Four Past Midnight (1990)

Before Reading: Welcome to the 90's! We are starting off with a book of four novellas. We have had this before by King but this is the first collection of horror novellas we have gotten. I've heard of the collection but there is only one story that I've heard of within and that is The Langoliers. I've seen some mixed reviews on this and I have my own opinions of short stories and novellas, so this could go either way. I'm optimistic and not much of a critical reader so I'm hoping this will be a good time! I will break down each story individually and the collection as a whole, as always. Here we go!

After Reading: Alright. I just finished reading all four stories and will go more into detail below so I will try to keep this short and sweet. Overall I enjoyed this collection. I liked that it was a collection of horror stories, that was fun and I liked the cohesiveness. None of the stories, in my opinion, lived up to the greatness of The Body or Shawshank so in that aspect it did feel like it fell a little short. However, there weren't any novellas in this collection that I didn't like. I didn't love any of them but I liked them all. I think as a whole it was a good read that kept me engaged and a little frightened. I would recommend Different Seasons over this one if you are looking for a collection of stories but if you have time for both, or perhaps prefer horror stories, then I would recommend this one to you, as well. 

ONE PAST MIDNIGHT

The Langoliers: As I mentioned before, I had heard of The Langoliers before but I had no idea what it was about. I was pleasantly surprised to learn it was similar to Manifest. I love these dystopian type of stories and that made this a pretty enjoyable read. In the preface, King mentioned this to be similar to The Mist. I would agree with that but I liked this one more so than I did The Mist. This definitely wasn't one of King's best, but it was a good read and, like I said, a genre I personally really enjoy. I've said it many times and I'm sure I'll say it many more but King is so great at ensembles. This was a great ensemble story with likable characters that was really the heart of the story. I saw there was a made-for-TV movie version of this made back in 1995. If you want a laugh, go watch the trailer. Unfortunately, because it is so similar to Manifest, I don't know if it could survive as a show right now. However, I think these characters are so great that this would make really fun television and it could go beyond what King has set up. My one big complaint was that there was a romance that seemed rushed and out of place. Had this been more fleshed out, it could have worked. One thing that doesn't work with the novella medium is that you lose some of the time you need to really develop things like relationships. That being said, King was really able to give these characters depth, which is quite impressive. I found one legitimate reference and several that might be a stretch but had me thinking. The real one is that there is a reference to The Shop. We have been seeing them pop up more and more lately and I'm anticipating that we will see them have another big role to play like they did with Firestarter. I'll end this by sharing the more fun, possible references that I found. One was the short story The Jaunt. The way that time travel worked in this story was very similar to how it worked in that one. Are they related? There was also a very specific JFK reference which seemed to hint toward 11/22/63. This is probably a stretch since that one wasn't released until the 2010's but they both deal with time travel so is it possible that King was already thinking about it? And lastly, there is a yellow smiley face sticker seen during a very bleak time in this book. Could it have been put there by...Randall Flagg? All jokes aside, if you've read any of those I'd love to know what you think, are they related? Or am I making something out of nothing? Overall, this was a fun read. I would recommend it and I hope we see a remake on TV sometime!

TWO PAST MIDNIGHT

Secret Window, Secret Garden: I had never heard of this one before and had no clue what it was about. In the forward, King claims that this will be his last story about an author...I'll believe that when I see it. He also mentions that it is somewhat of a play off of The Dark Half and that becomes very evident at the end. Unlike the other, much longer, stories in this collection, this story is more true to the novella medium. It is quite short and was a very quick read. I read it in one day, which, as you know, is a feat for me. I don't have too much to say since it was so quick but I did really enjoy it. I thought it had great writing and was a very fast-paced and captivating story. I felt sad, scared, confused, and satisfied. At points I thought I was going crazy, myself. Some of the writing in this one was so genius, how it changed to show the confusion and made you second-guess yourself along with the main character. Besides the obvious similar tropes to The Dark Half, I noticed that this story took place in Tashmore Lake while Firestarter took place at Tashmore Pond. Do with that information what you will. Again, I enjoyed this one quite a bit. I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for a quick little read. 

THREE PAST MIDNIGHT

The Library Policeman: Again, I hadn't heard of this one before. However, based on the title it wasn't too hard to guess what it was about. Parts of it were predictable but others definitely were not. I will say, King describing why he wrote it in the forward was scary in and of itself. Maybe it was just because I read that part late at night. Off the bat we got a Misery reference and, of course, a reference to Stephen King, himself. I will say this one, at least to begin with, was pretty spooky. It wasn't overtly scary but it was enough to give you the creeps. There were a few references to a "dark man," which had me wondering if our friend Randall Flagg was behind things. Also, the evil being was referred to as "it" quite a few times. We have seen this done before...is it all related? One "it" that takes different forms, perhaps controlled by a certain Dark Man? This "it" also morphed and shape-shifts like we have seen not only in It but also in The Shining and The Outsider. Now, I can't discuss this story without mentioning that there is a very very disturbing scene that was difficult to read. I'm still not sure how I felt about that. Part of me feels as though it was pretty unnecessary and could have been handled differently. Then again, part of me feels like it is the core of the story and needed to be told. Have you read this one? What did you think about that part? Overall it wasn't great but it wasn't bad, either. It was good for what it was. I probably wouldn't read it again but I don't wish I hadn't read it. 

FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT

The Sun Dog: First and foremost we need to discuss that King mentions that this is a prequel to Needful Things and that Needful Things will be the last book set in Castle Rock. I'm not sure how to feel about that. I have no idea if it truly does end up being the last book set in the Rock but I think I'll be sad if it does. I think part of the fun of reading all of these books in order has been to see how they relate and to revisit familiar places. I guess we will see what happens. The Sun Dog follows one of King's most consistent and joked about tropes, that of the scary object. In this case it is a Polaroid camera. I will say, it was done in a way that felt original and in no way overdone. Speaking of King's stories relating, we get many a Castle Rock references, obviously. We meet Pop Merrill who is related to Ace Merrill. We also get a Cujo reference and quite a few references to previous characters. I came across this quote: “Could be,” Pop said indifferently. “People get up to all sorts of didos. Lookit my nephew, there, for instance, Ace.” Pop’s nose wrinkled. “Doin four years in Shawshank, and for what? Bustin into The Mellow Tiger. He got up to didos and Sheriff Pangborn slammed him in the jug for it. Little ringmeat got just what he deserved.”  This is so deep in Castle Rock lore that I'm not sure it even makes any sense to someone who hasn't read his other books. Looking forward to Needful Things the only thing I know is that it is about a store. This story also featured a store, so I am eager to see if it is the same one. I do have to let you know, this story gets pretty spooky when you read it alone at night. I'm not sure if it actually is even all that scary but...don't read it alone at night. In daylight, it's a fine book. There were parts I really liked and there were some parts that were a little corny. The ending was extremely corny. I don't think it was a bad read and I don't think it was the best, but I do think it was good. Also, I think this one would make a great movie. I look forward to seeing it one day.

Whew! Reading four books in one felt like a very long read. I'm ready to get moving on to the next one which is...drumroll...the third book in the Dark Tower series: The Waste Lands!