Title: You Like it Darker

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 488

Rating: 4/5

Stephen King is one of my favourite authors, and so I know that whenever I pick up one of his books, I’m going to enjoy it. And this one was no different.

Before I get into my review, I should also mention that this was a “just because” gift from my girlfriend, Shay. She asked me if there were any books that I wanted, and this one sprung to mind because it was King’s latest. Sorry for taking so long to actually read it, Shay.

Okay, so on to the book itself. Well, a lot of people say that King hasn’t been the same since he got sober, but I’m not one of the naysayers. His writing has continued to evolve throughout the years, and this collection of shorts is just further proof of that.

One of the things that stood out to me as I was reading was the way in which King reflects real life events in his writing. In the first story alone, which was a strong start and the perfect way to kick things off, we have references to COVID-19 and Trump’s failed bid for re-election, which is interesting in and of itself because he has, of course, recently won his second attempt at it.

There’s a lot to like in this book, whether you’re one of King’s constant readers or whether you’re new to his work. King has a habit of writing lengthy old reads that take forever to get through, and while that’s great when you want to fall into something like The Stand and let it consume you, collections like this have a place as well. He still does an incredible job of world-building and characterisation even in his shorts, which for most other writers would more accurately be called longs.

One of the great things about King is that as well as liking it darker, he and his readers like it deeper. There’s plenty of scope to analyse each and every one of these stories to death, and you could write an entire book just digging deeper into this one. That takes us way further than I can go in a review, especially when I limit my reviews to the number of words that corresponds to the number of pages that the book has.

Suffice to say that King is still at his best, and I’m hoping that he doesn’t follow in the footsteps of the character in Two Talented Bastids who retired from writing. I live in constant fear that he’ll pass away and I’m hoping that he has a couple dozen trunk novels that are ready to go after his death. But I’m getting a little bit morbid, so let’s move on. Ultimately, this is a cracking read that’s worth grabbing if you’re a King fan.

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