In my current situation of 12-hour days reading is scarce. It's a snatch here, a snatch there, a full-on orgy on the rare weekend I find myself at home. I still intend to read, though, and I still have an undeniable addiction to Stephen King, which is why I was unable to keep myself from buying this book the second I saw it.
I didn't think I was ever going to finish it, though. The first story, "1922", was difficult. It was so slooooowwwwww. I could only manage a few pages at a time before I'd start itching to do something more interesting. But I made it through, and was rewarded for my efforts by the other 3 stories. I devoured the other three rather quickly compared to the first. The following is just flat-out spoilers, so consider yourself warned.
In "1922" a farmer kills his wife, convincing his son to help, and you as the reader will understand why. You might not agree with him, but you'll understand. She straight up haunts his ass with an army of rat minions, anyway, so he gets his. Very creepy.
"Big Driver" Woman gets raped. Woman seeks revenge. Woman triumphs. Kinda. Emotionally I'm sure there are ramifications. You ever notice how King uses certain tropes in nearly every book/short story he's ever written? This story relies heavily on the "main character has conversations with voices in her head/inanimate objects" one. O HEY wanna point out I'm not complaining--I like these (okay, USUALLY I like these. I will admit that sometimes I can't stop myself from listing all the similarities as I'm reading). In this one, she talks to her cat and to her Tom Tom.
"Fair Extension" Imagine meeting a guy (perhaps the devil) who will give you something, or alleviate some hardship, and instead of your soul you have to pick someone to take your problem. The guy (last name "Elvid", lol) says he doesn't want a soul. I think he called it a weak, dusty thing. Maybe. I'm not looking it up, but he says it's basically worthless. Anyway, he claims he doesn't want it, but I think he gets it anyway. The main character in this story certainly seemed to enjoy his friends horribly long run of bad luck way too much to still retain a soul, if there is such a thing. If he had one to begin with.
"A Good Marriage" You find out a horrible secret about someone very close to you. You love them. They have been lying to you. They are a monster. What do you do? Easy answer is turn them in. But how will that affect you? Your other loved ones? Do you want to be the Monster Lover? In the words of the great thespian Keanu Reeves "What do you do? What do you DO??" Darcy does. Darcy does pretty good.
Something else I've read bits of over the past few weeks is "The Skeleton Crew". My wonderful friend bought me the paperback, because I had requested it, but for reasons that I no longer remember. I know there's a story in there that I just had to reread, very important to me at the time. But hell if I can tell what it is now. So in between other stuff (and before I bought Full Dark) I'll pick it up and page through a story or two. I'm enjoying reading it again, at least.
