If It Bleeds

by Stephen King

I really enjoyed all four of these stories, especially going into them without knowing what they would be about. Normally, I might include more spoilers in my notes here, but I’ll just mention each story briefly:

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone - A boy uses an iPhone to leave voicemail for a dead man.

The Life of Chuck - Three acts, told in reverse chronological order. In the first, the world is clearly crumbling to pieces, and billboards and ads keep appearing that say the same thing: “39 Great Years. Thanks, Chuck!” It’s surreal, in an “All Things Serve the Beam” kind of way that I really like. The complete story is not entirely cohesive and satisfying, but I still liked it a lot.

If It Bleeds - Holly Gibney and friends track down a school bomber who turns out to be (SPOILER?) kind of a shape-shifter. Apparently, this is connected to the plot of The Outsider, which I started once but didn’t get very far into. I rate this story “okay.”

The Rat - This one was a surprise. If you happen to be reading these notes and have not read/heard the story, I suggest you stop reading now and enjoy it the way I did, with no further information going into it. SPOILERS: It starts with a teacher/writer who has had mental issues before but seems to be getting back to normal. He goes away to a cabin in the woods to write a novel (trope!), gets stranded out there (trope!), and it seems very obvious what is going to happen. He’ll go crazy! Maybe kill himself! Tropy trope trope. But then, he has an encounter with a… mystical rat? I won’t risk spoiling for than that. Looking back on it, it’s still not the most original story ever, but the rat was such a left turn that I really ended up liking this one.