reading - there’s a lot of whispering, and er, squeaking in this one. Early morning or late evening without a sound in the house is the best time to enjoy this.

Others include ‘Willy The Weirdo’ with it’s ending that I probably should have seen coming, but disturbed me all the same. ‘Turbulence experts’ I might need to hear/read again - didn't quite work for me.

The Answer man

‘The Answer man’ was apparently started in 1977 and finished to be included in this collection as the last story. I’m glad this was dug out from the archives - too good to waste. I really liked the character in this one, and it’s another of those ‘What ifs - what if you could get the answer to any question you asked. A reminder too, that Uncle Stevie can pull on the ‘ol heart strings when he wants to. The ending left me with something in my eye.

I’m a fan of ‘On Writing’, his superb book on his creative processes. There’s an afterword in this book, and he talks about the genesis of some of his stories. Interestingly, he says he has only ever been truly satisfied with the ending of two of his stories - ‘The green mile’ and 'Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.’ As a fan of the late, great Leonard Cohen, it was lovely to hear King giving a nod to the song in the afterword.

Summary

Gotta say, I loved this collection. I don’t think there’s anyone better who creates compelling and believable characters with just a few sentences. He still has the ability to give you a chill and as always, he’s a master storyteller and his ability to spin a good yarn is unparalleled.

There’s also a lot of compassion for his characters, and as well as he can give you a few thrills, there’s a few softer moments in ‘You like it darker’ that caught me unawares, in a pleasant way. In the words of another old Artist, Bob Dylan, ‘It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there.’ We’ll sure miss him when he’s gone but in the meantime this is another fine addition to his canon for his constant readers to enjoy.

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May 21, 2024 by Simon & Schuster Audio

20 hours and 12 minutes