Written By: Stephen King
Published By: Pocket Books
Reviewed By: Melissa Minners
When people go on vacation, they usually pick a light read…something that will be quick and easy, requiring very little thought process. Usually that would be some sort of silly romance novel. Of course, I’m not that sort of person. I usually pick long books that I wouldn’t have time to read during my regular work week. In the past that would include Harry Potter novels or something by George RR Martin. This time around, I decided to get my horror on with a Stephen King anthology named Everything’s Eventual.
I hadn’t read a King anthology in quite some time. Quite honestly, I stopped reading Stephen King for a while and have just gotten back to checking out his works. He had felt a little stale to me ever since reading Insomnia. Something was missing from his earlier works that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. So, I stopped reading his novels, with a few exceptions over the years. I thought Everything’s Eventual would be a good way to dive back into it with fourteen of King’s short stories. I’m glad I decided to take a chance.
Is every story terrific in this anthology? Well, I was certainly entertained and didn’t really despise any of the tales, though some did stand out more than others. Autopsy Room Four addresses everyone’s fear regarding people thinking we are dead when we aren’t. Usually folks cringe when discussing being buried or cremated alive, but what about what happens before that? What if we were to find ourselves on an autopsy table, but we weren’t really dead?! This tale is both frightening and a little comical. Next was The Man in the Black Suit. This one was your standard horror featuring a little kid (King’s specialty). What stood out for me was that the bad guy reminded me a tad of Randall Flagg from The Stand.
The Little Sisters of Eluria featured a character many Stephen King fans know well: Roland Deschain of the Dark Tower series. Funny enough, I did all I could to avoid that series and have never read a single one. Yet, I found this particular short story rather interesting. A prequel to the Dark Tower series, this tale features some vampire-like creatures pretending to be healing nuns of a sort. This story and Roland Deschain intrigued me so much, I may have to change my mind about reading that series after all. Everything’s Eventual is a tale about a young man who, at his very lowest in life, has suddenly been given a hand up by someone with seemingly limitless resources and equally limitless pockets. However, there is a catch: the young man must use his powers to take out what his benefactor describes as very bad people. But what if those people weren’t so bad after all? What if his benefactor is the bad guy?
Now we come to my favorite story in the anthology: 1408. Room 1408 in The Dolphin hotel is rumored to be haunted. Several people have died or taken their lives in this room…so many, that the management has decided to close this room up, never to be booked again. That is, until haunted tales author Mike Enslin demands to be allowed to stay there. His plan is to debunk the idea that there is some entity that caused the people who stayed in these rooms to die. Well, that was his plan anyway. You’ll never look at an old hotel the same way again.
While I have only mentioned five of the fourteen stories, I assure you that all of the tales in the Everything’s Eventual anthology are quite enjoyable. Though not as horrific as some of King’s horror can be, they are definitely everything a fan of Stephen King’s works could ask for. A bit of horror, some interesting twists and turns, some thought-provoking moments and a few chuckles or two. Definitely a great way for an old fan of King to get back into reading his creations.
Check out Everything’s Eventual at Amazon
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