Four Past Midnight

... this is still an excellent read.I first read this years ago when I simply devoured King's book like candy. I didn't think I actually absorbed the content, because the READ was all that mattered.These many years later ... It's just as good as I remembered and yes, I absorbed the content the first time ... but this was so much more than that.This was perfection.

Four Past MidnightBy Stephen KingGenre: HorrorI’m not really a fan of short story anthologies. So why buy a short story anthology? Wasn’t paying attention and bought it thinking it was one story.Don’t get me wrong. I love Stephen King. He is one of only four writers I would call my favorites. So, even after I realized my mistake, I read the book.FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT is a collection of four short stories written by the incomparable Stephen King.• Story number 1, THE LANGOLIERS, I’ve read before and seen the movie. It’s great! It’s a scrape-your-fingernails-along-the-arm-of-your-chair kind of story. A real white knuckler, if there ever was one. Strange rolly-poly, furry, nothing-but-teeth demon creatures are eating the world and all those left in it! I love it.• Story number 2, SECRET WINDOW, SECRET GARDEN, is about fiction writer Mort Rainey whose wife is a cheat, whose life is a mess and whose idyllic get-away turns out to be a really bad place to be when a stranger named Shooter shows up and accuses him of plagiarism. To prove to Mort that he’s not fooling around, Shooter kills Mort’s dog with a screwdriver and then uses that same tool to make Swiss Cheese out of another man’s brain. This guy is seriously crazy and Mort’s not too far from being the same. It’s an okay story…but left me feeling kind of…sigh. Do you know what I mean? This one fell flat for me.• Story number 3, THE LIBRARY POLICEMAN, is just…weird. Sam borrows books from the local public library (not realizing when he walked through the doors he stepped back into the 60’s and was met there by a truly demonic librarian). When the books come due, he’s confronted by the Library Policeman who brings back some horrific memories from Sam’s past and some brand-new horror to deal with. This one was more exciting for me than SECRET WINDOW… but, still, not what I would consider King’s best.• Story number 4, THE SUN DOG, is true STEPHEN KING HORROR. Young Kevin gets a polaroid camera for his birthday. His first shot though—a family pic—doesn’t develop. What does is a picture of a dog walking by a fence. Kevin tries again, and again and again. Every picture is of the same dog. Kevin soon realizes when he takes in the scope of all the pictures together that the dog is moving along the fence and getting closer and closer to the cameraman—him! Before long, the dog will attack and the true terror begins! Some of the characters in Sun Dog will appear later in Needful Things—one of King’s most horrifying stories. I loved Sun Dog and when I was through with FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT I was still hungry for the scare… so I re-read Needful Things!Not bad—for an anthology—after all!

Just love his style of writing & the way he weaves his stories.

Loved " The Secret Window"

Great short stories.

Well now I can now finally say I've read the Langoliers. I picked this book up on an Amazon deal for $4.99. It was worth it of course. But none of the four novellas in here horrified me or captivated me as much as I know King has the ability to do, even in just short stories.The four novellas are: The Langoliers, Secret Window, Secret Garden, The Library Policeman, and The Sun Dog. I started with The Sun Dog, and then went back to the beginning. All the stories were good, but I can't help but feel like a couple of them would have been better as full size novels. There was just so much more to explore in some of them. The Langoliers for example, a plane that flies into yesterday, where the world is steadily being eaten up bouncy alien balls called the Langoliers. There's a brief stint at the airport of the past, and then they're flying back to the present/future. I just felt like there could be some fun had in all this, and it was stunted by the length of the story. Then again, this is one of his more famous works so what do I know?Secret Window, Secret Garden was pretty great. Again, I would have appreciated a slower burn here, but I think I recall seeing this as a Johnny Depp movie, and found I knew the ending the very first time it's hinted at. I don't recall the movie being all that spectacular (mostly because I think it was confusing) but I might go back and watch it now that I've read the story behind it. If you've never seen the movie, please read the story first. I think the story is better, and will be much more enjoyable if it's not spoiled for you.The Library Policeman was kind of brilliant and also somehow meh. I haven't been to the library in ages, because I still have a book, (a crappy book at that) that I completely forgot to return and I myself have been a little afraid of the Library Police for awhile. Not this kind of Library Policeman specifically, but I love how King takes such a mundane, silly little thing and turns it into a nightmare. What slowed this down for me was the long, tedious telling of Dirty Dave's love affair with Ardelia. I could have done without most of it.Finally The Sun Dog. This was probably my favorite of all four. It's one of the Castle Rock stories, and evokes all the spooky, chilling feelings you want to get from a good ghost story. I loved everything right up until the manifestation of the dog. I think I was hoping for the dog to get loose and for Kevin to be peeking over his shoulder for it, but that wasn't quite how it happened. Again, something that might have been rectified by a few more pages.Strangely enough, what I loved most about Four Past Midnight, was the author's notes. There's one at the beginning, and one for each novella. It was a little insight into King's mind and how his stories come to life and what they were inspired by. His secret window in the laundry room, showing him a secret glimpse of his wife's garden. His son's irrational fear, shared by him (and a little by me), of the Library Policeman. I think Mr King is a creative genius. And all these things, these silly mundane things that most of us take for granted every day, that he is able to turn into sometimes short, sometimes sprawling epic stories, was the best part of this book. All in all, worth a read for King fans, but not my favorite.

Didn't have, now I do.

Added to my interesting storie collection.

I’m only kidding it was a very good book. I bought it when it first came out in 1990. As a hard cover. And I read it and it was wonderful. The stories are amazing Stephen King is probably the best writer ever. You know he’s sort of like an icon like Spider-Man or Superman or Batman. Anyway I got the book when I was 20 and I thought it was a really amazing read and I had it on my bookshelf and for some reason I decided to thin out my books and I donated it. And then I thought wait a second I really like that book. I might want to read it again. I liked the memory of being 20 and that time when I was sort of feeling free.. I still sort of feel free. Or at least I feel free now and for some reason I wanted the book back. And I wanted to put it on my shelf. I had a really strange experience getting the book back. I went into A really scary old bookstore that was sort of moldy. I hate to say that about a bookstore. But this one looked like nobody had visited it for a really long time and it was very neglected. And the books look like they were getting black mould on them. I bought the copy there. And then I thought actually I don’t really wanna bring this mould into my house so I ordered a copy off of Amazon. The copy I got from Amazon is in pretty good shape except it’s got a sticker on the back that says that it’s used book. But I guess that’s OK. Anyway I guess that’s enough for me babbling away. Ya you won’t be disappointed With this book. You’d really wish there were more like it. And ta da guess what there are more! Stephen King, it’s like he’s a prolific writer or something.

As a Stephen king can I have to say this book and it's stories will appeal to everyone. Great to visualise and satisfying endings.

Awesome delivery it was delivered two days before the estimated delivery date book in perfect condition plus the book was very good in the price which Amazon sold could not have asked for a better experience, thank you Amazon for the good customer service

Para aqueles que não esperam apenas contos de terror terror, mas suspense do tipo “twilight zone”Quatro histórias irresistíveis com muito suspense, uma pitada de ficção e até, por que não, um pouco de terror!

Alles Ok