Full Dark, No Stars

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Craig Wasson, Jessica Hecht

Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger...." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922", the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

In "Big Driver", a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

"Fair Extension", the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than 20 years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It's a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends a good marriage.

Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.

©2010 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2010 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

Critic reviews

"[T]hese tales show how a skilled storyteller with a good tale to tell can make unsettling fiction compulsively readable." ( Publishers Weekly)

"King has gone on record saying he believes that American readers should pay more attention to the virtues of short fiction... if anyone can get reluctant short-story and novella readers into the swing, he certainly can with this book." ( Booklist)

great variety of intriguing stories.

I wasn't aware there were multiple stories until the second one began. all were gripping in my opinion.

Story and narration was spot on!

I just loved this book - interesting, not too gory (relative to other Stephen King novels), and the narrators really captured the personalities of the characters. I truly didn't want it to end. Well done Mr. King!

A Favorite Stephen King

I love SK’s short stories. These are gems, and I especially enjoyed Craig Wasson’s reading. I chose this after listening to the Year of Underrated Stephen King podcast.

Rough, even for Stephen King

This book was difficult at times to listen through. His usual in-depth descriptions and character development were present, but the situations in each story were just physically uncomfortable to sit through, and even a little triggering at times.

Great short stories.

Always enjoy King’s middle length stories, like Different Seasons. My other favorites are the short stories.

Gripping and bone chilling

So well written and performed. Fresh stories and a true “page turner”. You will be very entertained.

Excellent short stories!

Stephen King is a master of short stories that linger in your mind far longer than it took to read the pages.

One of his best

This collection is totally on par with Different Seasons. Really well done, and each story is just the right length.

Great stories

Short stories very well narrated by both narrators. The add on at the end by Stephen King gives his reasons for writing them which explains a lot.

Dark and twisted - perfect

As always, another great collection of dark a twisted tales by our favorite disturbing storyteller.