The King still has it.

I love Stephen King and always will. I have too many memories connected to the man and his work to ever let him go. However, I’ll admit to finding most of his recent work to be merely decent. The last book to really resonate with me was Revival. I’ve also preferred his novels and short collections to his novella collections (Different Seasons being the exception).

In If It Bleeds, King has proven he still has in him what has made me love his work all these years.

The story ‘If It Bleeds’ stars Holly Gibney of The Bill Hodges trilogy and ‘The Outsider,’ one of those stories I found to just be okay. I also didn’t understand King’s love for this character then, and I’m still unsure if I do, but this story, my least favorite of the four, made me appreciate her more.

‘Mr Harrigan's Phone’ felt like classic King. It felt like a coming-of-age story with a younger character and an older character coming together, generations colliding. This story was a solid opinion piece on the dangers of technology.

I loved the reverse three act structure in ‘The Life of Chuck.’ I’ve never felt for a character so much in such a short time span. One of King’s more creative and unique stories in recent memory.

‘Rat’ is another story that felt like home to me. The story of an obsessed wannabe writer who needs - absolutely needs to complete his manuscript and is driven insane, even talking to a rat which makes him do terrible things.

Ultimately, If It Bleeds is King’s best novella collection since Different Seasons.

I always love Stephen King’s story collections because – even though his stories tend to be novellas, rather than short stories – it’s nice to be able to pick up one of his books and know that I can take a breather after each story; I don’t have to commit to 500, 800, or even 1000 pages. Don’t get me wrong; I love big books. But during our current situation – during which I had to transform my face-to-face college classes to being 100% online – I just don’t have the mental energy for a big book right now. I can’t resist a new Stephen King book, and If It Bleeds was just what I needed.

If It Bleeds is a collection of four stories: “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” “The Life of Chuck,” “The Rat,” and the title story, “If It Bleeds.” While I enjoyed the entire collection, “The Life of Chuck” and “If It Bleeds” are my favorites – but I have to confess that the reason I enjoyed “If It Bleeds” so much is because it focuses on Holly Gibney, a character I loved in King’s The Outsider.

“Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” is a story about growing up, albeit with a creepy King flair. Craig started working for Mr. Harrigan as a kid, and their relationship develops into a mentor-protegee relationship that works both ways, with Mr. Harrigan passing on life advice and Craig teaching Mr. Harrigan how to use an iPhone. Things take an interesting turn, as of course, they must in a Stephen King story.

“The Life of Chuck” is an experimental piece. I really liked it, even though I’m not entirely sure I understand all of it. The first piece in this story felt a little too familiar, as the characters are experiencing an apocalyptic event. The idea of losing the internet during a time when we were all confined to our homes and depending on the internet for both work and play was definitely scary. One of the things I liked about this story is that it moved backwards, revealing more about the elusive Chuck as we went back in time.

“If It Bleeds” is an adventure with Holly Gibney, who is very different in King’s writing than she is in the HBO adaptation of The Outsider. I may be in the minority, but I prefer the written version of Ms. Gibney, so I was glad to get more time with her. There are spoilers for Holly’s previous adventures, and this one is related, but not a repeat of prior experiences.

Finally, with “The Rat,” King returns to the familiar topic of the frustrated writer. It’s probably the darkest in tone of the novellas in this volume. Drew Larson is a writer in the grip of an idea, and he makes a deadly deal with the title character.

Once again, King proves that he is a master of short fiction. I thoroughly enjoyed this collection, as I’m sure most King fans will.

READ IT: Stephen King delivers four times the terror in If It Bleeds

Constant Readers will revel in Stephen King’s latest offering, a collection of four novellas in the vein of Four Past Midnight or Different Seasons which serves as a welcome, if frightening, diversion from our corona-wracked reality. For HBO fans, the highlight here is the title cut, which serves as a sequel to The Outsider focusing on eccentric investigator Holly Gibney. Gibney, also a supporting character in King’s Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch, shines here in a solo outing that sees her chasing an even more terrifying incarnation of the shape-shifting monster from The Outsider — and provides a ready-made follow-up to the hit HBO series.

King’s storytelling genius is in full effect in the collection’s true standout, The Life of Chuck, a wrenching story of one man’s life told in reverse via three mind-bending sections.

The last two novellas are pure King page-turners: Rat, a new take on the deal-with-the-devil trope featuring a writer and a rodent; and Mr. Corrigan’s Phone, about the undying connection between an old man, a teen boy and the most peculiar instrument of terror: a possessed iPhone.

