A review by theatretenor
If It Bleeds by Stephen King

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!