Four Past Midnight (1990)

I've read this book many many moons ago. Back in the days when I only read Dutch books and the moment King's translated books were available in the shops I would buy them. (So now I have a very nice SK collection but will never re-read them because once you have read his books in English you don't want to read them in Dutch anymore) I think I have read most of his books at least 2 to 3 times but I think not this book cause otherwise I would have remembered the 4 stories more clearly. The one I do remember is the first one The Langoliers. So I have decided to re-read this book of his so I can properly review this. ( )

Four novellas that scared the crap outta me. I knew the library policeman was real... ( )

It took me awhile to get through this re-read, simply because I'd been squeezing the individual stories in between other books.

But this was a fantastic journey once again. Four quite different stories, each had a definite touch of creepiness.

"The Langoliers", "Secret Window, Secret Garden", "The Library Policeman", and "The Sun Dog" make up this collection. While each had different types of characters and settings, they all had one thing in common: the thin fabric between reality and unreality. For just a little while, we readers were able to peek with the characters and see a glimpse of the other side.

( )

The Library Policeman: Sam Peebles was raped as a child by a man posing as a library policeman. Throughout his adulthood all Sam cares about is the shame and terror and the sense of worthlessness that abide in him. ( )

I didn't think that horror was my thing, but I can now see why everyone raves about Stephen King. He's simply a wonderful writer: you care about the characters he creates, they're so completely believable that the supernatural aspects of his stories become equally so. Each of the four stories in this volume are long enough to be books in themselves and I enjoyed all of them very much. I think 'The Langoliers' is the one that will stay with me longest - the idea of waking up to an almost empty aeroplane is so wonderfully chilling. ( )