The Library Policeman was truly a great deal of fun. It had an engaging plot and characters that kept me hooked from start to finish.

On the other hand, Langoliers was a good story, yet it was a bit disappointing. Maybe my expectations were too high, but it didn't quite live up to what I had hoped for.

The other two novellas, unfortunately, just didn't have much of an impact on me. They seemed rather平淡 and didn't really capture my interest.

In my opinion, all of the novellas except Langoliers should have been short stories. They didn't have enough substance to warrant being full-length novellas and would have been better served in a shorter format. This way, the stories could have been more concise and to the point, without sacrificing the essence of the plot.

Overall, while The Library Policeman was a great read, the other novellas left something to be desired. However, it's important to remember that everyone has different tastes in literature, and what may not work for me might be a favorite for someone else.

Actual rating: 3.5 stars

This book is a collection of four short stories, namely "The Langoliers", "Secret Window, Secret Garden", "The Library Policeman", and "The Sun Dog".

While this collection doesn't quite measure up to King's renowned quartet "Different Seasons", it still showcases the classic Stephen King style. King has a unique ability to create vivid and immersive worlds within the pages of his stories. Each of these four tales takes the reader on a different journey, filled with suspense, mystery, and a touch of the supernatural.

"The Langoliers" is a thrilling story that keeps you on the edge of your seat. "Secret Window, Secret Garden" delves into the mind of a writer and explores themes of creativity and paranoia. "The Library Policeman" is a chilling tale that will make you think twice about overdue library books. And "The Sun Dog" is a story about a strange and disturbing phenomenon that occurs in a small town.

Overall, this collection is a must-read for fans of Stephen King and lovers of short stories. It may not be his best work, but it still has plenty to offer.

The review is only a 3 because the first two stories were at the peak of beauty, in terms of the idea, the plot, the writing style, the pacing, and everything..

I was excited to finish the book which is really thick, and this is something I really like, especially if it's a story by King

Remember The Shawshank Redemption, the beloved film based on King's novella that garnered multiple Oscar nominations. It was 1995's top video rental and went on to be preserved in the US Library of Congress's National Film Registry for its cultural significance.

How about Stand By Me, made from The Body in the same collection? That classic American coming-of-age story is rightly considered one of the greatest films of all time.

Yeah, those are from the other Stephen King novella collection. This is the one with the stories no one remembers.

I mean, maybe you remember The Langoliers. \\"They were on a plane, right?\\" You, sir, are correct. It was even made into a TV mini-series in 1995, with amazing special effects visuals.

Yep, people were definitely watching this instead of Shawshank Redemption on VHS that year. I learned after rereading the second collected novella that it was adapted into the Johnny Depp film Secret Window. The other two novellas to my knowledge didn't receive any screen treatment. For some reason there must not be a lot of appeal in filming child rape.

I definitely read this book in my teens, but it turns out that I didn't remember a whole lot. I remembered that they're on a plane in the first story. I remembered the opening of the second story. I didn't remember the third story at all, and for the last I remembered the whole camera and dog picture thing, and I very specifically remembered the details of the interest scheme on the father's loan, but I thought the story ended with the boy using the camera to bring the dog forward to save himself from a serial child killer. I'm clearly conflating that last bit with some other King story I haven't revisited yet in my publication-order reread project.

King previously reported that after finishing a big novel, he would usually have just enough juice left in him to crank out a novella next. So, this collection's novellas were generated over a span of a few years. I don't know what order they were written in, but I do know that those years included the time when King's daily substance use reached a head and he finally got sober and stuck with it. The Tommyknockers was written while fully under the influence, The Dark Half bridged his becoming sober, and Needful Things was the first novel written completely while sober. I don't know where his next published work after this collection, The Waste Lands, falls into the mix. I only know that the novellas contained herein have some problems, but what role too many drugs or not enough drugs played into each of them, I cannot say.

It's a long collection. It didn't need to be that long. At least two of the four novellas could have been short stories, in my opinion, or could have at least been severely cut back.

