This was the first adult novel I read. It was also the first book I borrowed from the library. This was the exact edition although this review is just for The Shining section. I think I was 12 and what drew me to this book was the opening line, "Officious little p*&!k.". I am not going to check but I'm sure that's right. My juvenile thought process may have attracted me to the book but one of the best storytellers the world has ever known kept my engrossed to the end. What a book! I am still massive fan today and I was so excited when I saw Doctor Sleep in a bookshop and understood it was a sequel. Anyway back to The Shining. Stephen King is a master story teller although I do think in a lot of books he doesn't finish as strong as he starts. Not so with The Shining, he knocks it out of the park from page one to page... err.... well the last page.

ALL excellent.

Deliciously creepy.

the crowning jwel of this one is the shining
the others are classic and enjoyable as well and as hell

The Shining--up all night reading. Salems Lot--up all night checking the windows.

Scary

'Salem's Lot has got to be one of the best contemporary horror stories ever written!

The Shining: 5/5
Salem's Lot: 4/5
Night Shift: to read
Carrie: 4/5

Three awesome and emotional horror novels with a mixed bag of weird short stories to go with it. Quite the treat.

***

The Shining

ack Torrance has been given the chance to turn his life around after being hired to work as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. Isolated from the rest of the world for months, Jack plans to rekindle his relationship with his wife Wendy and his son Danny all the while fighting his brutal alcohol addiction and working out his anger issues. Unfortunately for Jack, the Overlook Hotel has other plans for him and his family. The hotel is haunted by evil spirits with violent and tragic histories, taking advantage of Jack's own troubled past and his son Danny's psychic abilities. A peaceful winter getaway might just become a true nightmare.

The Shining is a fantastic exploration of the struggles of alcoholism, financial ruin and past tragedies constantly coming back to bite you where it hurts most. It's about the dangerous cycle of addiction, following in the footsteps of your abusers and seeing how it comes back to hurt you and everyone around you. The fashion in which the basic elements of normal, human struggles is depicted in this book is far scarier than any ghost or even the Overlook Hotel itself. The family drama between Jack, Wendy and Danny had me constantly upset and on the edge.

Jack is a beat-down, broken and pitiful man down on his luck. He says and does some pretty horrible and disgusting things, but I developed a soft spot for him the more I learned about his troubles and what made him the way he is. He's not a good guy at all, but almost everyone can find something about him that's uncomfortably relatable. He represents the bad parts of ourselves that we don't like to admit exists. Most of the time we can keep him in check, but sometimes he breaks through the cracks in our darkest and most vulnerable moments.

It's a slow burner with a lot of heart. As dark and depressing as it is, the overall message behind the story is an uplifting one. We don't have to allow ourselves to be defined by our pasts, our guilt, or the mistakes of the ones who raised us. We can always try our best to go in the opposite direction and set a good example for others.

Danny's friendship with Hallorann is also awesome and wholesome. Two psychic boys from totally different generations and upbringings finding a meaningful connection through their mutual struggles.

***

Salem's Lot

The town of Jerusalem’s Lot is haunted by the shadow of the Marsten House, a bleak and crumbling building on a high hill that was once the den of vile criminals, witchcraft and other sinister paranormal phenomena. Author Ben Mears returns to the place he once called home to confront the traumatic memories that the dreaded Marsten House left imprinted in his memories since he was a mere boy, only to discover that a new force of unimaginable evil may be lurking in the darkness of Jerusalem’s Lot.

The modern day Dracula. An unlikely crew of small town folks band together to fight a supernatural force of absolute bloodsucking evil. Salem’s Lot reinvented the familiar trappings of B-movie vampire horror by incorporating his signature touch of twisted psychology, brutal heartfelt emotions and disturbingly realistic characters that feel like people you’ve known your whole life.

In a book full of vampires, black magic, haunted houses and bloody horror, it’s no surprise that King manages to make the everyday lives of the townsfolk of Jerusalem’s Lot the scariest part of the story. Domestic abuse, child neglect, messed up family dynamics, perverted stalkers, heartless backstabbers and animal killers are just a few things these small town folk are guilty of on a daily basis.

I love this take on the old vampire myth, showing that humans in a state of absolute panic and superstitious fear are often more terrifying and dangerous than ancient, powerful monsters. Your best friend can become your worst enemy at the drop of a hat.

I loved the long list of references of classic stories and authors that King mentions in this particular book. As someone that grew up reading a lot of weird fiction and gothic fiction, I enjoyed seeing Lovecraft, Poe, Hawthorne, Stoker and quite a few other of my old favorites continuously pop up.

