Night Shift by Stephen King

“The building sloped away like a smooth chalk cliff to the street far below. The cars parked there looked like those matchbox models you can buy in the five-and-dime. The ones driving by the building were just tiny pinpoints of light. If you fell that far, you would have plenty of time to realize just what was happening, to see the wind blowing your clothes as the earth pulled you back faster and faster. You’d have time to scream a long, long scream. And the sound you made when you hit the pavement would be like the sound of an overripe watermelon.”

-The Ledge by Stephen King

Night Shift is Stephen King’s first short story collection, and it is absolutely fantastic. I’ve loved all the collections of his I’ve read to date, and I am so excited that a new collection You Like It Darker was recently announced, coming out this spring. Stephen King is one of those writers who writes fantastic stories across many forms, short story, novella and novel. His talent continues to blow me away, and whether I pick up a book that’s just being released or one written 30 years ago, I know I’m going to love it.

Night Shift compiles 20 short stories, all varying degrees of horror. I want to talk about my favorite two stories first, the ones that stick to me, the ones I just can’t stop thinking about, even though I’ve finished these stories a few weeks ago now.

In Sometimes They Come Back, teacher Jim Norman is returning to teaching after a long break. There was a previous incident with his last teaching position- one he doesn’t want to continue to burden him. He’s trying to put it behind him and move on. He accepts a teaching position with relief, but quickly realizes there’s something not quite right with some of the students in his afternoon class. It’s not a pleasant moment for Jim when he realizes why and what has to be done. (Don’t want to spoil it too much!).

The Ledge though. The Ledge.

Goddamn, The Ledge.

That story was not an edge of the seat kind of story. It was sitting on the edge of a skyscraper and hoping you won’t fall off kind of story. So DAMN TENSE. In a nutshell, it’s a story where the main character is trapped into making a tough decision- go to jail for 30+ years or walk around a five inch ledge of a penthouse apartment. It’s definitely a “what the actual heck would you do” kind of story, and while I’ve contemplated it enough, I still can’t get this story out of my head. King’s best stories stick around. That’s what makes them so great.

But of course, there were a lot of stand out stories in this collection. For example, The Mangler: a story about a seemingly possessed laundry machine that is creepy and just a teeny bit gross.

Then there’s a story called The Boogeyman, which is probably one of the hardest stories for me to read in this book. It’s scary and about the literal boogeyman so enough said.

Trucks impressed the hell out of me. Only King could write a story about trucks taking over the world and make it terrifying and realistic.

Quitters, Inc. was another story that really gets under your skin. It’s about a man who decides to quit smoking to change his life and the company (and consequences) he accepts to get him there.

Children of the Corn is probably one of the most well known stories in this collection because of the movie. I haven’t seen it, don’t plan to. I can read horror much better than I can watch it, and this is a really wonderful but scary story. I loved it of course.

Then the last story I’ll mention is Jerusalem’s Lot which is a prequel story to Salems’ Lot. It’s set in the 1800s and it’s such a good story about the sort of place the Lot has always been. (There’s another story later in the collection that’s also set in a more modern era about the Lot, One For the Road. It’s fantastic too!)

This collection is really something else. I always love reading collections like this and chatting with other people about it because it’s always interesting to see what stories people love the most. There’s something between the pages of Night Shift for everyone. Tread carefully, glance over your shoulder, and turn on the light to see what that shadow in the night is.