"You Like It Darker" by Stephen King (2024)

 

Because the previous book I read (and posted here) was not-exactly-successful attempt to check what were the best novels of 2024 (as voted by Goodreads readers), I was wary and careful of following their lead anymore - I mean, if they think "Indian Burial Ground" was one of the best horror novels of the year, perhaps the mainstream taste is not where i fit? But than I noticed one very important detail: that book was only a contender, what actually won the title of the best horror book of 2024 was the collection of short stories by Stephen King, titled "You Like It Darker". And since I know King and enjoyed his work, I decided to check it out. He has a long & successful career, a distinctive writing style and never ceased to grab me from the very first page - so far I have read "Carrie", "Salem's Lot" (my favourite), "The Shining" (my introduction to his style), "The Stand", "The Talisman", "It", "Insomnia", "Black House", "Cell", "Doctor Sleep", "Mr. Mercedes" and a short story collection "Different Seasons" (that inspired "Shawshank Redemption" movie). Not everything he does is horror and often he likes to spread his wings into other genres, as this latest short story collection shows: "You Like It Darker" has perhaps just one or two really horror stories, the rest is intriguing combination of dreamy and creepy atmospheric stories that could almost be called "twilight zone" - perfectly fine by me, as I enjoy this kind of stuff.

The best surprise about Stephen King's latest short story collection is exactly his enthusiasm to explore twilight-zone type of stories and move away from the horror genre, that made his name. Like many readers, I usually associate him with horror but King has moved on long time ago and is prolific and successful far beyond expected. As the collection progressed, I actually enjoyed it more and more, until the very last story (previously abandoned "The Answer Man") totally won me over and not only I read it several times, I think it might be my all-time favourite Stephen King piece ever - it has all his recognisable strong spots but adds a beautiful, philosophical tone to it, that brings the narrative to completely different level. I enjoyed this a lot!