If It Bleeds - Stephen King

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

In his author’s note, Stephen King confides that most of the time he doesn’t really know where his ideas come from.  That usually he catches a glimpse of something or hears a snippet of conversation or maybe a song lyric and if it comes to mind when he sits down to write, he just see’s where the story takes him. I’m not sure how to feel about the fact that his potent imagination is as much a surprise to him as it is to his readers…comforted? Terrified? Awed?

As I sat down to read his latest, I was enveloped by the cadence of King’s writing. Although not uncharted territory for me, every time feels like unwrapping a precious and instantaneously beloved gift. While the fact that he manifests strange alchemy with elements of the supernatural cannot be disputed, it’s in the exploration of our earthbound fears where he packs the biggest punch. 

The novellas in this collection each seethe with their own extraordinary madness. 

If It Bleeds – this story of a blood thirsty journalist who follows reports of the worst carnage over the years brings an entirely new meaning to; if it bleeds, it leads…I loved the salacious and unabashed glee with which King assembled this villain.

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone – vintage King with all the ingredients of the gothic and the ghostly. Motivated by retribution from beyond the grave and embellished with the ways in which technology can mimic or be exploited by supernatural forces. We don’t own things…things own us.

Rat – a struggling writer cut off in the backwoods with a storm coming and in the grip of a fever?? You know this is gonna be a fun one! P.S. the danger of a magic wish lies in the fine print…

The Life Of Chuck – reader I’m going to do you a favour here and tell you that this novella is told in reverse. And while it doesn’t lack in the supernatural elements, it has a lot of tenderness and fragility. A sad reminder to us all that when a person dies, a whole world dies with them.

If you have yet to brave the works of this author let me give you something to ponder. Kindness, hope and grace can be found in the most harrowing of places.  King will lead to into the darkness and then give you the heart to defy it.

Footnote: A morsel from this book I felt apropos here; the brain is finite but the mind within is infinite. Our imaginations ability to stretch beyond the possible and the plausible is colossal.