Reviews
"Here's how King describes his latest offering: 'The stories in this book are harsh.' Believe him. The unifying theory is that we're all capable of horrific acts - like the farmer in '1922' who murders his wife to protect his property's value - and that we deny this grim reality at our own peril. Whether or not you agree, Full Dark is gripping storytelling." --People, "The master of horror is often at his scariest when writing stories of real life frights, like the ones in his new story collection, Full Dark, No Stars. Though these four, long stories probably won't cause too many nightmares - well, maybe about rats - it's still not a good idea to read these alone at night because they are very disturbing, and they will stay with the reader long after the lights are dimmed...King's characters are well-drawn in relatively few words, although the first two stories are long enough to stand on their own as short novels. Even Tess proves true, although it took a statistic quoted on the penultimate page of her tale to make her initial reactions to the pain she suffers seem logical. But as in his other novels and stories, the narrative is the star. King's writing keeps the reader eagerly turning pages, even while feeling horrified and disgusted by what's happening. And he always seems to sneak in a surprise at the end. King never disappoints."--Colleen O'Dea, Asbury Park Press, "King just keeps writing, and his stories don't suffer one bit. If anything, they're better, deepened by his maturity. Full Dark, No Stars, the latest offering from one of our great masters of popular fiction, is a prime example... All of these stories are a kind of tribute to some aspect of our culture, a dark snippet of something we've all thought about, but likely never lived... King's knack for storytelling is alive even amid these apparently predictable scenarios. Each of the stories finds a way to be surprising, even shocking. Each of them has something new to offer beyond the subgenres they appear to inhabit. All are woven together by tight, honest prose that is the stuff of great short fiction. Yes, King has written novels so thick that teams of oxen are needed pull them off the shelf, but he's also a master of briefer forms, and not a word is wasted here. Full Dark, No Stars is proof that King has not yet faded into the great literary beyond. He's still a great storyteller, and still a great read."--Matthew Jackson, The Hunstville Item, "Another collection of satisfying short stories... While not as subtle as some of King's other fiction, these novellas offer dark humor and to-the-point gore. This quick and more brutal King installment will be in high demand for horror/thriller readers and dedicated King fans." --Library Journal, "King begins his afterword by stating, 'The stories in this book are harsh.' The man ain't whistlin' Dixie. Returning to the novella--possibly his brightest canvas--King provides four raw looks at the limits of greed, revenge, and self-deception...Rarely has King gone this dark, but to say there are no stars here is crazy."-- Booklist , Starred review, "A quartet of previously unpublished tales that more than satisfy their prolific author's stated criteria for good fiction. Propulsive? Check. Assaultive? Don't ask. The stories in Full Dark, No Stars are for the most part only slightly supernatural and deal, instead, with the unlovelier aspects of merely human behavior...What's amazing, and maybe a little unsettling, about King is the consistency of his purpose and his manner over a long stretch of time. He's essentially the same grab-you-by-the-lapels literary showman he was...King still writes with the verve and glee and heedless ease of a very young man...When you're reading Full Dark, No Stars, carried along by his rollicking, vivid prose, you think (if you're thinking at all: 'God help him, this man is having fun.' This naked pleasure is King's secret ingredient: it makes his work weirdly irresistible, even addictive."--Terrence Rafferty, The New York Times Book Review, "Eerie twists of fate drive the four longish stories in King's first collection since Just After Sunset ...As in Different Seasons , King takes a mostly nonfantastic approach to grim themes. Now, as then, these tales show how a skilled storyteller with a good tale to tell can make unsettling fiction compulsively readable."-- Publishers Weekly , Starred review, "For a writer whose books need a big stage, Stephen King also can turn out shorter stories just as gripping as his epic novels. All four stories in Full Dark, No Stars are about the dark turns taken in relationships between men and women. Uneven in length, they also are ambiguous in morality, which is one of the delights of this book...In all four of his stories, King leaves readers to think about how they might react under similar circumstances. And while we might do as the characters did, the suspense is in the uncertainty."--Amanda St. Amand, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
