Cruz Review: Bite Sized King?

Even a downsized Stephen King could still offer a rare bag of treats -- especially when you consider that most of his past babies come super-sized! -- thick-volumes, full-of-pages...leaving many a sleepless nights in that rear view window.

'not so with his newest Just After Sunset -- short story collection. Here's a short review:

Book Genre: Great stories -- light on scary (a few touch on paranormal or suspense but for the most part King stays grounded in the real world) -- it's short, and to the point storytelling. A quick read. Easily would be able to read three of them in one night.

Page-turner meter, (or the can't-put-it-down factor): On a scale of 1-10, this gets a solid eight. It would be higher, but not all of the stories are winners -- but even Kings' less-liked stories, well, those too have something worthy of a look-see. Maybe that's why he's the King.

What I really liked: This reviewer said it best here -- "a writer of King's stature, 25 pages is all it really takes to tell a compelling story. Remember, The Shawshank Redemption started out as one of his short stories." -- yeah, what he said pretty much fits.

What I least liked: Like I said, not all the stories are worth writing home about...so, I guess I would kinda wish for a larger selection of stories...but, hey... the ones that are good easily out weight any minor complaints. The story -- N -- as a stand alone will probably make a great film like it did here:

Just after Sunset has -- "all the hallmarks of a classic King story - obsession, the supernatural and a blurred line between what is real and what isn't." -- and that's enough for me.