If It Bleeds by Stephen King
The book is a small collection of short stories from the bestselling author Stephen King. He has put together 3 wonderful novellas and a stand alone sequel to The Outsider.
1. Mr Harrigan's Phone
In this story a young teen Craig helps a retired business tycoon to the wonders of a smartphone. During this process they form a formidable bond which is still evident once the tycoon has passed one. The story starts with Craig giving the reader a bit of back story and how he ended up working for Mr Harrigan. He gives the reader an insight into Mr Harrigan building his character before moving on with the story and how he came to be working for Mr Harrigan. As Craig moves on from the death of his close friend he find that he has started to get messages from the dead mans phone. This is the phone that he buried with Mr Harrigan and it is from this act that the depth of the relationship between the two - like the grandfather that Craig never had. So why does Craig continue to call the dead mans phone after he has died ....... and was this still answering after so many years.
2. The Life of Chuck
Stephen King has set story which is split up into 3 parts with the being told in reverse from the oldest version of Marty coming first and progressing to the youngest version of himself.
Act 3 starts with Marty, a high school teacher, Making his journey home when he notices a strange thing on a billboard. He see a retirement message for Charles (Chuck) Krantz thanking him for 39 years. When he gets home he receives a call from his ex-wife Felica saying that there has been 6 suicides in the local hospital City General. You may think that this is shocking news to receive however this was the norm and the way the world is. The world as we know it is gone with all the things that we are used to has stop working, everywhere has major natural disasters .... how do you survive? And who is Charles (Chuck) Krantz?
Act 2 starts with Jared and Mac who both work at the local record shop. Mac is also a street performer who sets up on the high street once he is finished with work. Then the story introduces us to Janice Halliday who has finished her day at Paper and Page and when she has been at work she has received a message to advise that her relationship is over. It is at the point we are introduced to the elusive character Chuck who is a trained accountant and attending a banking conference in Boston. We get the first indication about his health and how his story is linked and intertwined with Mac and Janice. But why?
Act 1 starts at a time in Chucks life when he is awaiting the birth of his little sister and looking forward to holding her once she was born. However things never turn out as expected all because of a crash involving his father and pregnant mother on I-95. It shows how Chuck's life had changed when living with his grandparents and how he slowly recovered from the loss of his parents and unborn sister. Describing his life living with his grandparents and the quirks of family life and the relationship he has develop with them. This is where we are advised of Chuck's life threatening brain tumour which would take his life in Act 2. But did he have an idyllic childhood ...?
3. If It Bleeds
This is the further adventures of the detective Holly Gibney from the Outsider and this is the sequel to that. When reading this, I have noted that you do not need to have read the outsider as this is a stand alone story line. This has enough of bulked out story that you do not need as previously stated need to have read this however there is links to that story. It has elements of King's usually cat and mouse story line and he has added additional elements of supernatural events to have me sitting on the edge of my seat. The opening scene is when a elementary school is bomb as an act of terrorism, and it is as Holly Gibney is watching the reports for this that she notices something not quite right with the on the scene correspondent. When she is looking into this she starts to feel paranoia about the situation, but as she investigates this further her understanding of the horror that she leaves in an Texan cave starts to hit her.
4. Rat
Most wives would be excited when their partner comes home and announces that he has the next best idea for a new book. Drew the leading make in the story follows the yellow break road to his Oz. To be able to write this story, Drew decides to go up to his fathers cabin and while in seclusion rescues a dying rat. He then starts to hear the rat talking to him. However he starts to find that the words are playing hide and seek moments with him, the rat starts making suggestions and he feels that it is best to head home before the rat makes a suggestion that he can nt refuse.
The four novels all have the tell tale makers for Stephen kings work and this is one of the things i love about all f his works. They pull you into the story and have you investigating the individuals that he writes about and makes you wants to continue reading until the last page and leaves you asking more questions than he has answered. This is one of the books in my top five and will be recommending with all of my friends and family.
