Mort has no idea what the man’s talking about, and assumes he’s just crazy, but as the story progresses, John won’t seem to leave him alone, and all kinds of sinister things start happening.Įven though I guessed what was going on, it didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the story, which was very interesting from a psychological perspective. One morning, a strange man named John Shooter shows up on Mort’s doorstep and accuses him of plagiarising one of his stories. The story follows recently divorced Mort Rainey, an author who is staying up at his summer house for the winter (as his ex-wife took ownership of their home in the settlement) and struggling over the manuscript for his next book. I’ve never seen the movie, so I went in blind, but whilst it certainly gave me the creeps in places, I also felt the plot was predictable (I guessed the twist early on.) You may have heard of the film adaptation of this story – Secret Window starring Johnny Depp.

Straight after finishing this, I checked out the rather cheesy 90s made-for-TV movie adaptation, and I secretly loved every minute. It wasn’t a twist as such, but it was just so perfectly written. And speaking of the ending, it kind of blew my mind.

Although there was a fairly big cast of characters (10), I felt each of them were distinctive, and I came to care about all of them deeply by the end of the novella. I loved the element of strangers having to rely on one another, and the way each of their back-stories were gradually revealed. If you loved LOST (aka my favourite TV show of all time) you’ll adore this. This story was weird and creepy and I loved following all of the characters as they attempted to make sense of something completely nonsensical.

Each of them fall asleep on the plane, and when they wake up, everyone bar them has mysteriously disappeared, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone in control of the plane, which has been drifting along on autopilot whilst they’ve been sleeping. The story follows a set of characters taking a flight to Boston. This was my favourite novella in the collection. I think I’ll do this story by story, otherwise this review could get a wee bit rambly:

If you have any recommendations, let me know! I felt the same way about Four Past Midnight. I loved the way the stories were written (Stephen King is the BEST storyteller – you can tell even in the way he writes his personal notes to introduce each novella in this collection), and there were plenty of creepy moments, but I never felt the need to stash it away in the freezer for my own safety and sanity. I’m still searching for a story to *absolutely* terrify me in this way. I didn’t have to put it in the freezer like Joey from Friends… I’ve only ever read one Stephen King novel – The Shining – and whilst I loved it and it was certainly creepy, I wasn’t terrified by it.

Stephen king 4 past midnight