- CHECK TRIGGER WARNINGS -
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
Full Dark, No Stars
Stephen King
388 pages
FC: tess, Darcy, Betsy Neal

A four story novella exploring the worst kinds of monsters and the reasons why they are who they are. Face it, Murderers help old women cross the street. Exploring the indecencies of the world but always knowing that horrible people are people who live two lives. The first, their human life and the second, A darker life . 🖤

I have each story its own review and rating. The average of the ratings is is 3.8⭐️ but I H8 decimal points so I rounded up 🤩
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1922 (#1)

“𝙸 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛! 𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚘𝚞𝚝!”

⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
1922 takes place on a 100 acre farmland. Living on this land, in a little house is Wilfred, his wife, Arlette and their son, Henry. The story starts as Wilfred concocts an idea to murder his wife, stringing along and traumatizing Henry in the process, I wish it just stopped there but, it didn’t. At its darkest moments, I felt terror I haven’t felt in years, while reading. At its intense moments, I understood why King is infamous. The end still gives me absolutely shivers. I do have to say, this story was harder to get into, as quickly as I thought it’d be, as the pilot of a 4 story novella. But, it absolutely grew on me. it was worth the read. I enjoyed the slow burn, the western movie showdown esque Bonnie and Clyde scenes, the murder and loss that ravaged a family of three. We see first hand how far the guilt of murder can go. What Wilfred sees, only the rats know. 🐀🐀🐀 exquisite storytelling, although it missed the mark a little for me :) 

𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚛𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗. 𝙷𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗’𝚝, 𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑. 
𝙸𝚝 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝙰𝚛𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚘 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎. 
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BIG DRIVER (#2)

“Murderers always overlook the obvious. You may depend on it, dears.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
One of the best things I’ve read by Stephen king. Tessa Jean - our main character goes through literal hell and back. She is a perfectly written and thought out character that I saw myself in (definitely not because her name is Tessa) one thing to know is that, I did not expect the level of intense sexual violence that there was. It was at first, pretty jarring. I think sexual violence can be used in shock value, instead of bringing attention to the fact that it happens, which I feel is a cop out! I also find it hard to understand men writing about sexual violence against women. Feels wierd. BUT with this story, I didn’t feel that at all. After the initial shock, he created this calm gentle story that begins with a woman and ends with her too. :) idk I can’t even describe it but, he did good. The story itself is intricately devious, mysterious and a little supernatural! Having something so real as violence be the action that roots these characters to reality, was exceptionally well done. Badass women. It’s not 5 star because I wanted more. 😂

“when a person does a bad thing and another person knows, but doesn’t stop it, they’re equally guilty.”
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FAIR EXTENSION (#3)

Although sometimes a cigar is just a smoke and a coincidence is just a coincidence.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 fair extension
Now this was something grand. The premise, the supernatural entity, the morality, the duality of choice, the “black luck”. Just absolutely no words. This was a  story that is the shortest in the novella, comin in at literally 31 pages, and it is a rollercoaster. Super fast paced, extremely creepy and definitely made me want to lock my door. It was extremely rewarding and radioactively entertaining. I was into it and really excited for the story to unfold in the first 10 pages and then… I had to cover my mouth because I was gasping so loud at 2:30 AM! I actualy have no words. This is another one that I think could make an insanely powerful book, but the overall truth that sticks out so soberly is that: time ticks on. And we can’t make situations or diseases life has handed to us just disappear? Unless…

We could…? ⏰

The souls of humans have become poor and transparent things. 
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A good marriage (#4)

Does anybody really know anybody? 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5
This one was something intimately terrifying. It just got more horrifying as the story went on. King created an egregiously suspenseful and skin-crawling atmosphere. And the story, the language, it was done realistically.  it flowed in an incredible horrifyingly beautiful way. It pulled me in and definitely reminded me of watching those fake murder documentaries like “Megan is missing”. But this was GOOOD. What would you do..? Someone you love is not who you thought they were. Is it better not to know? What makes A Good Marriage? How do women handle the awful, unexpected terrors of their male counterparts. 
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The Afterword was absolutely beautiful. 
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Special story - under the weather 
⭐️⭐️/5 
It was ok. The premise was terrifying and I was hoooked, at the beginning….But I was let down. I guessed what was going on within the first 3 pages and the ending doesn’t even close up what actually happened. Annoying. 

Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four novellas and one bonus story. All five stories centre around the theme of death, and the four main novellas focus on themes of murder, guilt, violent crimes and justice. Full Dark, No Stars has to be one of my favourite collections of short novellas, a close second to Different Seasons!

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

1922 was a great start to this collection, told through a letter from the POV of a killer. Our killer Wilf turned out to be a maybe unreliable narrator, and for some reason, I believe there is more to the story. 1922 was a dark, grotesque and sad read; the addition of rats provided a spooky touch.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Driver was my favourite story in this collection. There were many twists and turns, and I knew Ramona couldn't be trusted as soon as she entered the story. Tess was bad*ss and served justice to that awful family that subjected her and many other women to a horrendous and sickening fate. Big Driver was dark, heartbreaking and emotional. But also addictive.

⭐⭐⭐

Fair Extension was extremely dark and messed up. This one was the shortest story in this collection, not including the bonus story, and was not my favourite. Streeter was an awful human and never felt guilt for what he did to his best friend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

A Good Marriage is from the POV of a wife that just discovered her husband is a wanted serial killer. It was interesting to go through the thought process as she digested what she found in the garage and to see her thought process when she decided to serve justice for the victims and her family. A Good Marriage was dark and hard to read, but it was addictive, nonetheless.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.25

Under the Weather was quite an emotional and sad read. A husband wasn't ready to let go of his dead wife and kept her alive through his imagination, just like he promised her he would. The ending is left open, but we can assume that his dead wife is about to be discovered. Under the Weather was a short yet impactful read. 

This book contains 4 novellas/short stories and so it's hard to rate the book as whole, so let's break it down.

1922: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Big Driver: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fair Extension: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A Good Marriage: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I gave the book 5 stars overall and 3 of the 4 stories got 5s from me too. The only one I gave a 4 to was Big Driver. It was the longest of the bunch, dragged a tiny bit in the middle, and the ending was a kind of sad I don't like, true to life, but sad. 

The other three were all five stars in my opinion. This book has a LOT of difficult subject matter, so be sure to check content warnings before reading if you have any specific triggers.