Is the King of the Crypt toying with us with the title FULL
DARK, NO STARS? There is no denying that each of these four short,
chilling stories plumbs the depths of darkness of the human
condition, but each also shines in its own macabre radiance as four
mere humans struggle with events that forever alter the course of
their lives. This is not a book to lull you to sleep, unless you
enjoy double-checking the locks and looking under the bed before
you turn in.

In “1922” Wisconsin farmer Wilfred James takes
matters into his own hands when his wife decides to sell off the
portion of their land left to her by her father. She plans to
accept the generous offer for the 100-acre parcel from a hog
processing plant and move to town, with or without Wilfred. He
loves farming and foresees the hog business bringing with it putrid
odors, noise and ruination of his property value. Leave she does,
but not without a chilling assist from her husband, who entices
their teenage son to help in her murder and the cover-up of the
crime. The longest and most gruesome of the four stories,
“1922” describes the real and imagined horrors that
visit the murderous husband as his life and that of his son
gradually unravel. The story of Wilf’s journey into madness
finds Stephen King at the height of his writing prowess.

“Big Driver” introduces us to Tess, a writer of cozy
mysteries popular with women's book clubs. Her readers aren't fond
of the "ooky" parts of mysteries, but when she narrowly escapes
death at the hands of a serial rapist and murderer on a lonely
stretch of road, she is faced with plotting and carrying out her
own form of criminal justice. The real-life solution she creates
out of her fertile writer’s imagination is deliciously
satisfying as the self-sufficient young woman grapples with how to
make sure he doesn’t kill again.

At a mere 34 pages, “Fair Extension” is perhaps the
darkest and most thought-provoking tale of this extraordinary
literary quartet. Dave Streeter, a successful, middle-aged family
man, finds himself suddenly confronted by his own mortality by a
virulent cancer. Feeling ill, he pulls off the road for a moment
and notices a modest roadside vendor’s booth. Curious, he
strikes up a conversation with the odd little man who says he gives
people what they want through a fair exchange. The man learns of
Streeter's plight and offers restoration of his health with a
30-day, money-back guarantee if he's not satisfied. The fair
exchange that is required is that Streeter must consciously select
a person he dislikes who will be on the receiving end of the trade.
“Fair Exchange” is a classic tale of good versus evil,
a subject that has been thoroughly explored in some of King’s
most famous novels. The brevity with which he treats the subject
snaps today’s world into sharp focus. Just how far-reaching
and pervasive are the consequences of greed in the pursuit of
personal gain?

The last entry is “A Good Marriage.” Darcy Anderson
discovers that sometimes it doesn’t pay to be too tidy or too
curious. Her entirely happy, if somewhat humdrum, world comes
crashing down when she stubs her toe on something beneath her
husband’s workbench. In a modern-day tale of Pandora’s
Box, Darcy will find herself visited with knowledge best left
unknown. Her solution, like that of Tess the mystery writer, is
startling and darkly satisfying.

King steers clear of the supernatural this time out, depending
on how the reader sees the little man in “Fair
Exchange.” He offers the idea that there is the potential in
each of us to kill, not only in immediate self-defense, but with
diabolical cunning, if the situation warrants. He writes in his
self-revealing afterword that each of the disturbing tales was
constructed from real-life scenarios. Too often, he feels that the
“whys” --- the reasons people do the things they do
that appear in the headlines --- are not explored by the law or in
the media. In FULL DARK, NO STARS, he explores these reasons
through the eyes of otherwise ordinary people.

Here they are, through a glass darkly.