Here we go:

\\n  The Langoliers\\n

It's the one on the plane. Three of this book's four novellas could be termed \\"portal horror,\\" and this one is the most literally so. It's. . . okay? *shrug.* The plot is, eh, *shrug*. The characters are particularly flat for King's usual, definitely two-dimensional at best. And the villain of the piece: he is lame. Just a lame villain with a lame backstory and motivation, it's perplexing why he of all possible things was conceived. Add in The Fastest Hebrew in the West, the little blind girl, and basically every other character and I had to wonder how King was feeling those days.

What bothered me the most about this one was how all the characters, when faced with a serious time crunch before total annihilation, would constantly bring their actions to a standstill to wax philosphical about the situation and debate the metaphysics of the moment, all in overly long monologues, frequently neglecting the obvious quick words that would immediately explain everything and compel the behaviour they were going for. Like, for real, how about shouting, \\"We're not asleep!!!!\\" instead of \\"Stop! You have to turn away! Trust me on this, I just realized this vital thing over the course of the previous subchapter and there's not much time!\\" and just hoping for the best. Like, how about when several of you have already laid hands on the rolling stair cart, you just push the damn thing, instead of freezing there with your hands still on it to discuss whether you think it will still roll, because if electricity doesn't work will wheels even still work? I don't know, what would the cavemen who invented the fucking things think? PUSH for chrissake and see if the damn thing rolls already if you have any doubts.

So that's The Langoliers. It's the longest story of the bunch.

\\n  Secret Window, Secret Garden\\n

This one was alright. It plays a bit with the impostor syndrome that every writer must experience at some time. It can be read as a straight-up thriller. I remember, from my teen reading, enjoying the main character's sense of frustration about their inability to prove themself against the accusation of plagiarism that opens the story, and it was equally good this time around.

It might help that this is the shortest story of the bunch.

\\n  The Library Policeman\\n

. . . in which a wad of licorice saves the world. Twice. The same wad both times, I think.

If you were to read only one novella from this collection, I recommend this one. Not because it's necessarily the best, but it's the wildest and, I think, the most fun and deservedly memorable. If you're looking for a broad King experience without reading absolutely everything the man published, this one adds the spice to that experience. The way it started felt like a different tone for King. The opening line is great—

Everything, Sam Peebles decided later, was the fault of the goddamned acrobat.

—leads to some over-the-phone dialogue in the opening scene that was playful in a way I don't connect with King.

The story does a good job with a gradual roll-out of dread and horror. I questioned some choices by the end—the moment of insta-love and subsequent related parts for one, why virtually all of the travel sequence following Dirty Dave's backstory wasn't cut, and details about the monster, like: okay it feeds on fear but in its backstory it didn't make use of its apparent ability to create building-sized throwback illusions, or did it actually warp time somehow? Unclear. And what is Uncle Steve's thing about lisps? A baddie has a lisp here because it adds. . . something? I'm reminded of his much more recent The Institute with its final nothingburger villain with a lisp, because lisps are scary, what?

The story relied on a couple of tropes: first, the \\"plugged up tailpipe makes a car explode\\" thing, which as far as I have gathered doesn't actually happen. Second, library stacks toppling like dominoes, that comedy staple. I thought for sure that never actually happens in real life, because why wouldn't they bolt those suckers to the floor? I asked about it in a library forum and holy shit, it happens all the time! So thanks to this story, I now know to get in and out of those stacks as fast as possible from now on. Although it might be my ideal way to go. Hmm.

This story features Alcoholics Anonymous heavily, making me wonder if King had engaged in it (for the time that his sobriety stuck) prior to penning this one.

\\n  The Sun Dog\\n

Oh my god, Uncle Steve, would you please stop? Just, like, shut up once in a while. You don't have to go on an extended tangent of description for every little thing! This is the one story that was definitely just too much. The basic story about the camera with the dog in it could have been just a short story. The whole purpose of \\"introducing\\" Pop Merrill, per King's introduction to the story, hinting that it's all set up for then-upcoming Needful Things was a net loss since the dude dies. Oops, sorry, spoiler but if this dissuades you from reading the story, you owe me thanks. My take about King's whole Castle Rock sequence currently leans towards self-indulgence, and self-indulgence is the hallmark of the writing throughout this story. It's all weird asides and characterizations that are strongly King in style and not without literary purpose, in theory, but the effect is detraction. It's brutal trying to get through this story. Here, let's sample chapter 14, as the story is racing to its climax, see how you feel about it all.

