Stephen King’s highly praised collection of witty, dark tales — his first for a decade:
All That You Love Will Be Carried Away: a moving story of a suicidal traveling salesman who collects graffiti. Riding the Bullet: King’s famous “e-story” — the story of Alan Parker, who's hitchhiking to see his dying mother but takes the wrong ride, farther than he ever intended. Lunch at the Gotham Café: A sparring couple's contentious lunch turns very, very bloody when the maître d' gets out of sorts. 1408: (now filmed) A successful writer’s specialty is "Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses," and though Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn't kill him, he won't be writing about ghosts anymore. Autopsy Room Four: The last thing Howard Cottrell remembers is entering the woods to find his golf ball. He wakes up as he is being rolled into an autopsy room. Luckey Quarter: Darlene is a single mom struggling to raise two kids on her income as a chambermaid in Reno. When Room 322 leaves her a quarter for a tip, Darlene lets that quarter take her for a ride. Everything's Eventual: Dinky Earnshaw — a 19-year-old pizza boy — gets hired by a mysterious stranger for a unique and totally "eventual" (awesome) job. The Road Virus Heads North: An author buys a creepy painting at a yard sale which was painted by a metal-head neighbor just before he committed suicide. (583 pages)
Level: B