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If It Bleeds
by Stephen King
Indie Author: No
Kindle Unlimited: No
Publication Date: 4.21.2020

Genres: 
Paranormal Suspense

Page Count: 447 Pages

Synopsis:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author, legendary storyteller, and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary collection of four new and compelling novellas—Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds—each pulling you into intriguing and frightening places.

The novella is a form King has returned to over and over again in the course of his amazing career, and many have been made into iconic films, including “The Body” (Stand By Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (Shawshank Redemption). Like Four Past Midnight, Different Seasons, and most recently Full Dark, No Stars, If It Bleeds is a uniquely satisfying collection of longer short fiction by an incomparably gifted writer.

Sabetha’s Review:

 5/5

I really need to read blurbs but I probably won’t start any time soon. I’d heard through random bookstagramers that this book continued with the story in The Outsider. Loved that book so picked this up.

Turns out this was a compilation of short stories. 2 before “If It Bleeds, and 1 after. Reading the book without realizing this made me ponder if they were at all connected. They weren’t.

The 3 unrelated stories, were quirky, and weird. They reminded me of episodes of The Outer Limits, short make you think reads. I personally think the one about Chuck would be HILARIOUS to see happen in real life, well not the end of the world part, just the over dramatic advertising about a person no one knew. The rat story was one to ponder, with the whole “at what cost” idea. It’s a thought that is one redone, with selling souls, and crossroads. But I enjoyed King’s take on it.

Onto If It Bleeds. The Outsider left me with a spooky feeling, as the thought of a SPOILER was quite terrifying. So I am glad that King dove deeper into that idea, and approached it from a different angle. I am also thrilled to hear that Holly is one of Kings favorites, because I hope that means we’ll be seeing more of her in the future. I LOVE her, and seeing more into her past, and catching up with how she is doing now was a great read. Though I would not recommend reading this story without reading The Outsider, while it reads very stand alone, I think to be able to fully understand Holly you need to read more about her first, as this is only a snip-it.

Love King’s writing style, and will always pick up his books without question.

Read more reviews from Sabetha!