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.