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Stephen is King! “Unlike cycling and swimming, one can forget how to write,” says King in the introduction of his latest offering of short stories Just After Sunset,and if you think you see a bit of a stutter in the first of the short stories, Willa,by the time you start on the second - Gingerbread Girl,the rhythm is back, almost like the rhythm of Emily the protagonist of the story, for who ‘only fast running will do’ and it is this rhythm and her dad’s advice never to give up and that good things are just around the corner, that eventually save her from a ‘never-say-die’ serial killer.

King believes that the after-sunset belongs to dead people and the book is full of them. If Willa is about ghosts who don’t believe their dead, Things They Left Behind is about 9/11 victims and their belongings. The book is sure to grab you not only if you‘re a lover of spooks but even if you’re fond of page turners.

But unlike Da Vinci Code which makes you turn pages, and you continue to thumb pages even after you’re done with the book looking for ‘the end’, King’s stories never leave you groping after sunset. Every story belongs and ends. In Kings own words, his stories emanate from a ‘willed understanding’ of situations and you can see the authour’s participation in the story as much as your involvement with the protagonist.

 What does detract you however is Stephen King’s generous borrowing from the classics and the ‘hurry up please it’s time’ reproduction from TS Eliot does stand out a bit. The completeness of the book lies in the very end where King gives you his notes and this is a must read for any book lover who’s harboured a desire to at sometime pen a book.

Tags: Da Vinci Code, JUST AFTER SUNSET, Stephen King