#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER From the legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary collection of four new “exceptionally compelling novellas that reaffirm [King’s] mastery of the form” (The Washington Post). Readers adore Stephen King’s novels, and his novellas are their own dark treat, briefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. … just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. Many of his novellas have been made into iconic films, including “The Body” (Stand By Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (Shawshank Redemption).
Four brilliant new tales in If It Bleeds are sure to prove as iconic as their predecessors. Once again, King’s remarkable range is on full display. In the title story, reader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider) must face her fears, and possibly another outsider–this time on her own. In “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. “The Life of Chuck” explores, beautifully, how each of us contains multitudes. And in “Rat,” a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition.
If these novellas show King’s range, they also prove that certain themes endure. One of King’s great concerns is evil, and in If It Bleeds, there’s plenty of it. There is also evil’s opposite, which in King’s fiction often manifests as friendship. Holly is reminded that friendship is not only life-affirming but can be life-saving. Young Craig befriends Mr. Harrigan, and the sweetness of this late-in-life connection is its own reward.
“Exactly what I wanted to read right now,” said Ruth Franklin in a rave on the cover of The New York Times Book Review. “Phenomenal,” said Brian Truitt in USA TODAY. “King still owns the fright business like none other.”
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Like most of you, I devour everything Stephen King puts down on paper. He plays a great long game but it’s with short stories and novellas where he shines brightest and this latest collection of four may be his best yet. Over recent years his love for authors such as Michael Connelly, Don Winslow, and Meg Gardiner have crept into his own work, adding a realistic police procedural element to some of his tales. Combining with his uncanny ability to make the unbelievable believable, he tends to strike gold—the title story in this book being a great example.
IF IT BLEEDS gives us a welcome glimpse into the life of Holly Gibney, his detective of choice for the twenty-first century. Alan Pangborn 2.0 for those of us who have been reading his work for a while. The story picks up after the events of THE OUTSIDER and answers a question not only for Holly but us readers—was the monster in that book alone in the world? I imagine the executive in charge of THE OUTSIDER Season Two over at HBO perked up when this one crossed his or her desk.
RAT and MR. HARRIGAN’S PHONE will satisfy those Constant Readers who regularly say things like, “I’ll read the new stuff but it’s the books from the ‘80s that really hooked me.” Either would fit perfectly in earlier collections like NIGHT SHIFT or SKELETON CREW. If you’ve ever tried to write a novel, RAT in particular will claw under your skin. There’s a certain anxiety only writers know, one that comes from staring at a blank page for a little too long or just as bad—reading something you just wrote and wondering about your word choice. A simile is not the same as a metaphor and neither are quite an analogy and you can drive yourself mad spilling red ink as you swap one for the other.
My personal favorite (and we all have one after reading a book like this, right?) was THE LIFE OF CHUCK. In his author’s note, King mentions how this story came together. I won’t reveal that here, I’ll only say that it works. It works wonderfully. It worked well enough for me to put on my student cap and map out the structure on a piece of paper. Some stories have a rhythm, a beat to them, and this is one you can dance to.
This collection has a little something for everyone—the hardcore fans, newbies, and even those people who harp, “Oh, that King guy is too scary for me.” The latter may need to leave a few extra lights on but they’ll find themselves flipping the pages as fast as the rest of us.
I have never read a single thing by Stephen King that hasn’t scared me, moved me, made me think, or floored me with his sheer power as a writer and a storyteller. And I sometimes think his novellas are the best of all — if not the most iconic. This is a dark and engrossing collection.
As a long-time fan of Stephen King who suddenly found myself in the midst of a VERY busy week, I needed a set of shorter fiction to get me through–and this fit the bill. Entertaining, engaging, darkly intriguing, and with all the character-building present in King’s longer works, I highly recommend this collection for fans of Nightmares and Dreamscapes. (The Rat was my favorite story in the collection–save that one to the end!)
I, of course, love everything this man writes. I said it before and I’ll say it again—he may be a horror writer, but he’s also an idealist, a feminist and a romantic. This book is one of his collections of short stories/novellas. I liked it because he plays with form in a couple, and a couple have characters from previous, current novels of his. But it doesn’t matter if you’ve met those characters or not—has nothing to do with these stories. Just a nice little added plus if you have…
If you haven’t read Stephen King, you could get an introduction here to his voice and style, without having your shirt scared completely off your back! 🙂
This book is a solid four stars. I’m not big on short stories or novellas, never have been. Mostly because if I drop into the fictive dream and I’m enjoying the story it ends too soon and I feel shorted. I make the exception with King. I’m still working my way through his short work. I started reading his short work with Full Dark No Stars, what a great bevy of short stories.
If It Bleeds is comprised of four novellas, the first of which is Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. This one is standard fare from King, I enjoyed it. For me it was a tad predictable and not as creative as I’d come to expect from him.
