Skeleton Crew - Softcover

King, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451142934 ISBN 13: 9780451142931

Publisher: Penguin, 1988

Synopsis

King's stunning second collection contains twenty short stories, a short novel, THE MIST, and two poems, each tale showing the distinctive blend of unimaginable terror and realism that typifies King's early work. We meet GRAMMA - who only wants to hug little George, even after she's dead; a primeval sea creature with an insatiable appetite in THE RAFT; an innocent-looking monkey with evil powers in MONKEY, and a host of other memorable King creations as he takes the unsuspecting reader on a fantastic journey through the dark, shadowy areas of our innermost fears.

About this title

Review

In the introduction to Skeleton Crew, his second collection of stories, King pokes fun at his penchant for "literary elephantiasis," makes scatological jokes about his muse, confesses how much money he makes (gross and net), and tells a story about getting arrested once when he was "suffused with the sort of towering, righteous rage that only drunk undergraduates can feel." He winds up with an invitation to a scary voyage: "Grab onto my arm now. Hold tight. We are going into a number of dark places, but I think I know the way."

And he certainly does. Skeleton Crew contains a superb novella ("The Mist") that alone is worth the price of admission, plus two forgettable poems and 20 short stories on such themes as an evil toy monkey, a human-eating water slick, a machine that avenges murder, and unnatural creatures that inhabit the thick woods near Castle Rock, Maine. The short tales range from simply enjoyable to surprisingly good.

In addition to "The Mist," the real standout is "The Reach," a beautifully subtle story about a great-grandmother who was born on a small island off the coast of Maine and has lived there her whole life. She has never been across "the Reach," the body of water between island and mainland. This is the story that King fans give to their friends who don't read horror in order to show them how literate, how charming a storyteller he can be. Don't miss it. --Fiona Webster

Review

Liable to leave the reader in a state of shock (Sunday Telegraph)

Deliciously scary (Cosmopolitan)

As a storyteller King is unbeatable (Mirror)

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0451142934
• ISBN 13: 9780451142931
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Edition number: 1