[.ca] Night Shift (ISBN 0451170113)

What a ride!:
Over the years I have watched several movies based on Stephen King stories. Some I have liked very much while there were some I didn't care for at all. I finally decided that I wanted to read one of his books and this was the one I picked because I figured it would be best to start with a collection of short stories rather than a novel. I am impressed! If this is a true taste of King's other books I think I may have become and avid fan. As with any collection of short stories I found that I liked some more than others, but even the stories that did the least for me were quite good. King's style of writing draws the reader into the story and makes one really feel as if he were right there with the characters that make up the story. Needless to say, chills will run up and down the reader's spine on several occasions. I couldn't put this book down and devoured every page and I think most everyone who gives it a try will find the same to be true. Several of the stories in this book have been made into films but as is usual, the written story is much better. Even though I liked "The Mangler" in it's film form I wasn't all that impressed by it but the story in this book is not bad at all. As for "The Children of the Corn", I didn't like the movie at all but the story in this book is excellent. The reader will also find two stories of the place known as Jerusalem's (Salem's) Lot in this book. One is set before the time frame of the novel while the other comes in after the novel ends. Some of the other stories that really drew me in were, "Trucks", Sometimes They Come Back", and "I Am the Doorway". All of the stories were good but those caught my extra attention. I may never go to another truck stop in my life! If you have never read any of Mr. King's works I suggest you give him a try, and I suggest you start with this book. I'm hooked and I think you will be also.

Varied, effective and hard to forget:
Stephen King's first short story collection shows a writer honing his craft and combining two strands: one that is very urban and socially conscious, concerned with the limits of science and technology, whose tone is usually cynical, sarcastic, disillusioned; while another, more romantic and individualistic, taps into esotericism, religion, symbols and allegory. This fruitful encounter gives birth to stories which are varied and more complex than they initially appear, and the best of them are usually those that go the farthest in blending the two approaches. All the tales are worth reading, but here are a few notes on some of my favourites: 'Graveyard Shift', a taut descensus ad infernos that features numerous symbols of initiation; 'Night Surf', one of the most silently effective of end-of-the-world stories; 'I am the Doorway', a subtle and memorable tale that works both as a criticism of technology and as an allegory of possession; 'Quitters Inc.' and 'The Ledge', two urban nightmares in the purest sense of the term; 'Children of the Corn', a somber meditation on religion, violence and a lot more; 'The Man Who Loved Flowers', a brief and troubling veil-removing story; besides, the reader won't soon forget the drama of 'The Last Rung on the Ladder' and 'Strawberry Spring', the powerful strangeness of 'The Mangler' and 'The Bogeyman'. In order to get the most out of Night Shift's stories, one should read them more than once.

The Birth of an Obsession:
Some twenty years ago I received my introduction to Stephen King through this collection of short stories, Night Shift. King brought a variety of topics to bear, ranging from objects with minds and agendas of their own (Trucks, The Mangler and Battleground) to a twisted program for smoking cessation (Quitters, Inc.). Stephen King gets it. There is horror in the mundane, the usual, the everyday and King knows how to draw it out. Night Shift is both a terrific entry work for those who have never experienced King's writing as well as a continually solid read for those who have enjoyed his full offering. This is a fabulous book that set me on a path of pleasure; twenty years of King's storytelling later and I can still smile and remember the first time he made me shiver. Years from now he may finally get the credit he deserves as one of this generation's most engaging novelists. Until then he'll have to be content with rabid, loyal fans and huge commercial success.

