Full Dark, No Stars

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Craig Wasson, Jessica Hecht

Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger...." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922", the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

In "Big Driver", a cozy-mystery writer named Tess encounters the stranger along a back road in Massachusetts when she takes a shortcut home after a book-club engagement. Violated and left for dead, Tess plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself.

"Fair Extension", the shortest of these tales, is perhaps the nastiest and certainly the funniest. Making a deal with the devil not only saves Dave Streeter from a fatal cancer but provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment.

When her husband of more than 20 years is away on one of his business trips, Darcy Anderson looks for batteries in the garage. Her toe knocks up against a box under a worktable and she discovers the stranger inside her husband. It's a horrifying discovery, rendered with bristling intensity, and it definitively ends a good marriage.

Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, Full Dark, No Stars proves Stephen King a master of the long story form.

©2010 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2010 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved

Critic reviews

"[T]hese tales show how a skilled storyteller with a good tale to tell can make unsettling fiction compulsively readable." ( Publishers Weekly)

"King has gone on record saying he believes that American readers should pay more attention to the virtues of short fiction... if anyone can get reluctant short-story and novella readers into the swing, he certainly can with this book." ( Booklist)

1st Story, Classic King

The first story was awesome. I had to keep the lights on because I was getting creep out. The rest of the book was just okay. Great book, but I just wanted for dark and blood. I enjoyed reading this one.

Great stories, annoying performance

As always, Stephen King has outdone himself.
Unfortunately, the performances by Jessica Hecht are not very good. Her voices for the female characters are too whiney and airy-sounding... read at an annoyingly high register. And she sounds like she is smiling throughout the reading, even when the suspense in the story increases.
I will avoid future performances by Jessica Hecht.

Keep Writing These Mr. King!

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderul little collection of awesome stories. If you're a King fan, you won't be dissapointed.

Good ideas - some good stories - last one is SLOW

The stories were great! The last one - well - the idea was fantastic, and the story could have been amazing if it wasn't the most unending redundant repeated stuff I've suffered through in a long long time.

I listened to the last story on a 4 hour trip. My wife and I began the trip listening to it. After an hour, she begged me to use earphones. Two hours later, she asked me for an update, and amazingly, it took me two sentences to cover the ground it took this book two hours to cover.

By THAT time, I was so invested in it, I couldn't just put it down. Again - the story was a great idea - but the writing just rambled. And rambled. And rambles. HOW can a story ramble in an annoying way? I can't even remember - it was THAT uninteresting.

So. Enjoy the first three. The fourth one - I'll be happy to give you the 5-minute short story version.

I really enjoyed 2 of the 4 stories ...

This book is 4 novellas or long stories. The first one, about a 1920s era farmer, wasn't worth the time. It went on too long and there was no significant reveal at the end. Man kills wife and screws up son. Yawn. Good prose though (as usual with King). The one about the writer was splendid, as was the one about the woman who makes a truly horrifying discovery in her husband's workshop area. That leaves the last story and I would have given it a more favorable review except for the abrupt ending. The most interesting aspect to a Faustian bargain is the bargainer's comeuppance, which we never saw. I did enjoy the author's post script, concluding comments. I agree with King, what most interests me is ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. He's a master at that. Can't wait for his next work!

A great collection of stories

I really enjoyed this book. For me, King's short stories are usually more enjoyable than his novels.

Of the four stories, "Fair Extension" was my favorite. Craig Wasson can really put the emotion into those characters. He's great with the humor, especially when it goes dark.

His reading in "1922" was spot-on. I felt like I could see everything that was happening. That was a really long story, but I was fully engaged the whole time.

As for the other two tales, much has been made in these reviews regarding Jessica Hecht's narration.

Yes, she sounds very bright and cheerful, but to me that's how she was supposed to sound. The women she was reading were bright, cheerful characters - until things went horribly wrong, anyway.

She showed a lot of vocal range in "Big Driver". I thought it was a great story, and Jessica did an excellent job in my opinion.

The final story, "A Good Marriage", was the story I liked the least. It wasn't because of the narration, but the story was a bit predictable and I ended up just waiting for it to end.

All in all, it was a great buy, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Classic Stephen King, but...

These stories are pure Stephen King, but I might have enjoyed them more if someone other than Ms. Hecht had read them. I almost gave up on this book after listening to her read a little bit of it, but I’m a big King fan, so I persevered. The whole time, I kept wondering if I would’ve enjoyed it much more if I had read the actual book myself.

LOVE STEPHEN KING'S

I have been buying and enjoying Mr. Kings books for more than 40 yrs; until e-readers, my house was wall to wall hard covers with one wall d3voted to his books. I have always, with the exception of Green Mile & The Stand, loved his short stories best! These were a quality the younger author could not have written, nor even imagined; I have found one thing nearly impossible to imagine is the change in perspective and causes of horror that age brings with it. No matter how bright or talented, 30 cannot fully imagine 65! He has used his time to great effect. The narrators, especially Ms. Hecht, added much to these stories. Mr. King has always had a distinctive "voice", which is why the foray as Richard Bacchmqn didnt work; as a "constant reader", I recognized him as if it were a phone call, in less than 2 pages! His voice does not lend well to his female characters;Ms. Hecht made it her own brilliantly. I didnt know if I would enjoy his books in the Audible format, but she won me over. Candace Smith

4 Dark Stories done well

Full Dark No Stars - is a excellent book consisting of 4 dark tales of mistakes retribution, revenge, and paranoia very good highly recommended

1922
Big Driver (Turned into a 2014 Lifetime Movie)
Fair Extension
A Good Marriage (Also a 2014 theatrical film)

Awesome.

Gritty, horrifying, and achingly insightful. Those who are faint of heart beware. Full Dark, No Stars is a look at people at their worst. King takes you inside the minds and hearts of the villains of these stories and shows you just how human they really are. How different from us they really aren't. How honest can you be with yourself and what you might or might not do after reading this set of chilling short stories. Enjoy!