Full Dark, No Stars

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

The first entry in the book club is from the macabre author known to just about everyone, Stephen King.  Love him or hate him, he’s arguably the most popular author of the last 40 years.  

My affection for Mr. King goes back a long, long way.  By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I was not an avid reader of any sort.  My reading of books consisted of a) books I had to read for school assignments, or b) books where I had already seen the movie.  The idea of picking up an unknown book by an unknown author to read on my free time seemed much too laborious for my 15 year old brain.

Stephen King changed all that.  It should be noted that during this time in high school (around 1982-1983), Stephen King was becoming somewhat of an icon at my school (as I’m sure he probably was everywhere).  As you would walk down the halls to your upcoming class, it seemed like every other person was carrying one of his works along with their Geometry or Biology textbooks.  My first book that I read (without meeting the above mentioned criteria) was King’s “The Stand”.  As most fans will tell you, this is one of Stephen King's best, and a new lifelong hobby, reading, was born.  More than 30 years later, King is still churning out books (more than one per year, it seems), and although I’m not a rabid enough fan to buy his new works the week that they’re released, I somehow have managed to read just about everything that he has published.  He’s written some great works, but to be honest, he’s also written some turkeys.  I mean, really really bad books.

Fortunately, this one is one of his better releases.  It’s actually a collection of four novellas.  This format seems to fit King well since one of his problems as a writer is that he doesn’t know when to shut up at times.  Having four, somewhat concise stories, prohibits him from going off on too many tangents, and prohibits most readers from becoming bored at best, and frustrated at worst.  That’s not to say that these stories here are necessarily easy to digest.  In King’s own words, these stories are “harsh”.  That’s actually being somewhat kind.  King’s work isn’t for everyone, and after reading these stories, it’s very easy to see why so many simply can’t stomach his work.  Contrary to what many believe, very few of his works are “horror”, at least in the acceptable definition of that particular genre.  Yes, some of these stereotypes have made their appearance in his stories (ghosts, goblins, witches, haunted houses, vampires, etc.), but for the most part, King is better than that.  The majority of his work borders on the fringes of believability, and it’s his dark side that gives his work its particular, unique brand.

Without going into too much detail of each of the plot lines (It’s been over 3 months since I finished this work, and I’ve already forgotten much of the intricacies), the subject matters revolve around a murder, a rape, a serial killer, and a man that is given a unique “gift” that allows him to wish unpleasantness on those that have cheated, or harmed him.  Again, not for everyone.   Two of these stories involve the creepiness of the supernatural, whereas the other two are flat out believable (although, again- harsh).  As mentioned before, maybe the fact that these books simply can’t go on too long makes the reader not as squirmy as they might be had he stretched these works out to an entire novel.  Although not happy reading, the tales tend to teach us certain lessons about our nature that don’t come across as being too preachy.

Consider the first story - 1922.  Here we have a story of a family - husband, wife and a thirteen year old son - that live out on a rural farm.  Times are tough (they usually are in stories about farms - especially in a King novel), and Mom isn’t too nice of a person.  She’s very bitchy and slutty.  So much so, that even the son despises her.  So, father and son decide to kill her.  Well, being on a farm in the middle of nowhere, they can actually “get away” with such a crime.  Especially in 1922, before DNA and the internet.  Yet although the authorities never uncover the crime, they live with the guilt on their conscience - and this is the real meat of the story.

All four of these works are very satisfying as long as you have a strong stomach.  I actually would have liked the third story to have been fleshed out a bit.  It seemed to could have used another 50-75 pages.  With King, though, too short is better than too long.  Much better.  It’s hard for me, personally, to “fall in love” with stories that are this short.  So I can’t really rate this as among the “best” of Stephen King's work, but the stories are well told and satisfying and this collection is definitely one of King’s better works.  Especially during the last 20 years.

NOTE: The trade paperback version comes with a bonus short story (a cheap way for publishers to make more money, but I digress).  It’s only about a quarter in length of the original four tales, so it can be easily read in one sitting.  I don’t remember the name, nor much of the plot, but I do remember that I really enjoyed it as well.