While If It Bleeds doesn’t quite achieve the lofty heights of his seminal Different Seasons — which contained the source material for two of the all-time greatest King screen adaptations, Stand by Me (based on The Body) and The Shawshank Redemption (adapted from Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption) — this new quartet provides a worthwhile excursion into the dark mind of the Master of Horror.

Stephen King’s new book, If It Bleeds, is a collection of four novellas that reminded me of one of his early collections, Different Seasons. Not only do both contain 4 stories, but they focus heavily on the character work that King is known for. As I’ve been hosting Chat Sematary and consuming his works in chronological order, it’s something that I’ve come to focus on as I read any of his novels, novellas, or short stories. Every once in a while, I’ll jump ahead as I have done for The Institute and If It Bleeds. It gives me a chance to see how King’s stories have been updated to reflect the present day. You can expect to find these four new stories full of his outlook on the world and his political opinion gets sprinkled in every now and then.

The first story, “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” initially gave off an “Apt Pupil” vibe in the sense that King reuses the idea of a younger, impressionable boy frequently interacting with an older man and being influenced by him. Without spoiling the story for you, I’ll just say that I’m very glad that the outcome of this story was very different than “Apt Pupil.” It’s one that I think a lot of people will be able to relate to because of the technological factor that King adds in. Mr. Harrigan is not a huge fan of technology, but Craig introduces him to the first generation iPhone. Of course, it wouldn’t be a King story without a twist, which gives the story that extra creepy factor. It’s a great way to kick off the collection.

“The Life of Chuck” wound up being the story that didn’t immediately grab my attention, but it did play around with the traditional storytelling format. Instead of telling the tale of someone’s life from start to finish, this story takes you backward through Chuck’s life. However, the way it begins makes you think that the story will be drastically different from what it winds up being. It’s quite misleading and the change in the story comes on pretty suddenly and unexpectedly. Despite it being my least favorite, it takes someone ordinary and tells the tale of his life in an interesting way.

“If It Bleeds” is the longest story and as you noticed, is also the title story. I was at a bit of a disadvantage reading this because it focuses on Holly Gibney and I haven’t read any of the other books she’s appeared in. I had at least watched The Outsider on HBO, so I knew who the character was. The only thing I don’t know for a fact is how closely her character was to King’s written version of her. I do love a good crime story though, which made “If It Bleeds” one that I was looking forward to. I know that Holly Gibney is not a detective, per se, but her instincts make her extremely good at what she does. I also appreciated the tidbits about her love for movies throughout as she’s looking into a school bombing and crosses paths with a reporter who happens to cover major tragedies. The story also gives more background to Holly than we ever saw in the HBO series. I may not have caught on to all of the references to the Bill Hodges trilogy, but by the end of the story, you do understand who Holly is as a character and the lengths she’ll go to solve crimes.

The final story may not have a huge rat monster like “Graveyard Shift,” but it was titled “Rat” and therefore was inevitably going to involve at least one of the critters. Rats aside, this story takes on a subject that King is uber familiar with: writing. The main character, Drew, is a writer who has never managed to finish a novel until one day an idea hits him and he just feels compelled to get it all down. He travels to a cabin away from his wife and kids and anyone who has read horror stories or watched horror movies knows right away that being in a cabin on your own is not the best idea. It’s a fun look at the thought process of a writer who is finally feeling accomplished. Everything comes at a cost though and King spins that into the story to turn it into a moral dilemma.

Now that I’ve read roughly half of Stephen King’s books, it means that I’ve had the chance to dive into several of his collections. Different Seasons is likely still my favorite as the short story collections haven’t grabbed me quite as much. If It Bleeds comes in at a close second, though. All of the stories were at least good and I did really love “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone.” I’ll be revisiting the collection again when it comes around for my podcast and maybe by then, I’ll understand the references made in the title story. I look forward to what I think of it after a second read. For now, go grab yourself a copy of the book if you haven’t yet and get to reading it!

With a cover featuring a cat with a rat nose, I was expecting at least one of the stories in If It Bleeds to have a Pet Sematary vibe. To my surprise, there's no dark horror insight. Yes, there are some supernatural and paranormal elements, but none are meant to be scary. Instead of dreadful setting and frightening descriptions, Mr. King gives us four character-driven stories.

Mr. Harrigan's Phone is a sentimental tale with a touch of the Twilight Zone. It happens to be my favorite out of this collection.

The Life of Chuck is my least favorite, though it's still worth reading.

The longest story is If It Bleeds, a sequel/spinoff to the Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, and End of Watch) and The Outsider, which centers on one of Mr. King's own favorite characters, Holly Gibney.

