Skeleton Crew by Stephen King

Skeleton Crew

by Stephen King

The Master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy--tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time!

Evil that breathes and walks and shrieks, brave new worlds and horror shows, human desperation bursting into deadly menace--such are the themes of these astounding works of fiction. In the tradition of Poe and Stevenson, of Lovecraft and The Twilight Zone, Stephen King has fused images of fear as old as time with the iconography of contemporary American life to create his own special brand of horror--one that has kept millions of readers turning the pages even as they gasp.

In the book-length story "The Mist," a supermarket becomes the last bastion of humanity as a peril beyond dimension invades the earth. . .

Touch "The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands," and say your prayers . . .

There are some things in attics which are better left alone, things like "The Monkey" . . .

The most sublime woman driver on earth offers a man "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" to paradise . . .

A boy's sanity is pushed to the edge when he's left alone with the odious corpse of "Gramma" . . .

If you were stunned by Gremlins, the Fornits of "The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet" will knock your socks off . . .

Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace--here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.
--jacket

Reviewed by kimbacaffeinate on

4 of 5 stars

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A mixed bag of stories, some amazingly creeptastic and others made me visibly shiver while others were downright strange. Typical of any anthology, but for fans of Stephen King it offers a wonderful collection of shorts all in one place.

“A short story is a different thing altogether – a short story is like a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger.”

Skeleton Crew is narrated by Stephen King, Matthew Broderick, Michael C. Hall, Paul Giamatti, Will Patton, Norbert Leo Butz, Lois Smith, Dylan Baker, Kyle Beltran, Dana Ivey, Robert Petkoff, David Morse, and Frances Sternhagen. What a fantastic group of narrators!

The short stories contained within this collection are The Mist, Here There Be Tygers, The Monkey, Cain Rose Up, Mrs. Todd's Shortcut, The Jaunt, The Wedding Gig, Paranoid: A Chant, The Raft, The Word Processor of the Gods, The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands, Beachworld, The Reaper's Image, Nona, For Owen, Survivor Type, Uncle Otto's Truck, Morning Deliveries (Milkman #1), Big Wheels: A Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman #2), Gramma, The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet, and The Reach.

“There are things of such darkness and horror—just, I suppose, as there are things of such great beauty—that they will not fit through the puny human doors of perception.”

Lord but some of these stories are terrifying on audio and others made me squirm. The Raft will freak you out and Survivor Type..nope, just nope. The Man Who Would Not Shake Hands was tantalizing, and The Monkey held me spellbound. One of my favorites was The Mist, and I loved that Will Patton narrated.

The stories are in varying length, some only a few minutes long, and others several hours. Each showcases King's brilliant, quirky, horrifying imagination. To have coffee with this man would be amazing. For example The Word Processor of the Gods, allows you to delete things..all kinds of things and Nona..so strange. I would love to hear about his inspirations for these tales.

Experiencing these stories on audio brought a whole new element. It is one thing to read about a man eating his flesh, or a creäture sucking you up bit by bit but to listen..OMG! This stellar cast of narrators added a whole new level of creepiness. I was seriously impressed with all of them. Skeleton Crew is a must collection for Stephen King fans and the perfect listen for the witching season.

Audio provided by publisher. This review was originally posted on Caffeinated Book Reviewer

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  • 21 September, 2016: Reviewed
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