Review: Full Dark, No Stars

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The first piece, 1922, is nice piece of Rural Gothic, something I don't think I've read from King before. Of course there's some supernatural goings on on, used for what reads more like easy story telling than good story telling, but it's far and away the best story in the book. Big Driver and A Good Marriage use exhaustive amounts of internal dialogs, so much in the former that I really began to dislike the main character. Fair Extension is short and to the point (yes, really, Stephen King! Wonder of wonders!), but lacks the kind of staying power that, in the Afterword King says is his goal. Speaking of the Afterword, that;s really the best part of the book. King excels at writing about writing, and there's a line of advice there about writing dark fiction that every writer should have on their wall:

"... if you're going into a very dark place..... then you should take a bright light, and shine it on everything. If you don't want to see it, why in God's name would you dare the dark at all?"

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