Night Shift – Stephen King
My mother-in-law worked at a local university for nearly 20 years. She always marveled at the things students would toss in the trash at the end of a semester — furniture, appliances, food and even books.
She, along with other staff, would scour through the piles for gently-used items in search of treasures, and one year she discovered a collection of Stephen King novels, mostly hardcovers and some first editions, that someone ultimately decided were no longer interesting.
Earlier this year I became the benefactor of this dumpster dive when about 30 King novels found their way into my personal library. Nearly every short story collection he published was included, and I made a commitment to work my way through them in between longer reads in 2023.
First up was “Night Shift,” the fourth book published by King in 1978 (after “Carrie,” “‘Salem’s Lot” and “The Shining”) featuring a mix of previously published and unpublished stories.
Reading this collection was a damn delight and a nostalgic serotonin boost that transported me back to high school when I devoured my first classic King novels (ironically his first three) in mass market paperbacks.
As my mini-reviews below will show, this was a mostly solid top-to-bottom collection that got better as the stories progressed. It showcased King at the top of his game — observant, reflective, emotional and downright scary.
You can see the elements of future ideas taking seed, and how the framework for his literary universe was already developing.
In true fashion for older novels, not everything has aged well, but for King fans - casual or Constant - this should be required reading. Plus, it’s fun to see just how terribly some of these stories have been adapted across various forms of media after reading the source material.
Jerusalem’s Lot (3/5 stars): the first of two “‘Salem’s Lot” stories in the collection, this serves as a prequel to the novel, giving the origin story for the town and its vampyrism. It was interesting, but it didn’t hook me in the same way as the source material. It was adapted to a television series in 2021 and has started to be included in updated versions of ‘Salem’s Lot,” which would make it much more impactful than as a standalone story.
Graveyard Shift (2.5/5 stars): While a vast improvement over the film of the same name, it is still an uneven and silly creature feature starring mutated, subterranean vermin.
Night Surf (2.5/5 stars): This story introduced the world to Captain Trips a few months before “The Stand” was published. It’s an interesting microstory about how survivors are beginning to cope with a devastating pandemic, but it felt incomplete even with the benefit of reading the source material.
I Am the Doorway (4/5 stars): About as close to science fiction as I’ve seen King step, a deep space astronaut becomes afflicted with a mysterious skin condition years after his orbit around Venus. There’s a lot of fun between the gory, vivid details.
The Mangler (4/5 stars): Victim of another terrible film adaptation, this story about a demon-possessed industrial folding machine is goofy entertainment in the same vein of a 1950s B-movie.
The Boogeyman (5/5 stars): A father heads to therapy to come clean about the untimely deaths of his two children, which he attributed to a boogeyman in the closet. It was one of the only stories that had me holding my breath.
Gray Matter (2/5 stars): A son heads to the local convenience store to ask for help with his shut-in father. It started out interesting but ended up feeling incomplete. One that could easily be skipped without losing much.
Battleground (4/5 stars): One of several stories that features a morally ambiguous main character. It’s a fever dream/fantasy akin to a murderous “Toy Story.”
Trucks (4/5 stars): Clearly one of King’s favorites, as its film adaptation is the only one he ever directed, this claustrophobic tale of murderous, sentient vehicles had some great world-building and kills but was a little light on character development.
Sometimes They Come Back (3.5/5 stars): There are shades of “It” in the plot, but I was a little bored by this ghostly revenge tale.
Strawberry Spring (2.5/5 stars): An evil lurks the grounds of a small liberal arts college, dispatching victims on beautiful spring nights. It kept building to a satisfying conclusion that wasn’t delivered.
The Ledge (5/5 stars): A tense and surprising cat and mouse game that was not what I expected, but in the best possible ways.
The Lawnmower Man (1/5 stars): Another one that could be skipped (along with the film that shares little in common with it). An example of how drugged out his mind King was during this era of his writing. It’s basically incomprehensible.
Quitters, Inc. (5/5 stars): How far would you go to quit smoking? My favorite story in the collection, it was the perfect mixture of horror and drama presented in a situation that doesn’t feel too far-fetched. Plus it featured an incredibly satisfying third act reveal.
I Know What You Need (5/5 stars): Elizabeth meets the perfect man seemingly out of nowhere, and soon enough she’ll find out that he is too good to be true. More unsettling than scary, it had me rapt with attention.
Children of the Corn (3/5 stars): Far better than its film adaptation, I was mostly bothered by how horrible the main characters are to one another. It certainly overshadowed the slowly building horror that surrounds them from the stalks in a seemingly abandoned town.
The Last Rung on the Ladder (5/5 stars): The silver medal winner in this collection, it’s an emotional story of siblings and regrets and some of King’s best writing.
The Man Who Loved Flowers (3.5/5 stars): A solid bait-and-switch about a lovesick young man heading to his sweetheart.
One For the Road (5/5 stars): A man stumbles into a bar during a nor’easter asking for help from two old-times. His car went off the road near Jerusalem’s Lot and his wife and child are still out there. Absolutely fantastic storytelling — a must read.
The Woman in the Room (3/5 stars): Affecting but a little aimless, this story of an adult son watching his mother slowly die of cancer felt like an outlier. The only horror here is natural and sad.
Rating (story): 4/5 stars
Rating (narration): N/A
Formats: Hardcover (personal library)
Dates read: January 21 – March 26, 2023
Multi-tasking: N/A
