Reviews with content warning for Alcoholism - Four Past Midnight

Usually when reading short story collections there are some you love and some you are less enthusiastic about.. but with this collection of four novellas there isn't one that didn't have me hooked and i had to make myself pause between stories just to have a rest. Each is just the right length for the story.
I personally thought 'The Library Policeman' was the creepiest, although 'The Sun Dog' wins for out-right gore. My only criticism would be that in 'The Langoliers' (and to a lesser extent 'Secret Window, Secret Garden') issues of mental health are used more to fit the plot than the characters. Still, with stories like these it's a minor complaint.

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bruinrocks's review

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adventurous dark 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

4.5

This was a great collection of novellas, albeit a little long in my opinion. But each one had it’s strong points, with the exception of the third one which I found rather long and boring.
The Langoliers - 4.5/5 A really fun adventure into the unknown and back, strong character development, with a terrifying concept, and I found The Langoliers to be one of Stephen King’s scarier entities, even if the description sometimes came off a little silly.

Secret Window, Secret Garden - 3.75/5 It was a tense novella with a very predictable plot, still really well written, and a lot of fun, the predictability lowers my ranking for it though.

The Library Policeman - 3/5 A long and boring story in the middle, and very intense climax followed by a lacklustre ending.

The Sun Dog - 4.75/5 Not perfect but damn near close. I love taking pictures and this story rocked my socks. The best of the four, it gripped me from start to finish and I believe it’s the shortest of the four novellas and it moves at a great pace with a ending that closes out the collection nicely.

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sam_idea's review against another edition

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mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

2.6 stars. But I think 2 Stars is more fitting for my experience. Guess that hits my Stephen King quota for at least another 3 years. This definitely weren't "short" stories.

The Langoliers - 4 Stars, interesting, the reason I picked this up in the first place.

Secret Window, Secret Garden - 1.5 Stars, I just didn't care and found myself skimming the remaining 50 pages.

The Library Police - 4 Stars, not bad but as a writer you should be able to find a better way to describe eyes than "chinese"

The Sun Dog - 1 Star, I skipped the remaining 70% of this, do I have to say more?

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