title: Just After Sunset
author: Stephen King
genre: horror/short stories
pages: 367
published: 2008
first line: You don't see what's right in front of your eyes, she'd said, but sometimes he did.
My son gave me Just After Sunset for this past Christmas and I just now finally got some time to read it. Being a big King fan, I have been eager to sit down with this one.
The 13 stories in this collection are:
Willa: A group of travelers are stranded at a railroad station waiting for the next train to come. A man named David is trying to find his fiancee, Willa. He finds her in the local honky-tonk, but things aren't what they seem.
The Gingerbread Girl: **my favorite** A woman named Em suffers a horrible loss and starts running. It's her way to get away from her problems. Soon enough Em runs away from her husband and hops on a plane to Florida. While there, on one of her daily runs, she winds up running into a psychopath.
Harvey's Dream: Harvey is sitting one morning in the kitchen while his wife is preparing deviled eggs. He tells her about a nightmare he had the night before and spooks her a bit. The nightmare began with a phonecall. When Harvey is done telling his tale, the phone rings.
Rest Stop: Author John Dykstra is traveling home from a writers group meeting. He pulls over to a rest stop to use the bathroom when he hears two people arguing in the ladies room. He soon finds out a man is beating a woman. He wonders what he should do.
Stationary Bike: Artist Richard Sefkitz begins to ride a stationary bike at his home after his doctor tells him his cholesterol reading is too high.
He paints a scene on the blank wall in front of his bike to imagine himself in the scene. The more he rides, the more lifelike his 'bike trips' become.
The Things They Left Behind: A man who worked in the Twin Towers calls out of work on 9/11 and is saved. Everyone in his office perishes on that horrific day. He does feel survivors guilt, and little by little his co-workers personal office items and gadgets begin to appear in his apartment. He wonders if he is going insane or if the items are really appearing there on thier own.
Graduation Afternoon: An atomic bomb lands in the city one afternoon while highschool graduates look on.
N.: A psychiatrist treats a patient who suffers from OCD. The doctor soon wonders if his patients OCD has passed on to himself.
The Cat from Hell: An old man hires a hitman named Haltson to kill a cat that he believes is a demon. The hitman thinks it will be an easy task to get rid of the cat, turns out he is sadly mistaken.
The New York Times at Special Bargain Rates: A widow's telephone rings and when she answers the call, she hears her dead husband on the other line. It turns out he'd been trying to call her seconds before he died in a plane crash so now, even in death, his cell phone still works from the other side.
Mute: A man gives what he thinks to be a deaf and mute hitchiker a ride. During the car ride, he tells the hitchiker all about his problems with his cheating wife.
Ayana: A child named Ayana can heal the sick. She passes this gift on to a man whose father is dying of colon cancer.
A Very Tight Place: Curtis Johnson and his neighbor Grunwald used to be friends, but now are worst enemies. Grunwald devises a very nasty plan to kill Johnson off.
I've heard that some of these stories were previously published, I myself haven't read any before. I do remember The Cat from Hell being part of Tales from the Darkside the movie.
Among my favorites was The Gingerbread Girl. I could not put the book down while reading this one. It's classic King, suspenseful, creepy, with a touch of sarcastic humor when you least expect it. I love that about him. When you're heart is pounding, just at that scary moment, King will add humor that will make you burst out with nervous laughter. Maybe some who have read his books will know what I mean. I can see this short story being made into a tv movie.
For the most part, I did enjoy most of the stories in this collection. However, there were a few I didn't like. Rest Stop for example is one I didn't enjoy. It wasn't boring, but I wanted creepy and scary; this wasn't.
I don't know what it is about Kings work lately, I didn't enjoy his past two books, Lisey's Story and Duma Key. For me, his older stuff is better. And his short stories are usually great. My favorite short story collection of his is Everything's Eventual.
No, she thinks from her place by the sink. I don't want to hear the scary part. But at the same time she does want to hear the scary part, everyone wants to hear the scary part, we're all mad here, and her mother really did say that if you told your dreams they wouldn't come true, which meant you were supposed to tell the nightmares and save the good ones for yourself, hide them like a tooth under the pillow.
