If It Bleeds by Stephen King

I read small parts of the book and huge part of it I listened to. Thanks to the free trial of Scribd, I was able to multi-task while enjoying a very nice performance of If It Bleeds by Stephen King, narrated by Will Patton, Danny Burstein, and Steven Weber. I was listening at the speed of 1.2x and it’s just so good I understood every word. Except from the part Life of Chuck where I was kinda lost.

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Title: If It Bleeds
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery
My Review Rating: ★★★★✰
Book Description (Goodreads):
Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog – and on her own need to be more assertive – when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realizes there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins ‘If It Bleeds’ , a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case.

Dancing alongside are three more long stories – ‘Mr Harrigan’s Phone’, ‘The Life of Chuck’ and ‘Rat’ .

The novella is a form King has returned to over and over again in the course of his amazing career, and many have been made into iconic films, If It Bleeds is a uniquely satisfying collection of longer short fiction by an incomparably gifted writer.

Back to the book, I have mixed feelings and thoughts about If It Bleeds. Since it’s a collection of four long horror stories, it kinda hard for me to rate it. This is not my first Stephen King book, but this is the first I actually finished (lol) not because I didn’t like King, but I just didn’t have time (or I did but I chose to just sleep in between jobs). Vlogging and blogging about my readings really help me to push and fall in love again with books. I just hate it I can’t buy physical books for now. 🙁

Again, back to the book. My favorite part is the first story, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. It’s shorter than the others but it was also the story that hooked me and got me more interested in diving into the rest of the book. He introduced the characters so well I knew them well right away, and even when I was cooking while listening I was able to relate to the story I was about to cry. It’s a very light horror story, more of touching and drama. Which made it even more lovable and the best starter for the book. But if I would rate it on it’s own, I say it’s definitely a strong 5/5.

With the feels that Mr. Harrigan and Craig gave me, I was excited to start The Life of Chuck. Chapter 1 was really good, it honestly thought these series of stories are connected by some kind of “Black Mirror” vibes – futuristic, end of the world kind of thing. Like I would love to see it in the movies. But chapter 2 where we started to finally talk about who the heck Charles ‘Chuck’ Krantz was, I was kinda lost. I didn’t understand it, or at least most of it. I tried to go back to my Kindle and re-read but nah. I got nothing. I didn’t even have a single highlight whatsoever. It just didn’t make any sense so I was kind of disappointed. Is it just me?? 3/5 or 2/5 even but I love Stephen King and I know it’s just me.

The third story, If It Bleeds is basically the main event of this book. It’s a stand-alone story and not connected to the other three but it has its own series following the adventures of Holly Gibney – a detective. It’s very interesting when you start listening to the audiobook, I just didn’t find a hook that would make me more invested while doing something else. Best way to enjoy the book is to read it along with the audiobook (which I’ve tried and it works unless you have plenty of things to tick off from your to do list) so I thought I’ll be giving it another chance after I read The Outsider. 3/5.

The Rat is the last story in the book, I’ve read somewhere that it somehow reminded him of The Shining and I agree. There are hints and nods to other Stephen King masterpieces which will definitely make you include other books in your TBR. Strong 4/5 for me.