A review by lady_icarus
Gwendy's Button Box by Richard Chizmar, Stephen King

4.0

I had high hopes because it was Stephen King and Castle Rock. I was a bit disappointed but I couldn’t rate it down because of disappointment the lack of a real Castle Rock. I was hoping for some more nods to prior stories but it was still a good story. Summaries abound so here’s the short version: Gwendy, a slightly chubby and unpopular girl with borderline alcoholic parents on the verge of divorce, is gifted a strange box by a strange man, Mr. Farris. Over the course of several years, everything works out for Gwendy thanks to this box…until one day the local creep, who we later find out raped several girls, tries to rape Gwendy, her boyfriend saves her but is killed in the process. Gwendy uses her special powerful box and sends the rapist to hell. Years after that, Mr. Farris returns for the box and congratulates Gwendy on being such a excellent caretaker of the box and because she was so selfless and not using the box for evil, she averted several global disasters. He takes the box and leaves.

Good story, engaging and relatively short. I’m looking forward to the next installment.