Just After Sunset

A riveting, dark story collection from the No. 1 bestseller

De: Stephen King

Narrado por: Ben Shenkman, Denis O'Hare, Holter Graham, Jill Eikenberry, Mare Winningham, Ron McLarty, Stephen King

Just after sunset, as darkness grips the imagination, is the time when you feel the unexpected creep into the every day. As familiar journeys take a different turn, ordinary objects assume extraordinary powers.

A blind intruder visits a dying man - and saves his life, with a kiss.

A woman receives a phone call from her husband. Her late husband.

In the emotional aftermath of her baby's sudden death, Emily starts running. And running. Her curiosity leads her right into the hands of a murderer . . . and soon her legs are her only hope for survival.

Enter a world of masterful suspense, dark comedy and thrilling twists which will keep you riveted from the first page.

Enter the world of No. 1 bestseller Stephen King.

(P)2008 Simon & Schuster©2008 Stephen King

Fabulous

What else can you expect from the great Mr King.
Simply Fabulous!!!

Mostly mediocre, with some brilliant gems

Before going into my biassed review, let me first summarize by saying that "Just After Sunset" offers a diverse set of stories with wide-ranging ideas. The majority of the narrators do a great job of bringing the stories to life. That being said, there were really only two tales in this anthology that really wowed me, while the rest were average. That isn't to say they were bad. they just didn't give me that "wow" factor that I've come to expect from King's other brilliant stories.

My favourite story in this book is "N.". I absolutely LOVED this one. Why? Because it has the kind of theme that really draws me in and fascinates me: the idea that our world sits adjacent to another darker one; one filled with unspeakable evil and nightmarish monsters. The idea that this dark realm is separated from us by a thin protective barrier that bleeds through at certain weak points of the world is just brilliant and terrifying.

While this idea is solid and a great foundation to build the story from, King outdoes himself by taking the real-life condition of OCD and making it a kind of supernatural power that is used to "board up" the veil when it begins to weaken. The two main characters of the story both end up quite mad, as they realize this is the only way to protect our world from the horrors of the other: place this object diagonally across from this one. Touch each of these stones in turn etc. Their descent into insanity is inevitable as they realize with horror that the amount of "count, touch, place" required increases as time goes on. The other brilliant factor is the idea that the veil will not weaken unless someone physically sees the objects keeping it boarded up with their own eyes. It sounds confusing, but it really is great storytelling. King himself states that this is his attempt at creating a story in the same vein as Machin's "The Great God Pan". This story made me go out and read Machin's book, and while it is a great story, I think King has done better.

The other story that shines is "The Stationary Bike". I enjoyed this story because once again the idea was fantastic: A man not used to exercising suddenly has his own body start to work against him when he decides to get his health in order. I loved the idea that the main character actually manifests the agents that attempt to stop him at all costs. From what I can deduce, it is implied that it is the character's sub-conscious is the culprit. There is some part of him that doesn't want to get healthier, and it will do just about anything to make him stop. The sense of doom that prevails as the agents slowly catch up to our guy as he rides his exercise bike along his imaginary road makes for a suspenseful read. I only wish the story ended differently than it did. But if it ended the way I wanted it to, it wouldn't make any sense.

As previously stated, the narrators mostly do a great job. While I love King, I find that his narration of his own stories is flat and takes away from the experience of listening to them. But I do love his little addenda at the end of his story collections that give us an insight as to how he comes up with the ideas for his stories and the reasons why he decides to write them.

If nothing else, buy this book for the two stories outlined above. You won't be disappointed. Oh and one more thing, "A Very Tight Place" is just disgusting and when King says he loved every minute of writing it, it just goes to show how sick his sense of fun is. Don't eat anything while you listen to it.

Disjointed but well worth a listen

Just After Sunset is a collection of King's short stories, both published in magazines or previously unpublished, bundled together in bite-sized, easy to listen to portions. Unlike "Full Dark, No Stars" there's no overarching theme to maintain the flow between stories and the quality is a bit inconsistent, but it's worth the purchase. "The Gingerbread Girl" and "Mute" are worth the price alone, and King himself even lends his voice for a couple of the stories.