Rat will hit a little close to home with any aspiring author or anyone suffering for writer's block. The plot reminds me of the classic supernatural story The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs.

Overall, If It Bleeds is Stephen King at his very best. Rat and Mr. Harrigan's Phone are more on par with King's '80s writings. If It Bleeds is an exceptional thriller with returning characters from past novels. While The Life of Chuck is the weakest of the bunch, I still enjoyed reading it.

Nobody does novellas like Stephen King.

Sure, he’s a tremendous novelist and a great writer of short fiction, but more than perhaps any author of popular fiction in recent decades, he embraces the gray area between the two. And some of his most acclaimed work has sprung from that particular vein.

His latest book is “If It Bleeds,” the latest in his once a decade-ish string of novella collections, book such as “Different Seasons,” “Four Past Midnight” and “Full Dark, No Stars.” It’s a quartet of stories that are a little too long to be labelled short, all of which are packed with that uniquely King combination of fear and empathy.

The collection opens with “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone,” a tale of connections that run far deeper than we can imagine. A young boy works odd jobs for the reclusive billionaire who has moved to his town, watering the plants and reading the classics aloud. But when the boy gifts the old man with an iPhone, things change in ways both ordinary … and supernatural. One can’t call the relationship between the boy and the billionaire “love,” but it’s a real and meaningful connection – one whose binds remain tied well beyond expectation.

King’s not-quite-suspicious affinity for technology is at the forefront here as well, as is the grimly relentless optimism that the author occasionally decides to display. He’s not always looking to scare you – this story is a prime example of why that’s a good thing.

Next up is “The Life of Chuck,” a story that offers a different take on the end of the world. Society is falling apart, and physical infrastructure is crumbling; the availability of essential services is becoming more and more spotty. In the midst of it all, a series of inexplicable ads – a photo of a smiling businessman captioned “39 GREAT YEARS! THANKS CHUCK!” – arise all over, appearing on billboards, in print and on TV. The worse circumstances get, the more the ad appears.

So who is Chuck? The answer unfolds gradually in this three-part story that sees King venturing further into “New Weird” territory than we’ve seen before. It’s a strange and idiosyncratic story that veers surreal in a thoughtful meditation on imagination and mortality.

The fulcrum of the collection is the title story. “If It Bleeds” is the longest of the bunch, a new story featuring Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective service, continuing the character’s journey from the Bill Hodges trilogy and “The Outsider.” A tragedy at a school inadvertently leads Gibney to the discovery of a monster similar to the one she battled alongside Ralph Anderson in an Oklahoma cave; this one follows (and feeds on) pain via altogether different means. With old allies and new, she’s the one who must destroy the entity before any more die.

King’s affinity for Holly Gibney is palpable; it has been a while since his fondness for a character shined through so brightly. She’s undeniably compelling and complex, giving the author a window onto his created worlds through which he delights in looking. “If It Bleeds” is a scary and tense creature feature, one that also comments on the voyeuristic nature of humanity and the media apparatus that enables that voyeurism.

“If It Bleeds” closes with “The Rat,” where King once again illustrates his affinity and aptitude for telling stories about writers. Specifically, the difficulty of writing and the emotional ramifications that come with that struggle. A man heads into the woods of northern Maine, making his way to his family’s camp to isolate himself and finally write a novel – a task that almost destroyed him the last time he tried.

It revisits the longtime motif of writer’s block and the potential devil’s bargains a sufferer might make to break through, embracing the dark side of the creative process. What starts as a taut, albeit straightforward portrait of a writer’s desperate efforts to finally finish a novel takes an abrupt and surreal left turn that lends it an unexpected degree of depth.

One of the joys of King’s novella collections is the reminder that he, perhaps more than any of his bestselling peers, has a tremendous gift for giving stories exactly the amount of space they need to be properly told. Sometimes, that results in 700-plus page epics. Other times, just 70. Whatever it takes to get the story from his head to the page – that’s what King gives you. It’s remarkable really, that an author can create stories that cause a reader to shiver, to smile and to shed a tear in the space of a few pages – but really, should anything Stephen King does surprise us anymore?

“If It Bleeds” practically pulses with the humanistic empathy that marks the best of King’s work. It’s an outstanding quartet, featuring four tales that are wildly different from one another, yet undeniably bound together by the voice of our finest storyteller. There is much to fear in the worlds created by Stephen King, but even in the depth of his darkest shadows, a light of hope steadily glows. More exceptional work from the maestro.

Keep ‘em coming, Mr. King.