Books
Stephen King’s ‘You Like It Darker’ Finds Beauty and Hope in Nihilistic Horror [Review]
Stephen King may be known for epic novels like It and The Stand, but many Constant Readers first met the Master of Horror through his short fiction. Beginning with the iconic 1978 collection Night Shift, the best-selling author has been dazzling us for decades with short stories overflowing with sickening gore, fantastical creatures, meticulous violence, and transcendent joy. King follows suit in You Like It Darker, a jaw-dropping collection of twelve terrifying tales, five of them previously unpublished. Inspired by Leonard Cohen’s “You Want It Darker,” the outstanding tome dives head-first into the brutal randomness of pain and destruction – a “lullaby for suffering” only King can deliver.
The collection kicks off with “Two Talented Bastids,” a poignant story about an elderly author and his less talented son. Laird Carmody is a small-town Mainer who prizes his quiet life among the locals – a thinly veiled reference to King himself. The sprawling tale eventually uncovers a chance encounter that may hold the key to creative power. King’s most meta narrative to date, the story features references to the author’s real life including frequent visitors to his famous front gates, recollections of press-tour engagements, and allusions to longer “door stopper” novels. We’re also treated to line edits and sample paragraphs that offer additional peeks into the accomplished creator’s personal process. It’s a winding road both eerie and aspirational that sees the world-famous author grapple with his own unparalleled success while confronting us with the horror of unfulfilled dreams.
Most notable in this impressive collection, “Rattlesnakes” revisits one of King’s most brutal books. A sequel to the 1981 novel Cujo, this gut-wrenching tale catches up with Vic Trenton as he mourns for his late wife Donna – the flawed, but courageous mother who once battled a rabid dog to save the life of her child. On Rattlesnake Key, Vic meets another grieving mother still recovering from the horrific death of her own twin sons. Each day she lays out matching children’s clothes then wheels their long-dead spirits around in a squeaky pram while insisting that while she knows they’re not really there … sometimes they are. Pairing perfectly with the grisly story of a rabid dog, “Rattlesnakes” features moments of stark terror and shocking gore. Both heartbreaking and horrific, this sun bleached novella delivers a bloody bite reminiscent of King’s early career along with a harrowing warning against holding on to the past.
In addition to Cujo, King references iconic pieces of his extensive catalog. Easter Eggs abound as we revisit Derry, Castle Rock, and Dark Score Lake, sprinkled among familiar monikers and other deep cut references. King’s faux tabloid Inside View makes an appearance along with another haunting locale. Duma Key features prominently in two stories, making a literary return trip feel within tantalizing reach. The cover’s sinister alligator references “Laurie,” a touching story that careens headfirst into terror. Most of the collection’s horror occurs in bright daylight, reminding us that while we may survive the dark, we’re never truly safe. It’s King’s version of a beach read – bleak horror unfolding in the relentless sunshine.
Falling fourth in the collection, King’s other novella is slightly less successful. “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream” chronicles an extended nightmare as the titular janitor dreams about, then discovers, a dead body. Playing with the horrors of the criminal justice system, King follows a wrongfully accused man tormented by an obsessive detective convinced of his guilt. Similar to his 2018 novel The Outsider, the lengthy story unfolds like a confounding episode of Law & Order, eschewing supernatural scares for “ripped from the headlines” horror. King hints at racial and gender-based discrimination, but stops short of fully examining the larger implications of this disturbing premise.
While none of the collection’s twelve tales fall flat, some feel more developed than others. “Finn” and “Red Screen” both present ominous ideas, but offer little more than snapshots of larger terror. “On Slide Inn Road” and “Willie the Weirdo” follow unpleasant older men bonding with a younger generation – King’s version of generational trauma. Harkening back to the unflinching horror of the author’s earlier career, both are admittedly fascinating in their sheer nastiness and cruelty, however, they lack the emotional punch of the collection’s longer tales. “The Fifth Step” will likely prove terrifying to those in Alcoholics Anonymous while “The Turbulence Expert” will play on existing fears of airline travel. However, both stories feel slight and may not evoke the same powerful response in readers without similar life experiences.
The collection’s penultimate tale may also be its most classically scary. “The Dreamers” follows a magician turned mad scientist who documents research of a world beyond our own. Pure Lovecraftian horror, grisly nightmares reach into the waking world as test subjects dream of an eerie red house with a green door. It’s shocking horror and nihilism at its best, reminiscent of King’s 2014 novel Revival. “The Dreamers” confronts us with unsettling answers to what it all means and a frightening reminder that ignorance may provide safety as well as bliss.
You Like It Darker concludes with one of the most beautiful and upsetting stories of King’s career. “The Answer Man” follows a likable everyman through his adult life marked by three encounters with a mysterious salesman offering answers to any question. But what is the true cost of ultimate knowledge? Does peering into the future give us power or pain? A perfect capper to this poignant collection, King fittingly references a question first presented in his darkest novel, Pet Sematary. What is the meaning of life and what can we expect at the end of our days? King attempts to provide what answers he can while grappling with larger truths forever out of reach.
A bloody tapestry of nihilism and hope, You Like It Darker makes peace with the randomness of suffering and the horror of human fragility.
You Like It Darker will be released on May 21, 2024.
Books
Urban Legends, Serial Killers, and Space Epics: 10 Horror Books We Can’t Wait to Read This June
We have entered summer reading season.
Schools are emptying, beaches are filling, and it’s a great time to pack a tote full of brand-new books and get some reading done in the shade. But even if the sun is bright, your fiction can still be dark, because June is absolutely packed with great new horror releases from rising stars and genre icons.
From a Psycho retelling to a dark twist on Peter Pan lore to a new book from a Pulitzer Prize winner, these are the horror titles we can’t wait to crack open this June.
