Night Shift Review

by Stephen King

Rating: 4/5

A collection of tales to invade and paralyse the mind as the safe light of day is infiltrated by the shadows of the night. As you listen, the clutching fingers of terror brush lightly across the nape of the neck, reach round from behind to clutch and lock themselves, white-knuckled, around the throat.

This is the horror of ordinary people and everyday objects that become strangely altered; a world where nothing is ever quite what it seems, where the familiar and the friendly lure and deceive. A world where madness and blind panic become the only reality.

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Night Shift was my second short story collection from the King of Horror. And oh, boy. This surely packed a punch! Night Shift includes some of the more well-known classics made into film adaptations - Children of the Corn, Jerusalem’s Lot, Graveyard Shift, and The Mangler. 

Each of these horror shorts was uniquely different. And each was as captivating as the one before. With other short story collections I’ve read, it can be hard to enjoy every single story.  And I enjoyed most of the reads in this one. Only one of them did I truly not enjoy. And this one was more filled with WTF moments. Several WTF moments. Though I think almost every one of these stories had me saying WTF at some point as I made my way through them. The Lawnmower, though, seriously, WTF! I gave that one a double-take to make sure I read that right. 

Some of my favorites from these were: I Am the Doorway - this one still gives me the creeps!, Children of the Corn, Jerusalem’s Lot, and while not necessarily a favorite, its one I can’t forget - The Lawnmower Man!

If you enjoy short stories, especially horror stories filled with monsters, disturbed minds, and evil, definitely check out this one!