King's first collection of masterful short stories:
One thing that has always distinguished Stephen King among his peers is his commitment to the short story. You don't find many novelists writing short stories these days, but King has always excelled in the area of short fiction, and I daresay the discipline involved in telling a story in a relatively small number of pages has helped make him such a successful writer of long fiction. Night Shift, which was first published in 1976, is the first of King's short story collections, bringing together twenty stories originally published in such disparate magazines as Cavalier, Penthouse, and Cosmopolitan (yes, Cosmopolitan) in the early to mid 1970s. These stories have given birth to a surprising number of film adaptations, but I would urge you not to judge these stories in advance by the quality of films such as Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Sometimes They Come Back, and The Lawnmower Man (especially The Lawnmower Man, as the film has nothing whatsoever to do with King's story). There is a lot of variety to be found in this collection, as King delivers much more than a sequence of horror stories. The horror is there in droves, of course, but so are stories of a general bent that show just how effective a writer King is when he wanders away from the dark forces usually driving his imagination. The Woman in the Room, for example, is a rather tender story of a son struggling with his mother's impending death, while I Know What You Need and The Man Who Loved Flowers display romantic sensibilities of a truly engaging nature. The book opens with Jerusalem's Lot, a thoroughly Lovecraftian exploration of the early history of this infamous little hamlet; told in the form of letters and steeped in Mythos lore, it is the type of tale that could have been written by a member of the original Lovecraft Circle. One For the Road also centers on Jerusalem's Lot; it's unusual to set a vampire story against the backdrop of a severe New England blizzard, but this proves to be one of the most effective stories in this collection. Rats, traditional horror favorites, play a part in a couple of stories, particularly Graveyard Shift with its rat-infested subterranean levels containing monstrosities that can no longer be considered mere rats. The Ledge is, to me, the most uncomfortably effective story in the collection, mainly because it ruthlessly exploits my own fear of heights. Quitters, Inc., though, stands head and shoulders above the other nineteen stories; brilliant in its conception and development, it details a brutally surefire way to quit smoking. Children of the Corn is also a masterful tale; the film adaptation elaborately expounds upon the idea, but the core of the story and the mysterious horror of He Who Walks Behind the Rows is given a glorious birth in these pages. Sometimes They Come Back gave birth to two less than exhilarating films, but the original story is vintage Stephen King, with three dead youths returning to high school to finish the deadly job they started years ago. Then there is The Boogeyman which builds upon the palpitating fear that has touched every child scared of the dark; I can picture King grinning wickedly as he was writing the twisted final lines of this tale. Battleground holds special meaning for me as this was the first Stephen King story I ever read - believe it or not, we actually read this in my advanced English class in seventh grade. Some regard it as a weak contribution to Night Shift, but the story is a lot of fun despite its rather unbelievable nature. The Lawnmower Man is more than weird enough to be memorable. Some people also don't care for The Last Rung on the Ladder, but I think it is a wonderful little story; the human element takes precedence over any overt horror, and some people prefer their monsters to be external to themselves. The Man Who Loved Flowers is masterfully done, an idyllic look at a young man in love that takes a deliciously insidious turn at the end. I Know What You Need is similarly executed; this account of a young lady who finds true love (or so she thinks) in the most unlikely of potential mates calls to mind the psychological mastery of Shirley Jackson. There are no bad stories in this collection, but a few don't live up to the standards of the rest. Strawberry Spring is a little disappointing, as this story of a serial killer who comes in with the fog of unusual New England weather is quite predictable. I Am the Doorway, with its touch of alien horror, isn't as good as I think it might have been, Gray Matter is the equivalent of Creepshow's The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, The Mangler offers nothing special, Night Surf is a pale shadow of its cousin The Stand, and Trucks runs out of gas rather quickly. All in all, Night Shift delivers a shockingly good collection of short stories from the hand of a masterful story teller plumbing the depths of his horror-laden imagination while at the same time tapping into his immense knowledge of human nature and popular culture to produce tales of fiction that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

King's best:
If you want to read some scary stories, I would advise you to read this book before any others. I have read almost all of King's books, and the majority of them were somewhat frightening, but it wasn't often that I would be truly terrified by what I was reading. Then I read this collection of short stories and it blew me away. I'm twenty years old, and these stories still keep me up at night when I read them. I don't want to spoil anything, but I thought that the scariest stories in this series were Jerusalem's Lot, One for the Road, The Mangler, and Children of the Corn. Some other stories that weren't particularly scary but were excellent nonetheless include Quitters Inc, The Ledge, Trucks, I Am the Doorway, and The Lawnmower Man (which is nothing like the awful movie, so don't be fooled). The only reason this collection lost a star was due to several stories that really failed to scare or entertain me. If you're looking for a good scare or an intersting read, I would strongly recommend avoiding The Last Rung on the Ladder, The Woman in the Room, Night Surf, and Strawberry Spring. Despite a few bad apples, the rest of the stories in this collection are pure gold and they do well to remind us why King is one of the most bestselling authors in the world today.