The Children by Melissa Albert – June 2
A blend of dark fantasy, Gothic family saga, and horror novel that’s received rave reviews from Stephen King and more, The Children follows the adult children of a legendary fantasy author who died when a fire consumed their home. Now, living their own creative lives, Guinevere and Ennis must revisit the secrets from the night of the fire, the darkness surrounding Ennis’s new art installation, and the truth of their family legacy in both fact and fiction. It sounds like a wonderful twisted nest of secrets and magic, and I’m eager to dive in.
Marion by Leah Rowan – June 2
Just when you thought we’d run out of interesting ways to riff on Robert Bloch and Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, Leah Rowan comes along with Marion. As the title suggests, it’s the story of the Bates Motel’s most famous victim, but this time, she doesn’t die in the shower. She takes control of the knife and the narrative in this daring retelling of a proto-slasher classic. The story we know is just the beginning, and I can’t wait to find out the end.
Headlights by CJ Leede – June 9
Through her first two novels, Maeve Fly and American Rapture, CJ Leede emerged as one of the most exciting new horror voices of the 2020s, and she’s just getting warmed up. Leede’s third novel follows an FBI agent on the brink of retirement, running from his past and from the unsolved case that haunts him most, as he’s slowly pulled back into a gruesome serial killer narrative. Victims start turning up again, wearing someone else’s skin like a cape, with no memory of how they got that way, or how they got a lone strand of unidentified hair tied around their tongue. Both a riff on The Shining and a journey into the dark Colorado night, Headlights is one of the year’s most exciting horror lit events.
It Came From Neverland by Cynthia Pelayo – June 9
Cynthia Pelayo‘s novels have always felt like dark fairy tales, and with her latest, she’s taking things into the realm of one of the most famous children’s stories ever. It Came From Neverland follows a version of Wendy Darling who, while working as a schoolteacher and as an aid to rehabilitate World War I soldiers, finds old fears returning when a student goes missing. It seems that an entity Wendy knows only as “Peter Pan” is back on the prowl, and unlocking her memories might be the only way to stop it. That’s right, it’s a dark Peter Pan retelling as only Pelayo can do it, and you know you want a piece of that.
The Other by Annie Neugebauer – June 9
Annie Neugebauer’s The Extra ranks as one of the most clever and frightening horror novellas in recent memory, but that was only the beginning. This June, Neugebauer returns with the next book in what’s been dubbed “The Outsiders Sequence.” This time, Neugebauer’s strange world of doppelgangers and mimics turns to a couple on a hike who run into their exact duplicates, setting off a chain of events that will test their understanding of each other in terrifying ways. Neugebauer’s one of horror’s finest rising stars right now, so if you haven’t jumped on board The Outsiders Sequence yet, pick up The Extra and get ready for The Other.
Marla by Jonathan Janz – August 18 (Editor’s update: Release has now shifted from initial June 23 publication date)
Speaking of rising stars in the horror world, we’ve got Jonathan Janz, whose work has hit another level in recent years thanks to work like Children of the Dark and Veil. Now he’s back with Marla, the story of a local woman surrounded by urban legend, and her possible connection to a string of crimes in the community of King’s Branch. Is Marla a witch, a killer, a victim, a helpless child? We’ll have to read and find out in what feels like a perfect jumping-on point for new Janz readers.
The Sixth Nik by Daniel Kraus – June 23
Daniel Kraus has long been a favorite among genre readers, but thanks to his recent Pulitzer Prize win for his brilliant novel Angel Down, he’s more visible than ever, and all that visibility comes as he’s about to unleash a space epic with all the hallmarks of epic sci-fi and horror alike. The Sixth Nik promises everything from a sentient spaceship to a rogue planet full of plague to a nine-year-old “cultist” with an enhanced brain. This is Kraus playing in a brand-new sandbox, and genre readers everywhere won’t want to miss that.
Slasher Summer by E.L. Chen – June 23
E.L. Chen‘s latest novel is described as a love letter to ’80s slasher films, and anyone who’s taken a dive into the meta-horror of Scream or My Heart is a Chainsaw will want to sit up and take notice. The book follows a group of friends who grew up in a town famous as the location of a slasher movie, where they frequently played the characters during midnight shows. As adults, they return to their hometown, and to the location of the slasher movie, only to find that someone’s out to get them, someone wearing a very familiar mask. This sounds like a blast, and the latest in an ever-growing strand of slasher novels reinventing the genre on the page.
Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep by Paul Tremblay – June 30
Modern horror master Paul Tremblay‘s latest novel sounds like his most ambitious yet, and that’s really saying something. Dead But Dreaming of Electric Sheep follows Julia, a former pro gamer who gets an offer she can’t refuse: For a hefty payday, she must pilot a man named “Bernie” across the country for her mother’s tech company. The catch? Bernie’s in a vegetative state, and his mobility comes from the AI chip in his head. As Julia moves Bernie’s body, Bernie’s mind moves through an unfathomable nightmare world, but where are they heading, and what’s Bernie really meant to find? Every new Paul Tremblay book is an event, and this one feels particularly special.
Red X by David Demchuk – June 30
This one’s technically a reprint, but David Demchuk’s Red X is so revered among the horror community, and particularly other horror authors, that it feels worth highlighting, especially during Pride Month. Complex and metatextual, Red X is about a series of disappearances and a demonic entity plaguing the gay community of Toronto, but it’s also an autobiographical sketch of an author navigating death, survival, queer culture, horror as a means of expression, and more. In short, it’s an essential, and this new edition, complete with fresh writing by Gretchen Felker-Martin and Anthony Oliveira, is a must-have.
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