The next one, all on its own, was worth the price of admission. That’s the way it goes sometimes. The Life of Chuck is excellent. It is creative not only in concept but in structure as well, a true mind bender with the comparison of the multitude of thoughts to the number of stars in the universe. For me it was stunning.
The third one, the title of the compilation, If It Bleeds, hit a sour note for me, a dud. This is the one that kept the book from five-star status. It almost felt like King was writing a new novel, lost interest, waved his magic wand and call it a novella. Part of the problem I think is that the conflict wasn’t set well enough-early enough. He didn’t catch my attention until the mole showed up which was too far into the story.
The fourth and final story, Rat is back to the standard King fare. I enjoyed it and stayed up late into the night to finish it. This is a well-used trope that King breathed new life into.
These stories are not gory and are more a haunting than horror. I recommend this one.
David Putnam author of The Bruno Johnson Series.
I only read the first novella so far as a sample, bit really enjoyed the storyline and the character builds. As usual, King makes his characters relatable and locales have that hometown – or at least familiar – feel. The main character’s relationship with his neighbor is heartwarming.
Ever since “Salem’s Lot”, I’ve been a Stephen King fan. Many of his early books still grace my bookcases. But then I quit reading his work. I don’t remember why, but it was around the time of the Dark Tower series.
“If It Bleeds” is a collection of four novellas, and I really liked three of them. “Mr. Harringan’s Phone” and “Rat” both reminded me of his earlier works … why I was such a fan.
Of the four, “If It Bleeds” was my favorite, maybe because I am originally from Pittsburgh. There were references to preceding events (a cave in Texas) and “off stage” characters that I didn’t get, but I learned in the Author’s Note at the end that Holly, main character in “If It Bleeds” is a minor character in a previous novel. I might have to go back and look that one up.
I did not like “The Life of Chuck” at all — and it was because of the sequence of the three acts. I did enjoy the street music scene, but the rest of the story was confusing when told in reverse.
After reading this collection, I think that I will go back and add some of Mr. King’s more recent releases to my TBR list.
King hooked me with The Stand. I’ve been reading him ever since. Let It Bleed was like listening to Springsteen and being relieved that some artists endure. King will never fade away.
King is a master at creating tension and in this collection of short stories, he downplays the element of horror. I especially enjoyed his first story about a young boy living in a small town. And if you’re an aspiring novelist, make sure you read the last story, and you may find yourself chuckling, as I did.
I enjoyed all four new novellas, but my favorite was “Rat.” It reminded me of the scorpion and the frog when the rat said, “You knew I was a rat when you took me in.” I highly recommend this read! So glad that I bought it in the hardcover, now I can continue to enjoy it for years to come.
I love Stephen King—and I always make a point to not read the summaries or book blurbs when I grab one of his stories. Therefore, I was halfway through Part 2, when I relented and read the book flap, and my confusion went away…as I learned it was four short stories. I loved them all—but most especially If It Bleeds. Holly Gibney is one of my favorite, if not my favorite, King character and this was such a fast-paced story, full of intrigue, and scares!
I absolutely love Stephen Kings books and have all of them in my collection. This one was interesting as it was four stories in one book. It confused me at first but then I realized that the stories seemed to have ended and another one different started. OK, so I can be dense sometimes. I found the stories to be in his style and moved along quickly.
The only thing I did not appreciate about this book was the political comments. I know that Mr. King and I have different views on politics and I see some of his posts on different sites but when I purchase a book to read for enjoyment I don’t want any political slams or comments about our current situation. This was defiantly not the place for it.
This is a collection of four short works, novellas in length I believe. If I have a knock on the book, it’s that there isn’t really a good connection across the stories and “If It Bleeds” reads more like a novel that just didn’t quite pass the length test to be standalone. In the end, I don’t care, because I enjoyed all four stories and several were pure ‘King.’ I’ve written a little about each of the four stories below.
“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone”
King might be at his best when he writes from a child’s perspective. Think of IT, “The Body”, or more recently “The Institute.’ Or consider some of his standout child characters such as Danny Torrance (“The Shining”) or Charlie McGee (“Firestarter”). And somehow, he nails adult relationships from a child’s viewpoint, which is sheer talent, in my book. Anyways, that’s the highlight for me in this excellent tale, the relationship between Craig, the young protagonist, and Mr. Harrigan. Of course, the ‘monkey paw’ horror component works too, but that’s just the icing on the cake.
“The Life of Chuck”
In my opinion, this is the weakest of the four stories in this collection. It’s a three-part tale told in reverse and a little gimmicky, not that I mind a bit of plot trickery in shorter works. You figure out the overall premise of the work, about halfway through the first tale (which is the ending), and it’s kind of fun to work backwards, but I enjoyed the first part the most.
