Four Past Midnight

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: James Woods, Tim Sample, Willem Dafoe, Ken Howard

Length: 29 hrs and 39 mins

Publisher's summary

Four chiller novellas set to keep listeners awake long after bedtime.

One Past Midnight: "The Langoliers" takes a red-eye flight from LA to Boston into a most unfriendly sky. Only 11 passengers survive, but landing in an eerily empty world makes them wish they hadn't. Something's waiting for them, you see.

Two Past Midnight: "Secret Window, Secret Garden" enters the suddenly strange life of writer Mort Rainey, recently divorced, depressed, and alone on the shore of Tashmore Lake. Alone, that is, until a figure named John Shooter arrives, pointing an accusing finger.

Three Past Midnight: "The Library Policeman" is set in Junction City, Iowa, an unlikely place for evil to be hiding. But for small businessman Sam Peebles, who thinks he may be losing his mind, another enemy is hiding there as well - the truth. If he can find it in time, he might stand a chance.

Four Past Midnight: "The Sun Dog", a menacing black dog, appears in every Polaroid picture that 15-year-old Kevin Delevan takes with his new birthday gift - with each following photograph beckoning him to the supernatural. Old Pop Merrill, Castle Rock's sharpest trader, wants to crash the party for profit, but the Sun Dog, a creature that shouldn't exist at all, is a very dangerous investment.

©1990 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)1990, 1991 Penguin Highbridge Audio. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"He never seems to use up the magic...these four novellas demonstrate the qualities that have made King by far the world's most popular author." ( Chicago Tribune)

"These stories grab and will not let go." ( The Washington Post)

"King is a master storyteller, and you will never forget these stories." ( Seattle Times)

People need to get over the music

All these reviews about the unnecessary music need to just get over it already. It’s in nearly all of Kings audio books and isn’t more than 10 seconds at a time at most. Focus on the story and you will be fine

terrible background music

The story and performance was great but background music is terrible and takes away from the stories

very good stories

I love that the stories were very good I enjoyed listening to them at night before I went to sleep

Awesomeness

Was fantastic! All the readers were as great as the stories. Part 3 unexpectedly hit home for me and made the whole book even though I got it for part 1. Check this out people. especially Iowa people.

Great Collection

I saw some reviews that mentioned music and sound quality and found it to be negligible at best. This is a great collection of stories and you can’t beat the value of a 4 for 1 with good performances and interesting tales.

3/4 stories were great

The first three stories were excellent, but the last one was weak, in my opinion.

You can skip the Sun Dog...

The first 3 stories were pretty great. The Library Policeman was the most shocking and surprising story for me because I had came into it blind. Each of the performances had their highs and lows, with Willem Dafoe having the weakest performance in my opinion.

Luxury of riches

Loved them...every story is gripping with horror beyond our realm of imagination. I only wish King's novellas make mainstream series.

Just up front only listened to The Langoliers

William Defoe did a great job in narrating The Langoliers however they put some music in there that could have done without. The story was more or less word for word from the TV movie in the 90’s with a few more details in there. Still remains one of my favorite stories by Stephen King.

most of the stories are great...

i loved the first two stories. they are some of my favorite shorts by SK, and I liked the third story. However, I didn't care for the last story. Overall, a must listen if you are a fan of SK.