The Castle Rock LaVerdiere's Super Drug Store was a lot more than just a drugstore. Put another way, it was really only a drugstore as an afterthought. It was as if someone had noticed at the last moment—just before the grand opening, say—that one of the words in the sign was still \\"Drug.\\" That someone might have made a mental note to tell someone else, someone in the company's management, that here they were, opening yet another LaVerdiere's, and they had by simple oversight neglected yet again to correct the sign so it read, more simply and accurately, LaVerdiere's Super Store. . . and, after making the mental note, the someone in charge on noticing such things had delayed the grand opening a day or two so they could shoe-horn in a prescription counter about the size of a telephone booth in the long building's furthest, darkest, and most neglected corner.

\\"Although it was named LaVerdiere's Super Drug Store, \\"drugstore\\" must have been an afterthought, as suggested by the miniscule prescription counter tucked away in the back.\\" There, was that so hard? Anyway, we've established what kind of store it is. I wonder what real-life store King was mad at? In any case, now a character of significance can walk in—

The LaVerdiere's Super Drug Store was really more of a jumped-up five-and-dime more than anything else. The town's last real five-and-dime, a long dim room with feeble, fly-specked overhead globes hung on chains and reflected murkily in the creaking but often-waxed wooden floor, had been The Ben Franklin Store. It had given up the ghost in 1978 to make way for a video-games arcade called Galaxia and E-Z Video Rentals, where Tuesday was Toofers Day and no one under the age of twenty could go in the back room

Thank you for spending a whole paragraph on a place that doesn't exist and became a place that has no bearing on this story. Now can we—

LaVerdiere's carried everything the old Ben Franklin had carried, but the goods were bathed in the pitiless light of Maxi-Glo fluorescent bars which gave every bit of stock its own hectic, feverish shimmer. Buy me! each item seemed to shriek. Buy me or you may die! Or your wife may die! Or your kids! Or your best friend! Possibly all of them at once! Why? How should I know? I'm just a brainless item sitting on a pre-fab LaVerdiere's shelf! But doesn't it feel true? You know it does! So buy me and buy me RIGHT. . . NOW!\\n

Uhh, can I call someone for you, Uncle Steve?

There was an aisle of notions, two aisles of first-aid supplies and nostrums, an aisle of video and audio tapes (both blank and pre-recorded). There was a long rack of magazines giving way to paperback books, a display of lighters under one digital cash register and a display of watches under another (a third register was hidden in the dark corner where the pharmacist lurked in his lonely shadows). Halloween candy had taken over most of the toy aisle (the toys would not only come back after Halloween but eventually take over two whole aisles as the days slid remorselessly down toward Christmas). And, like something too neat to exist in reality except as a kind of dumb admission that there was such a thing as Fate with a capital F, and that Fate might, in its own way, indicate the existence of that whole \\"other world\\" about which Pop had never before cared (except in terms of how it might fatten his pocketbook, that was) and about which Kevin Delevan had never before even thought, at the front of the store, in the main display area, was a carefully arranged work of salesmanship which was billed as the FALL FOTO FESTIVAL.

Congratulations, the characters have been mentioned. None of them are present yet, and the whole thing so far could have been, \\"Pop walked into the local generic store that happened to sell Polaroid cameras and film because the story requires this,\\" but just for funsies I'm going to ride this out until I hit the Goodreads character limit, because you must suffer as I have suffered.

This display consisted of a basket of colorful autumn leaves spilling out on the floor in a bright flood (a flood too large to actually have come from that one basket alone, a careful observer might have concluded). Amid the leaves were a number of Kodak and Polaroid cameras—several Sun 660s among the latter—and all sorts of other equipment: cases, albums, film, flashbars. In the midst of this odd cornucopia, an old-fashioned tripod rose like one of H.G. Wells's Martian death-machines towering over the crispy wreck of London. It bore a sign which told all patrons interested enough to look that this week one could obtain SUPER REDUCTIONS ON ALL POLAROID CAMERAS & ACCESSORIES!

