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sherubi27's review against another edition
3.0
All of these short stories in their own way were really fun. I forced my self to read this to connect the Mr.Mercedes trilogy to Holly but I was pleasantly surprised by the other stories. Rat i think was my favorite one.
theatretenor's review against another edition
5.0
I’m gonna go ahead and give this one five stars!
Stephen King is up to his usual tomfoolery alright. I loved every story, truly did. Every one of them struck a particular and different chord and I liked that a lot.
I love new King too. Unashamed. I know a majority, I’d be willing to bet, love old King more than new King and some even hate new King and are staunchly supportive of old King. And that’s fine! That’s the beauty of books! I like both, to be fair to myself, but I do like new King better.
Let’s break down his newest offering, If It Bleeds:
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone - 4 stars - I enjoyed it! Nice opener. My least favorite of the four. Fun concept tho. It IS indeed creepy to think of a phone ringing from inside a grave. And I liked the magic paranormal aspect. I won’t give anything away.
The Life of Chuck - 4.5 stars - I loved this one! Super story. Super character. Great little surprise. Touching. I love stories that get me in that way. Wasn’t expecting a non-horror story! A little something missing, and maybe it’s that? Maybe it’s the non-horror when I wasn’t expecting it? I’m not sure. I’ll be interested to do a reread maybe next year and see how I feel!
If It Bleeds - 5 stars - loved this one! Love Holly Gibney. Sue me, I do. I don’t care. Loved the concept of the news reporter who is always there and that he is feeding off the despair and sadness of the victims. I don’t know, just do! And I love crime novels. I love when King writes crime. And, to be fair to my review, I LOOOOOVE the entire Bill Hodges trilogy. Mr. Mercedes of course being my favorite, Finders Keepers second and End of Watch third favorite. So that clouds my review I’m sure!
Rat - LOVE this one! I think might be my favorite of the four, even above If It Bleeds. This one really just tickled my fancy, if you will. Loved the storyline. The location. The characters. Especially the rat! And man did I get a kick out of when he heard the word “rat” replaced with other words people were speaking when he got back from the cabin. I did literally laugh out loud at a few of them. Really clever to me for some reason! Loved the ending (we know King can struggle there). I don’t know, just all around very enjoyable!
So gotta give this book an overall 5 star rating!
Stephen King is up to his usual tomfoolery alright. I loved every story, truly did. Every one of them struck a particular and different chord and I liked that a lot.
I love new King too. Unashamed. I know a majority, I’d be willing to bet, love old King more than new King and some even hate new King and are staunchly supportive of old King. And that’s fine! That’s the beauty of books! I like both, to be fair to myself, but I do like new King better.
Let’s break down his newest offering, If It Bleeds:
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone - 4 stars - I enjoyed it! Nice opener. My least favorite of the four. Fun concept tho. It IS indeed creepy to think of a phone ringing from inside a grave. And I liked the magic paranormal aspect. I won’t give anything away.
The Life of Chuck - 4.5 stars - I loved this one! Super story. Super character. Great little surprise. Touching. I love stories that get me in that way. Wasn’t expecting a non-horror story! A little something missing, and maybe it’s that? Maybe it’s the non-horror when I wasn’t expecting it? I’m not sure. I’ll be interested to do a reread maybe next year and see how I feel!
If It Bleeds - 5 stars - loved this one! Love Holly Gibney. Sue me, I do. I don’t care. Loved the concept of the news reporter who is always there and that he is feeding off the despair and sadness of the victims. I don’t know, just do! And I love crime novels. I love when King writes crime. And, to be fair to my review, I LOOOOOVE the entire Bill Hodges trilogy. Mr. Mercedes of course being my favorite, Finders Keepers second and End of Watch third favorite. So that clouds my review I’m sure!
Rat - LOVE this one! I think might be my favorite of the four, even above If It Bleeds. This one really just tickled my fancy, if you will. Loved the storyline. The location. The characters. Especially the rat! And man did I get a kick out of when he heard the word “rat” replaced with other words people were speaking when he got back from the cabin. I did literally laugh out loud at a few of them. Really clever to me for some reason! Loved the ending (we know King can struggle there). I don’t know, just all around very enjoyable!
So gotta give this book an overall 5 star rating!
angevba's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
It is hard to rate short story collections because of course you end up liking some more than others. In my case this would be my individual rating for each of the stories in here:
Mr Harrigan’s phone: 4 (this was my reason for reading the whole book to begin with, I loved it even though I was hoping for a little bit more, but there is only so much a short story can do)
The life of Chuck: 3 (I like the concept of this story but I couldn’t feel attached to any of the characters so there’s that, really original tho)
If it bleeds: 2.5 (I didn’t read The Outsider before this which was my mistake, and it ended up spoiling almost the whole thing for me, but well, it was my fault, didn’t know they were THAT connected xD)
Rat: 4.5 (for some reason this was disturbing and creepy at the exact level that I wanted it to be)
It is hard to rate short story collections because of course you end up liking some more than others. In my case this would be my individual rating for each of the stories in here:
Mr Harrigan’s phone: 4 (this was my reason for reading the whole book to begin with, I loved it even though I was hoping for a little bit more, but there is only so much a short story can do)
The life of Chuck: 3 (I like the concept of this story but I couldn’t feel attached to any of the characters so there’s that, really original tho)
If it bleeds: 2.5 (I didn’t read The Outsider before this which was my mistake, and it ended up spoiling almost the whole thing for me, but well, it was my fault, didn’t know they were THAT connected xD)
Rat: 4.5 (for some reason this was disturbing and creepy at the exact level that I wanted it to be)
meganhart92's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
lwalker77's review against another edition
4.0
Really good collection of short stories. May favorites were Mr. Harrigan’s Phone and If It Bleeds. I also enjoyed The Rat. I need to think about The Life of Chuck a little bit more. It was a little unusual, at least to me. I’m always amazed when I read something written by Stephen King. I highly recommend this book!
jakereadsbooks97's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
b_______reads's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
09didi's review against another edition
4.0
I chose this book For Mr Harigan's phone and was a little disappointed in the story. However, I was delighted when I found out Holly Gibney would be leading "If it Bleeds". And I loved the fairy-tale vibe of "Rat".
kat_reads_13's review against another edition
Read Mr. Harrigan’s Phone for book club. 3⭐️
beth_pattison's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25