“If It Bleeds”
“If it bleeds, it leads,” is an old newspaper/television reporter axiom. In this tale, we get the return of ‘Holly Gibney.’ She is quickly becoming one of King’s favorite and most defined characters. We met her in the Mr. Mercedes series, and she returned in “The Outsider.” She goes solo (mostly), in this story. It’s similar to the second half of “The Outsider”, but well written and carried me along with strong currents both due to Holly, but also a thrilling plot. At nearly 200 pages, I think King could have expanded this into a standalone novel. Maybe add a James Bond type opening (an unrelated mini-adventure), and another scene here or there and he’d be at 300 pages. Oh well, I enjoyed it, I just hate for Holly to have to share the limelight with three other novellas!
“Rat”
I love when Stephen King writes about writing. Why? Well first, he knows a little about it. He’s not afraid to express his fears about writing poorly or about ‘losing the words.’ To me, when his character is an author, it always feels personal and honest. For maximum impact, I recommend you read this story, while you are fifty percent complete of a full-length novel like I am. Much of the plot concerns our main character, ‘Drew,’ and his experiences attempting to finish a novel. King points out that with every scene written, the author loses a bit of choice until at some point you’re left in a ‘cow chute.’ Or, even worst, the words just might dry up. Any when you’ve invested a good bit of your time and a little of your soul in fifty percent of a novel, it’s a little terrifying to think about a premature expiry. Anyway, I loved ‘Rat,’ but for me personally, it’s a true stomach-turning, horror story!
Overall, I give the whole collection four stars. “The Life of Chuck” drags it down a little, but in my opinion “If It Bleeds” had the potential to be a full length novel and didn’t deserve to share the pages with the other three. Still, three excellent stories and a fully entertaining reading experience.
I enjoyed every word! This is an amazing collection of tales and exactly the type of skilled storytelling I’ve come to expect from King. Hard to say which was my favourite story as they were all captivating. At a push, If it Bleeds because of Holly. I hope we’ll hear more from her.
All I can say is Thank you again, Mr King. It is such a pleasure to let his writing carry me away to other places and into other people’s lives. I’ve said this before many times, and this collection demonstrated it again – King’s writing makes me forget that I am reading. Everything is effortless and such an imagination trip. However I cannot imagine how hard he must work to make everything read so easily and naturally while still being a ripping story. I can’t wait for the next, but I will!
I Love Stephen King novels!!
If readers think that Stephen King only writes horror fiction, here is another book that disproves these assumptions. Four new stories, one novella size, some familiar characters, some new. As always, our master storyteller has done what he does so well, entertain while occasionally encouraging us to exercise our grey matter.
In Mr. Harrigan’s phone we contemplate the wonders of our modern technological world as they challenge the realities of our existence and the merits of a benevolent life.The Life of Chuck is a three act vignette with an existential twist.
While I love the characters returning from the Outsiders trilogy, and I always love Mr. King’s talent to tell, as with the trilogy, I am not always enamored with what I call the ultra-extreme unreal monster vogue. Rat is vintage King, returning to the realm of the struggling author, his family, and the tragedy that will surely ensue. Loved it!
Say what you want, history will tell us if in this talented writer we have a next millennium Dickens or perhaps, Poe!
This may be my favorite of King’s short story/novella collections – which would have been hard for me to imagine.
I love this book. I had a hard time putting it down.
If It Bleeds is a collection of four novellas with common themes of death, change and the hardship that comes with it, things so prevalent in King’s later works. I wouldn’t say I’m a King superfan, but I have read most of his novels and as an author am somewhat in awe of his incredible productivity. He’s a bit of what I’d call a ‘Netflix writer’. He puts out loads of stuff across a range of genres and most of it is good.
My favourite King stories by far are the earlier ones, the pure horror of ‘Salem’s Lot or the (sometimes over-pretentious) apocalyptic drama of The Stand are among my favourite books of all time and helped me branch out from reading fantasy into new and wonderful things.
Consequently, the two stories that bookend this collection, Mr Harrigan’s Phone and Rat are the ones I enjoyed the most, maybe because they read like vintage eighties or nineties King. The first mixes otherworldly hauntings with our increasing reliance on technology. The second, Rat, is an amazing twist on the classic Monkey Paw/Deal with the Devil trope that everyone — not just authors — will be able to identify with. You know that feeling when you are so close to doing something, be it finishing a novel, or scoring a touchdown, or winning a race … you just need that little extra push … What would you sacrifice to obtain it?
The other two stories that make up the collection, The Life of Chuck and If It Bleeds, I was less impressed with. The Life of Chuck reads like King had three separate ideas and tried to weave them together into a cohesive whole, with middling results. If It Bleeds is more an investigative thriller with a smidgen of horror, just like the other books in the Mercedes/Outsider trilogies. Holly is a well-written character, but the plot was far too slow and meandering for my taste.