At eight-thirty that morning, half an hour after LaVerdiere's opened for the day, \\"all patrons\\" consisted of Pop Merrill and Pop alone. He took no notice of the display but marched straight to the only open counter, where Molly Durham had just finished laying out the watches on their imitation-velvet display-cloth.

Goddamn finally a character is actually THERE.

\\nOh no, here comes old Eyeballs, she thought, and grimaced. Pop's idea of a really keen way to kill a stretch of time about as long as Molly's coffee-break was to kind of ooze up to the counter where she was working (he always picked hers, even if he had to stand in line; in fact, she thought he liked it better when there was a line) and buy a pouch of Prince Albert tobacco. This was a purchase an ordinary fellow could transact in maybe thirty seconds, but if she got Eyeballs out of her face in under three minutes, she thought she was doing very well indeed. He kept all of his money in a cracked leather purse on a chain, and he'd haul it out of his pocket—giving his doorbells a good feel on the way, it always looked to Molly—and then open it. It always gave out a little screeeeek! noise, and honest to God if you didn't expect to see a moth flutter out of it, just like in those cartoons people draw of tightwads. On top of the purse's contents there would be a whole mess of paper money, bills that looked somehow as if you shouldn't handle them, as if they might be coated with disease germs of some kind, and jingling silver underneath. Pop would fish out a dollar bill and then kind of hook the other bills to one side with one of those thick fingers of his to get to the change underneath—he'd never give you a couple of bucks, huhn-uh, that would make everything too quick to suit him—and then he'd work that out, too. And all the time his eyes would be busy, flicking down to the purse for a second or two but mostly letting the fingers sort out the proper coins by touch while his eyes crawled over her boobs, her belly, her hips, and then back up to her boobs again. Never once her face; not even so far as her mouth, which was a part of a girl in which most men seemed to be interested; no, Pop Merill was strictly interested in the lower portions of the female anatomy. When he finally finished—and no matter how quick that was, it always seemed like three times as long to Molly—and got the hell out of the store again, she always felt like going somewhere and taking a long shower.

So she braced herself, put on her best it's-only-eight-thirty-and-I've-got-send-and-a-half-hours-to-go smile, and stood at the counter as Pop approached. She told herself, He's only looking at you, guys have been doing the same since you sprouted, and that was true, but this wasn't the same. Because Pop Merrill wasn't like most of the guys who had run their eyes over her trim and eminently watchable superstructure since that time ten years ago. Part of it was that Pop was old, but that wasn't all of it. The truth was that some guys

Continuing my journey of reading/re-reading all Stephen King's books in publication order. Four Past Midnight is a short story collection from SK that I truly enjoyed. However, I have a greater preference for Skeleton Crew and Different Seasons.

The Langoliers - This one was a little gem for me. It was Sc-Fi horror, which I sometimes have difficulty with, but this particular story was right up my alley. The plot was actually really interesting and fast-paced. It was written extremely well, and the characters were incredibly well-developed. I think one of the things I love about SK's writing is his ability to bring together different personalities to create a dynamic group of people. Because of this, it reminded me of other books/short stories by SK like The Mist, The Stand, and The Dark Tower series, all of which I really love. I thought this short story was really fun. It was scary due to the sense of isolation, near-death experiences, and tragedy. I give it 4 stars.

Secret Window, Secret Garden - I always love it when SK writes his main character as an author. They are always written so perfectly, and this was no exception. Although there isn't a lot of horror, gore, and brutality in this book, it is scary because it's a deep dive into losing your mind and not knowing whether you are crazy or not. There isn't anything scarier than that. I loved the simplicity of this short story. It wasn't far-fetched or fantastical. It was just a man losing his mind, but it was done so well. I rate it 4 stars.

The Library Policeman - There were a few little Easter eggs in this one, and my favorite was the mention of Paul Sheldon. Not only did it slot into the book so effortlessly and make perfect sense, but also because Misery is one of my favorite books of all time. This short story had more of a supernatural element, which I quite enjoyed. However, it did just get weirder and weirder, and it started to lose me a little in the middle. A lot of this short story is written as a side character telling the main character a story of his own, and it just felt a little flat. I think perhaps it's because we didn't have enough time to get to know the storyteller. It did have some truly scary moments and managed to remind the reader of their childhood fears and feelings well, but there was something missing for me in this one. I give it 3.5 stars.

