Edgarr Alien Pooh's Reviews > If It Bleeds

Stephen King delivers yet again with this volume of four short stories. Much of the anticipation around this was the short story that furthers the story of Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers Agency, introduced to us in the Bill Hodges Trilogy and then becoming the main character in The Outsider.

The longest of the four stories is the title story, If It Bleeds, which is the one that Holly appears in. Although she is only in this story I would have to say you need to read her previous encounters to get any handle on what is happening here. At the very least, and if you can ignore the Brady Hartsfield and Bill Hodges references, you definitely need to read The Outsider first. The story of If It Bleeds is just a perfect flow on from The Outsider.

The other three stories are as you would expect from King, a mixture of horror, suspense, and weirdness. The fourth story, The Rat, is something only King can get away with without sounding ridiculous, although he does fall back on a well-used formula, that of a writer. I loved the first of the stories, Mr. Harrigan's phone. I don't think I will ever get tired of King's descriptions of Maine but I am not American and have never been there so for me it is purely the State of Stephen King. This story takes us back in terms of technology to around the time mobile (cell) phones were first being introduced. Having lived this period I can remember the fun and games involved with the world opening up and the conspiracy theories surrounding the new tech and Mr. Harrigan is right in this mix.

You will see that although I have stated that I love this book, I have only given it four stars. Unfortunately, the book loses a star for me because of the second story, The Life of Chuck. Had this story kept going it may have been my favourite in the book but I was a little disappointed in the ending. The build-up was awesome, it kept me guessing and reading, eager to see what was happening and then it just wrapped up. There were so many loose ends that I really think this story could have been the length of If It Bleeds and become a much more well-rounded delivery.