Stephen KingFiction · Horror·b. 1947
Just After Sunset
Synopsis
Thirteen stories make up this short fiction collection by Stephen King, his fifth, brought out by Scribner in November 2008. Most appeared earlier in magazines including The New Yorker, Esquire, Playboy, The Paris Review and McSweeney's. One piece, N., is new to print here.
The range runs across horror, suspense and dark fantasy. A woman runs along a Florida beach after a personal loss in The Gingerbread Girl. A stop beside a highway becomes a test of conscience in Rest Stop. N. follows a psychiatrist's patient and a field of stones in Maine, told through case notes and letters, and it nods to Arthur Machen's The Great God Pan.
Grief and catastrophe after 9/11 shape two of the stories, The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates and Graduation Afternoon. The Cat from Hell, first published in 1977, finally gets a place in a book of its own.
Reading it means moving between short, sharp pieces rather than settling into one long tale. Some unsettle quietly, others aim to frighten outright, and the mix of both in a single volume is the appeal for anyone who likes King at short length.
How it reads
Prose complexity 3/10
Content warnings (3)
TraumaViolenceSubstance Abuse