The Sun Dog - There was a nice little mention of Christine in this one, as well as a mention of Shawshank. I thought this one was the least scary of the four in this collection. Pop is a really interesting character, though he is so creepy. Cujo is mentioned in this book, but there aren't many similarities other than the main source of horror being a dog. This is a completely different story. One that unfortunately didn't fully capture my imagination. I feel like it could have been taken further. Right at the end of this book, we do get some really well-written body horror, which bumped this one up a star for sure. I rate it 3.5 stars.

Overall, it's a decent set of short stories. However, if I were to re-read this, I feel like I would just read the first two books in the collection again and skip the other two.

This was such a fun read!

Each of the novellas was very interesting in its own way. There was a unique charm and allure to every single one of them. They took the reader on different adventures and explored various themes and ideas.

But in particular, I loved The Langoliers. It had a certain something that really grabbed my attention and held it throughout. The concept was fascinating, and the way it was developed and presented was truly masterful. It kept me on the edge of my seat, wondering what was going to happen next. The characters were well-written and engaging, and I found myself really caring about what happened to them. Overall, The Langoliers was a standout novella in this collection, and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great read.

The first two stories were rather on the dull side. This was mostly because I had already seen the movies based on them.

The third story, titled "The Library Policeman", was actually quite good up until a certain moment that requires trigger warnings.

A young boy is raped and the description of what it feels like is provided. I was initially going to say that it was too detailed, but in fact, any description of such a traumatic event is simply too much.

The fourth story, "The Sun Dog", was the only one among the four that I truly enjoyed. It had a unique charm and a captivating plot that kept me engaged from start to finish.

Overall, while some of the stories had their flaws, "The Sun Dog" stood out as a bright spot in this collection.

A woman who would steal your love when your love was truly all you had to give was not much of a woman at all. It's a thought-provoking statement that makes one wonder about the nature of love and betrayal.

Reviewing collections can be an arduous task, and right now my brain feels like literal mush. So, to make it easier, I'll break it down story by story.

The Langoliers might just be my favorite in this collection. From the very beginning, it seized my attention and held on tight! Flying is already scary enough, but imagine waking up from your in-flight snooze to find the plane almost empty. It's eerie stuff indeed. I give it 4 stars.

I had never watched the movie Secret Window featuring Johnny Depp before, so I went into the novella (Secret Window, Secret Garden) with no prior knowledge. This was probably a big reason why I found it quite enjoyable. Although it was somewhat predictable, I liked the themes and the general storyline about every author's worst nightmare - the accusation of plagiarism. It gets 4 stars from me.

As for The Library Policeman, geez, that was a tough read. It was an entertaining story, but I can't remember the last time I had to put aside a book because a scene was too graphic for me. I also got some intense Pennywise vibes from our featured creature! It's a stark reminder to everyone to return their library books! I rate it 3.5 stars.

As always, it was nice to visit Castle Rock in The Sun Dog. The story revolves around a Polaroid camera that is producing some strange and alarming photos. And we get to spend some time with a member of the infamous Merrill family. However, maybe this would have been better suited as a short story rather than a novella - I thought it dragged on a bit. But I loved the Lovecraft shoutouts with the mention of Arkham and Dunwich! It earns 3.5 stars.

Overall, this is an entertaining collection. A welcome addition is King's introduction to each story - I always enjoy these. I give the collection 3.5 stars.

