You like it darker by Stephen King: book review

They tell you that You like it darker – Leap into the dark (ed. Sperling & Kupfer, translated by Luca Briasco), the most recent book by Stephen Kingcollects 12 stories? It’s not exactly like that. Why one is a novellathat is, a short novel by over 150 pages (544 in total). And it’s not just a detail in the short stories the King gives his best.

This one, which is called Danny Coughlin’s Nightmare, not only is it no exception but it is also among the most successful. L’surreal element (the dream in which a poor man sees, with unusually vivid outlines, the corpse of a woman who was a victim of rape and then, upon awakening, even manages to geolocate her) does not detract from the realism of the plot. The scruple of conscience of the protagonist who stages an anonymous phone call to report the crime to the police, the suspicion that mounts against him, the ostracism of a simple-minded community. A case of bad justice particularly exciting precisely by virtue of the irrational premises. It is worth the price of the collection alone, of which here I summarize my opinion on the other 11 stories. One by one…

Two talented bastards: a couple of friends without particular artistic talents break into fiction and painting thanks to a stroke of luck. Horrifying version of a plot started by none other than Woody Allen with his films on the pre-eminence of chance (Match Points And Coup de Chance). But I warn you that the stratagem King uses is a little banal.

The fifth step: powerful flash on alcoholism – just 10 pages – and the desire to quit it. Everything very fast, very raw and unfortunately very true.

Weird Willy: the relationship of trust between a boy with mental difficulties and his grandfather. It seems to me more than a story trace of an unfinished novelbecause it resolves nothing and dissolves into an insipid ending.

Finn: a boy haunted by bad luck is kidnapped by a gang, led by a deranged man, who mistakes him for another person. Days of hell described in detail. A landmark of gender.

Along Slide Inn Road: a family’s journey to say goodbye to a relative turns into a drama when the car gets stuck near the scene of a crime. With the assassins very present and active. The final twist manages to be even funny.

The red screen: short and chilling version 2.0 de Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It scares and makes you think on the involution of society.

The turbulence expert: a man endowed with such psychic strength as to govern the elements, is sent for a handsome salary aboard flights that encounter severe turbulence. Great test of imaginationI have to say.

Laurie: a widower is forced by his sister to accept the company of a dog, who he slowly becomes fond of. Very strange story because the plot has nothing to do with the dog but only with the owner, who faces an alligator after seeing it tear a man to pieces and neutralizes it while waiting for the forestry officer. I don’t know.

Rattlesnakes: long story about the painful reminiscences of an elderly man tried by life and of a woman destined for a bad end. The idea is excellent but wasted by fashion horror.

The dreamers: a skilled stenographer accepts a job with a mad scientist whose experiments he describes, with growing anguish. Nice metaphor on steps longer than the leg.

The answer man: a young graduate solves a dilemma by meeting a man with foresight. Great conclusion to the anthology. Perhaps the best story King ever wrote.