BOOK REVIEW: THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS

If you like your fairy tales with a twist, head over to our sister site Learning Partners for a review on John Connolly's The Book of Lost Things.

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Book Review: Night Shift

Night Shift by Stephen King

A collection of twenty short stories from the King of Horror, Night Shift is a good fit for anyone without the patience or attention to sit through a whole novel. Most of these stories were written and sold to various publications in the seventies – the heyday of King’s writing, in my humble opinion – before being anthologised in this tome.

Some readers may castigate me for saying this but I prefer the King’s earlier works – The Shining, Salem’s Lot, The Dark Half – to his later books – Needful Things, Gerald’s Game. The truth is that I’m not a fan of his writing style (having being brought up on a diet of British books, I find his style a little too informal, a little too direct), but there is no denying the fact that he is a good storyteller. As evidenced from these short stories. Practically every one (with maybe only 2-3 exceptions) is a gripping tale that holds the reader tightly without letting out till the end of the story. And that is why the short story format is great in this instance. Instead of obsessing over a thick book for 2-3 days and letting normal duties slide, the short story can be finished within forty minutes to an hour and after that, you’ll be free to go and handle your daily grind.

Twenty tales is too many for me to introduce so I’m only going to talk about the six that I like most. If you hate spoilers, stop right here.