***

Night Shift

There’s a couple of classic little gems in here like Jerusalem’s Lot and Children of the Corn, but the majority of the other stories in Night Shift failed to capture my attention for the most part. I know my opinion is probably in the minority here, but I don’t think Stephen King’s short stories hold up to the standards of his novels at all. At least not in this collection.

Night Shift collects various short stories from Stephen King’s early career that are more on the pulpier and cheesier side than one might expect. They can be mildly amusing and ridiculous to the point of being funny, but most of them don’t have much actual depth, emotion or thrill to them. Some of the themes of the stories are on the repetitive side as well, mostly predictable stuff about haunted objects coming to life and tormenting people.

If nothing else, many of these subjects would be recycled into much better novels like Salem’s Lot, The Stand and Christine which definitely counts for something. All good stories have to start somewhere. Not a bad collection of stories, just not the type of horror I tend to enjoy, especially not from King.

While I can’t say I enjoyed most of the stories in this collection, they at least managed to be fun and amusing for what they are.

***

Carrie

The story of misfit high school girl, Carrie White, who gradually discovers that she has telekinetic powers. Repressed by a domineering, ultra-religious mother and tormented by her peers at school, her efforts to fit in lead to a dramatic confrontation during the senior prom.

A very sad book. I always thought this should be required reading in school as it captures many modern issues in gruesomely intimate detail. The importance of kindness, reaching out to struggling outcasts with toxic home lives, how to not be so shallow and judgmental for all the wrong reasons. You never know what someone is going through in their personal lives and you never know how close they are to breaking. Everyone develops and understands things differently.

Reading the book as a young adult who graduated high school not that long ago, I can say that it's an even more intense experience in the eyes of an adult who knows the horrors of growing up as a bullied outcast and being an awkward teenager that grew up in a loveless and hostile environment a bit too well. With bullying and prejudice at an all time high thanks to social media, the horror feels much more real and understandable now than it did when it was originally published. It's a chilling tragedy that captures the horrors of youth to a frightening degree. Tragedies like the case of Carrie can be avoided, but most people don't step in until it's too late.

There are some sections of the book that are edited somewhat awkwardly, the structure of the plot is a bit messy and you can definitely tell it was Stephen's first book as he improved significantly in just the next few entries, but it still holds up extremely well despite some flaws.

Magnificent

The Shining - 5/5 A classic.
Salem's Lot - 5/5 Maybe the best vampire novel ever written.
Night Shift - 4/5 Enjoyable. 'I Know What You Need,' 'Gray Matter,' 'One More For the Road' and 'Sometimes They Come Back' were the standouts for me.
Carrie - 5/5 If this novel doesn't break your heart you might not have a heart to begin with.

Overall it's interesting to compare these 4 early works with King's more recent output. He's certainly become a steadier, more confident writer in the 40 years since these were first published. But even here, at the beginning, his grasp of both character and detail were remarkable. Some things never change.

These are the first four books that began the unparalleled career of the Master of the Macabre, known also as Stephen King. Carrie is about a teenager who can move things with her mind. Salem's Lot is about a New England town that allows a vampire menace to take possession not only of the citizenry, but its figurative soul. The Shining is about a haunted hotel and the caretaker's family whose young son is especially susceptible to the arcane suggestions of the wraiths and apparitions due to his gift. Lastly, Night Shift is a fantastic collection of short stories written before King attempted his first novel.

Overall, the collection of four books is pretty dense, filled with stories that have become iconic with the King mythos. IMHO, Carrie is the weakest novel, not because the story is weak, but because the storytelling device of conveying the narrative through courtroom testimony, news articles, and diary entries is so clunky with distinct voices. The strongest novel is Salem's Lot where King models the storytelling device after Bram Stoker's Dracula.

I also love, love, love Night Shift. I think this was my first King book recommended to me by Mrs. Palladino, my favorite librarian. She knew I loved horror and was falling in love with King's writing, herself. She wanted to share her enthusiasm, and afflicted me with that disease readily. The stories run the gambit of sci-fi horror, to cannibalism, to haunting stories. The Last Rung of the Ladder haunted me enough to make me beg my little sister to read it and promise that she would never let that happen between us.

Five Stars for these four books is absolutely the easiest rating I have ever had to give. I have read each of these books at least eight times each in my life. I still love them. The rating is well-deserved.