Stephen King
2010 (c) Stephen King
Paperback edition with bonus story
Publisher: Hodder
1922 kicks off this collection and it is the story of a father and a son--a son in love with the neighbour's daughter. The story starts off with the killing of the father's wife. We get a glimpse into a woman who hates the farming life and wants to live in the city. Father and son do not. The wife's inherits 100 acres of land and father wants to add it to his 80 acres and farm it. The wife not impressed with this intends to sell the land to the highest bidder, which so happens to be a slaughter farm. Father convinces son to help him do away with the wife and concocts a cunning plan.
Deed done and the son is never the same again. He gets the girl next door pregnant and intends to marry her. The girl's father won't agree and he sends his daughter to a nunnery where they assist the girls in giving birth and putting the child up for adoption.
One day the son leaves a note for father and travels to the city to be with his love. The story is told through the eyes of father and this is the best story in the bunch and should be made into a movie. It would rock harder as a film, if it is done right.
The next story is Big Driver. It is basically a revenge story. Her reasons for revenge aren't as believable in today's world, but King entwines a great plot with flowing words you'd be sucked into the world and won't want to close the pages.
A Fair Extension is an awesome story. A man riddled with cancer makes a deal with a plump little man. But be warned it isn't your standard 'deal with the devil' story. I like King's take on this old tale.
A Good Marriage bored the crap out of me. Basically a wife stumbles onto a box in the garage that shows her husband to be someone he's not. A well told story but just not to my taste.
The bonus story: Under the Weather is neat. I liked it and King hid the twist quiet well.
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