Justin

Night Shift: This is like Lovecraft but with actual good characters and comprehensive vocabulary! 7/10

Graveyard Shift - RATS. Probably should not have read in a loud café for the true immersion, but still kinda spooky - just doesn't feel very unique. Just big carnivorous rats. 7/10

Night Surf - oh boy, a post-apocalyptic drama about overcoming prejudice after the wake of a virus from “Hong Kong” that was downplayed as just a flu. 7/10 in retrospect to current events

I Am The Night - it's a slightly spooky body horror with a narrator descending into insanity, but it's not exactly scary or well written. Not much of consequence happens - the character dynamics weren't explored enough for it to make an impact to make it feel like anything did. So...eh. A very low 6/10

The Mangler - Seems like an experiment to make a mildly scary machine scary and it worked with the amount of mystery surrounding it. Was I scared? Not particularly, but it was well written given the concept. Interesting ending too. 7/10 (which if anything, this book has been consistent in delivering 7/10 stories)

The Boogeyman - 6/10. One of the more “serious” and non-pulpy horror stories here, but it doesn't make an impact like it's supposed to for me. Probably the minority in this, was wondering what the point was aside from making the reader feel miserable - up until the end which I found sort of cheap. Not a great horror story, but a sad tragedy.

Gray Matter - 7/10. A little disappointed since this was supposed to be THE best story out of the bunch. But aside from that ending, the story wasn't any better from the rest. Great ending though holy cow, and the way it builds up to that ending was cool. But it didn't exactly scare me.

Battleground - 7/10. I'm pretty sure this is supposed to be read as a dark comedy and honestly, it's pretty funny imagining toy soldiers absolutely destroying this dude. Man just can't catch a break.

Trucks - 6/10. Arguably the weakest story here. I get King's schtick to make the not scary scary, but sentient trucks taking over the world is far too much of a stretch for me. It's written fine, but there wasn't enough time to develop either the concepts or characters.

Sometimes They Come Back - 8/10. Actually a really thrilling and interesting character study about a man who abides by the law and is still haunted, almost arbitrarily, by gangs. Very interesting story, my personal favorite thus far.

Strawberry Summer (8/10). Surprise favorite thus far, so quaint and restrained in talking about the terror - which makes it scarier that the narrator has grown cold to it. I just really liked the vibe the story was giving off.

The Ledge - just a good story, and then that ending hits and it satisfies that primal instinct for revenge. One of the rare King endings where it's actually really really satisfying and outclasses the rest of the story. 7.5/10

Lawnmower Man - 7/10. I actually don't know what to rate this, but reading this literally minutes after watching some Chainsaw Man actually made this 10x more entertaining. Idk what tone this was going for, but imagining a Lawnmower Man drawn in the way of Chainsaw Man gave me a good laugh.

Quitters Inc - 9/10. Best story so far. Don't want to say more than that to preserve the story but this is the one that I am walking away from feeling a bit shaken. Taps into a now newfound fear of mine.

I Know What You Need - 6/10. It's good, but lacks that extra stuff that makes this story stand out from the usual fare. The protagonist is too passive and the romance as a result isn't very convincing, which is the point but it doesn't make the ending have that impact it should have had.

Children of the Corn - 7/10. Evil children can be scary, but the concept runs thin even for a short story. Typical scary cult story, but it is an interestingly macabre idea for it to revolve around Christ like that. Other than that, it's just another typical good story.

The Last Rung on the Ladder - 7/10. Surprisingly somber and bereft of any supernatural horror, it is probably the most out of place story in this collection. It's melancholic and tragic, but it just doesn't develop the deceased character outside of the tragic incident. It's still a good story nonetheless.

The Man Who Loved Flowers - 6/10. Interesting concept, but a little half baked in execution. Caught me by surprise but just lacked the build up for that ending.

One For the Road - 7/10. Another story that falls into the “it was good camp”. It builds the mystery as to what the secret is (even though I knew it bc of Salem's Lot's concept) and actually builds interesting foreshadowing around it. It's just the story itself isn't great and the climax isn't long enough to justify it. Still good.

The Woman in the Room - 8/10. Surprisingly realistic horror to end off on. Used the narrative trick of ending off a section mid sentence a bit too much, but it also is intentionally disorienting. A very painful scenario that I'm surprised made it in this collection, as it's not horror but instead a frighteningly realistic situation. Good story.

So even if the average is a 7/10, it is very consistent in delivering the scares and the concepts elevate it above its execution, if that makes any sense. My time spent with this book was time well spent.

Can sense that this book was really good, but so much of it went over my head that I can't say I enjoyed it so much. Well written, but not enough for me to want to reread it again to decipher what happened. Glad I read it however.