This work by King, first published in 1990, enters the ranks of his few books that have left a bitter taste in my mouth. To be honest, it's not really a proper novel but just a collection of four short stories in which the writer, so to speak, pays homage to his profession and his own creative inspiration. The first three stories, to be fair, I liked but not with great enthusiasm; the fourth and last one, instead, completely disappointed me to the point that I was almost about to give up reading it. Let's briefly analyze the four stories:

1. The Langoliers - From a plane that crosses a strange temporal anomaly, only the passengers (including an off-duty pilot) who were sleeping at that precise moment are saved. All the others disappear literally into nothing. When the pilot manages to land the plane, the survivors find themselves in a world completely devoid of colors, sounds, smells, and any form of life. Not everyone will be able to accept the new reality, and one in particular will go completely crazy. While strange monstrous beings appear that devour (literally) what remains of the world, one of the group of survivors, a science fiction novelist, intuits that to return to their time they will have to make, with the plane, the reverse journey. But the question is obvious: since on the way there they were all sleeping, who will have to sacrifice themselves to allow the others to fall asleep without crashing the plane? A novel that, as you could understand, deals with the theme of science fiction (specifically, time travel) in the style of "At the Edge of Reality", an old and popular TV series.

2. Secret Window, Secret Garden - If in the first story the hero was a writer, this time another writer becomes the crazy murderer of the turn. So we have a successful writer who goes crazy believing in the existence of an unidentified man who has plagiarized one of his old novels very well and who is now blackmailing him for the paternity of the work. The writer, in the end, arrives at killing anyone who gets in his way towards absolute madness. Of this story, a few years ago, a very beautiful film (titled Secret Window) was also made, starring an excellent Johnny Depp. Of the four stories that make up the book, this is by far the best, although in some points the plot follows a little too much "The Dark Half", another book by Stephen King that came out the previous year.

3. The Library Policeman - With this story, King returns to the genre most suitable for him: horror. A man goes to a library to get a couple of books and is courteously welcomed by a strange employee who, later, chases him away in a bad way but reminds him to return the books within a week. The man, instead, forgets (he even loses the books) and, therefore, is persecuted by a thug who claims to be the library policeman. At this point, to save himself, the man intuits that he must necessarily return to that strange library and face the employee who, obviously, will turn out to be a monster that feeds on the fears of others. Also this story, like the previous one, seems to follow too faithfully "It", another old book by Stephen King.

4. The Photocane - And here is the story that literally bored me. This time we have a boy who, on the occasion of his birthday, is given a Polaroid camera by his father that develops photos instantly. Soon the two will notice that the camera, regardless of what is framed, always develops the same photo: a dog that is jumping towards the lens of the camera itself. In the end, the boy understands that that infernal dog has rabies and that it will jump out of the last photo that will be taken. How to stop it since the same camera will try not to be destroyed? As for the two previous stories, also this time I noticed a certain self-celebratory mania of Stephen King: the facts of this story, in which a monstrous dog with rabies is talked about, take place in Castle Rock... the same location where King, in 1981, set the book "Cujo" which, by the way, was, for those who didn't know, a dog with rabies.

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The Langoliers - *****

Secret Window, Secret Garden - ****

The Library Policeman - ***

The Sun Dog - ****

I have always been a huge fan of Stephen King's works. One thing that really intrigues me is when he introduces a story with a short intro on how the story came to be. It gives me a deeper understanding and connection to the story. It's like he is sharing a little piece of his creative process with the readers. Some might think it's too much info, but for me, it's a fascinating insight into the mind of a master storyteller. Each of these stories has its own unique charm and atmosphere. The Langoliers is a thrilling tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Secret Window, Secret Garden is a psychological thriller that delves into the mind of a writer. The Library Policeman is a creepy story that will give you nightmares. And The Sun Dog is a strange and wonderful story that combines elements of horror and science fiction. Overall, I would rate this collection 4 stars. It's a great read for any fan of Stephen King or horror fiction in general.

Audiobook – Narrated by - Various.

I have a great affection for the stories within this book. However, I must admit that some of the narrators failed to truly bring the stories to life, and the background music was extremely irritating!

Secret Window, Secret Garden – Narrated by James Woods.

The Sun Dog – Narrated by Tim Sample.

The Library Policeman – Narrated Ken Howard.

The Langoliers – Narrated by Willem Dafoe.

***

Ebook:

SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN – 4**** I absolutely loved it. Although I was able to figure out what was happening early on in the story, it didn't in any way reduce my enjoyment.

SUN DOG - 4**** I also adored this one, mainly because it was set in Castle Rock.

THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN – 4**** I loved it. Ardeilia Lortz really gave me the creeps!

THE LANGOLIERS – 3*** The beginning was a bit slow-paced.

