You Like It Darker

NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP 10 HORROR BOOK OF 2024 WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR HORROR FINALIST FOR THE 2025 LOCUS AWARDS “Stephen King knows You Like It Darker and obliges with sensational new tales” (USA TODAY): From legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King, an extraordinary collection of stories that are “a master class in tension and full of King’s dark humor” (The New York Times Book Review)—now with a bonus story, “The Music Room.”“You like it darker? Fine, so do I,” writes Stephen King in the afterword to this magnificent new collection of twelve stories that delve into the darker part of life—both metaphorical and literal. King has, for half a century, been a master of the form, and these stories, about fate, mortality, luck, and the folds in reality where anything can happen, are as rich and riveting as his novels, both weighty in theme and a huge pleasure to read. King writes to feel “the exhilaration of leaving ordinary day-to-day life behind,” and in You Like It Darker, readers will feel that exhilaration too, again and again. “Two Talented Bastids” explores the long-hidden secret of how the eponymous gentlemen got their skills. In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” a brief and unprecedented psychic flash upends dozens of lives, Danny’s most catastrophically. In “Rattlesnakes,” a sequel to Cujo, a grieving widower travels to Florida for respite and instead receives an unexpected inheritance—with major strings attached. In “The Dreamers,” a taciturn Vietnam vet answers a job ad and learns that there are some corners of the universe best left unexplored. “The Answer Man” asks if prescience is good luck or bad and reminds us that a life marked by unbearable tragedy can still be meaningful. “King’s skills as a storyteller remain undimmed” (The Minnesota Star Tribune) and his ability to surprise, amaze, and bring us both terror and solace is unsurpassed. “The titular darkness promised is as riveting and all-consuming as ever” (New York magazine). You like it darker? You got it.

My relationship with Stephen King books has become rather complex over the years. Having read more of his works than most any other author, I tend to hold him, rightly or wrongly, to a different standard than I would those others. Thus, stories that would easily net a four or five-star rating if penned by another might only warrant three or four in my estimation, given all the other top-notch examples I have to compare them against at this point. Is that fair? Maybe. Maybe not but for me, that's the honest truth of the situation.

Consequently, when I first started reading "You Like It Darker" shortly after its release in 2024, I was immediately put off by the first story, "Two Talented Bastards," which, again, if written by most other authors, I would have been genuinely impressed by, but that struck me as a rather middling effort as Stephen King tales go.

Fortunately, I did eventually circle back around to give the rest of the book a try and enjoyed most of the other stories quite a bit more. There are several strong entries that I'd put right up there with King's best efforts from the past, such as "Willy the Weirdo," "Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream," "Finn," "On Slide Inn Road," "Rattlesnakes," "The Dreamers," and "The Answer Man." I also quite enjoyed the little bonus story "The Music Room," which was originally published in Playboy back in 2016, and would have liked to see it go on longer as it had one of the stronger hooks but it was also fun to ponder all the details of it that are otherwise left to a reader's imagination.

All things considered, "You Like It Darker" ended up being a worthwhile and largely-satisfying read for me. There were some elements I didn't love but I found much more to enjoy. I'm giving this one a 4.5, rounded up so as not to underrate it.