Back when I was in my teens I used to love Stephen Kind and would practically devour everything he published – especially his earlier “full-time horror” novels like ‘The Shining’ & ‘IT’. Somewhere along the line, my dwindling attention span combined with King’s tendency to increasingly verge towards the metaphysical made me give up on him and his high page-count books altogether.

Having recently picked up and largely enjoyed some of Joe King’s work (check out my earlier reviews of ‘Heart Shaped Box’ and ‘Horns’), Amazon deemed it appropriate to suggest I buy one of Stephen King’s short story collections, ‘Full Dark, No Stars’. I thought it was about time I gave the ol’ boy another chance and I am delighted that I did.

Shorter stories seem to be this guy’s major strength and the ‘Full Dark, No Stars’ collection features what’s possibly some of his best writing to date. Focusing on the inherent darkness of human nature, instead of on the supernatural, his stories are relatable, creepy and stay with you long after you’ve finished them.

I don’t really want to give anything away, so I’m not gonna go into more detail regarding each of the stories. I’ll only say that, if you are a fan of the genre in general and Stephen King in particular, this is one book you definitely need to check out.

As for me, faith in this guy now properly restored, I’ll be picking up another of his short story collections (“Everything’s Eventual’ or maybe ‘Just After Sunset’) next.

Mass Market Paperback: 576 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books; Reprint edition (September 20, 2011)
ISBN-10: 143919260X
ISBN-13: 978-1439192603

Find it in English here
Find it in Greek here

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