Stephen King is one of my favorite authors and this time of year, I can't get enough of a good thriller. Luckily, I had this grouping of four of King's novellas already on my nook so I didn't have to look very far to satisfy my cravings. I'm going to do the review for this book a little differently. Since it's actually four small books (about 200 pages each), I think I will do mini reviews for each and then a summary at the end. Changing things up around here, look out!
Title: Four Past Midnight Author: Stephen King
Date Read: October 17, 2013
The Library Policeman
Summary: Set in Junction City, Iowa, "The Library Policeman" is the story of Sam Peebles, a middle-aged businessman who happens to have some overdue books. It seems a minor offense—but not to Junction City's malevolent monster of a librarian. What follows is spine-tingling suspense as only Stephen King can deliver it. goodreads
Review: This was my favorite short story out of all of them. I think the part that got me the most is, I specifically remember each library I belonged to growing up and the impact they had on me. I never had the negative feelings about one like Sam did but when it was revealed what those feelings were related to, it was completely understandable why he would avoid/dread libraries. I did connect with Sam on one level though; I remember being frightened of certain librarians. It was always the old lady librarians. You know the ones with the beaded glasses chain and the sweaters? They always intimidated me. I don't know if it was because they knew if I owed money or because I thought they would lecture me if I brought books back late (which I almost never did) but I did not like interacting with them. So much so that to this day, I use the self checkout at the library (not to mention it is a bazillion times faster.) Anyway...
I also really enjoyed the main characters and Dave's story especially. I thought it was well done and added a lot to the main story line. It helped us to really understand who he was as a person rather than the reputation that he had throughout the town. Initially, I really didn't like Sam but as the novella progressed, I started to like him more and more. I'd like to think this was intentional. Maybe King made him more appealing as the story continued and the different weights were lifted from his shoulders. It's more likely though that I may just be imagining that. This story puts a good, scary spin on libraries and librarians which is rare to hear about in the book blogger community and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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