November 11, 2008
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Being in the wrong place at the wrong time is never pretty. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time in Stephen King's world can be very ugly, indeed.

In 'Just After Sunset', his first short-story collection since 2002's Everything's Eventual, King casts his creative net over everyday people who stumble into sticky situations that only his wonderfully warped mind can cook up.

Some are tales of the supernatural. Others are about people who one minute are innocent bystanders in a seemingly placid world and the next are unwitting participants in life-threatening scenarios.

King explains in the introduction that editing The Best American Short Stories collection of 2007 renewed his interest in writing stories. The reader reaps the benefits of King's mastery of the form.

Many of Sunset's stories have the aura of classic Twilight Zone episodes. And no matter your taste in frightful fantasies, there's something here for everybody — from psycho killers of the human kind to a killer cat out for revenge to, dare we say it, a portable john as a murderer's weapon of choice.

What's best about these stories is how easily we can step into his characters' shoes.

In "The Gingerbread Girl," a woman out for a run finds herself at the mercy of a crazy neighbor who will slice and dice her unless she can dig deep enough into her psyche for the will to live.

In "A Very Tight Place," a battle between neighbors turns deadly when one man plots what he thinks is the perfect murder. The targeted victim goes where no entirely sane man or woman would ever go. Let's just say he's in a tight spot in one of the most repellent environments King has ever created.

In "Rest Stop," a best-selling author who takes a bathroom break must decide whether he'll stop a man who's attacking a woman or walk away.

All 13 stories are wonderfully wicked and highlight what happens when, as one character says, "a trapdoor open(s) between reality and the twilight zone" and "anything is possible."

Pull the trapdoor open, read these stories, and, if you're blessed with a boring life, pray that it stays that way.




Excerpt: "The Gingerbread Girl"

i like king in short story form best.

funny.... where's the short story about being out for a walk on the side of the road and being run down by a zealous fan???

I pre-ordered mine a while ago! Should be here tomorrow!

I liked Everything's Eventual a lot! He lets his style/characters take over more on the shorter stuff. The story is more important to the novels.