***

CONNECTIONS:

SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN

After finishing The Dark Half, I immediately read this story and couldn't help but notice that John Shooter had Mississippi plates on his car, just like George Stark's black Toronado. Mort and Amy Rainey lived in Derry before their divorce. They also owned a summerhouse in Tashmore Glen. Additionally, Charlie McGee's grandfather, Granther, had a cottage on Tashmore Pond. The Tashmore Methodist Church is also mentioned in several stories. The Royal typewriter was used by Mort Rainey and George Stark, and Annie Wilkes bought one for Paul Sheldon. Witcham Street appears in multiple stories, as does Mechanic Falls and Kansas Street in Derry. John Shooter shares his name with other places in different stories, and Sonny Trotts shares his surname with someone else. Bates College shares its name with Kathy Bates and the Bates Motel. Richard Perkins shares his surname with an actor.

SUN DOG.

The story is set in Castle Rock. Lewiston is also a location that appears in many of Stephen King's works. There are several characters who make appearances in multiple stories, such as Reginald "Pop" Merrill, Ace Merrill, Norris Ridgewick, Andy Clutterbuck, Alan Pangborn, and more. There are also various locations and establishments that are mentioned in different stories, like Shawshank State Prison, Watermill Lane, Nan's Luncheonette, and more. Kevin has a nightmare where he dreams of being in Oatley, and there are references to other stories and elements, like the "Fushing feef, fushing FEEF!" from The Talisman, the Tin Bridge, Juniper Hill, and more.

THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN:

This book reminded me a great deal of IT, although I'm not entirely sure why. Even though the story is set in Junction City, Iowa, while reading it, I felt as if I was in Derry. Ardelia Lortz reminded me of Leland Gaunt and Pennywise, especially because of her eyes. Junction City, Iowa is also the place where Leland Gaunt opened a shop after leaving Castle Rock. There are several characters who share names with others in different stories, like Tansy Power, Hannah Verrill, and more. There are also references to other elements, like the Dark Man, Gramma Moses, Paul Sheldon and his books, and more.

THE LANGOLIERS:

The Shop is mentioned, which also appears in other stories like The Stand, Firestarter, and The Tommyknockers. There are references to smiley face stickers/buttons, which are also present in other works like The Sand and DT7 – The Dark Tower.

This is a novel that contains four completely different stories. Only Stephen King could have a collection of stories with an average length of 200 pages each. Am I right?

I'm taking my time with it, so I'll be reviewing one at a time for an unspecified amount of time.

The Langoliers Years ago, while flipping channels, I happened to see a part of this movie. It was the part where they were explaining what was happening, but I'm proud to say that it didn't reduce the suspense of this story at all. In fact, it's the reason I picked up this collection in the first place.

Most of us probably don't need much encouragement to feel anxious while flying, but King gives us a tale that takes place on a flight from LA to Boston.

(767 - same model as the story)

Not long after the flight begins, some passengers wake up to find almost everyone gone. The first assumption is that they were drugged and the rest of the passengers were somehow offloaded. But then other things start to happen...

The characters are introduced, and we find that there is a pilot, a teenage musician, a druggie, a psychotic businessman, an author (I couldn't believe it either), and more. In total, there are only 11 people left on the plane.

Using deduction, thanks to our author, the passengers slowly start to figure out what is going on. The first thing they have to find out is who's flying the plane. Quickly, they start to piece things together, and without giving anything away, the way King reveals each of these details is simply amazing. Up until the very end, he continued to surprise me, and I was having the same reactions as each of the passengers - "How did I miss that?!" When they're heading into the time-rip and Bob Jenkins (the author) realizes they need to be asleep. I couldn't believe I didn't think of that from the beginning

One thing I didn't understand was why the pilot, who was warned of the Aurora Borealis, never brought it up. I kept waiting for that to happen, although it wasn't incredibly important since it was mostly covered by Jenkins. It still didn't make sense that he never revealed the information he had.

When they say King is the master of suspense, they're not kidding. Even knowing about some of the mysteries ahead of time, I was hooked on this book from page one. (4/5)

Secret Window, Secret Garden

The Library Policeman

The Sun Dog