As I've previously noted, I was a huge fan of King's early works. So it was almost physically painful for me to try and work my way through this recent collection of short stories. For the most part boring, they bore no relation to the wonderful short stories of the past, such as Shawshank, Apt Pupil and those contained within the pages of Skeletion Crew, Ten Past Midnight and even those written for Creepshow. Those were magical and it was hard to imagine they'd been written by the same author who wrote these.
The Night Stalker - James Swain The Night Monster - James Swain
Still with the bad taste in my mouth of JAS, I warmed to Swain's hero, Jack Carpenter - a one man missing persons' unit, specialising in missing kids - and his quirky dog, Buster within the first few pages of the first novel. With the addition of a nice cast of bit players, particularly The Seven Dwarfs - a chorus of rowdy drunks with hearts of gold whose home is the bar underneath Jack's apartment - these were very entertaining.
And I'm delighted to note that they're part of a series. I've added the rest to my wish list.
LabRat
Athos: If you'd told us what you were doing, we might have been able to plan this properly. Aramis: Yes, sorry. Athos: No, no, by all means, let's keep things suicidal.
