If It Bleeds

Published in 2020, the collection contains: 'Mr. Harrigan's Phone' (a boy in rural Maine who stays in contact with his dead mentor through the dead man's iPhone), 'The Life of Chuck' (a man's life told in reverse, from obituary to youth), 'If It Bleeds' (Holly Gibney investigates a news reporter who may not be human), and 'Rat' (a writer goes to his father's cabin to finish a novel and makes a desperate bargain).

Yes. 'If It Bleeds' features Holly Gibney tracking another shape-shifting entity similar to El Cuco from The Outsider. She is now running her own investigative agency and has become a more confident protagonist. The novella can be read without having read The Outsider, but the full resonance of what Holly is pursuing requires familiarity with the earlier novel.

'The Life of Chuck' tells a man's life story in reverse order: it opens with an apocalyptic world ending in a way that honors a man named Charles Krantz, then moves backward to his middle age, then to his childhood. The structure is more experimental than King's typical approach and the tone is elegiac and hopeful rather than horrifying. It is frequently cited as one of the most moving pieces he has written.

Yes. A film adaptation directed by Mike Flanagan was released in 2025, starring Tom Hiddleston. Flanagan, who also directed the Doctor Sleep film, has worked with King's material repeatedly. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024 and received strong reviews.