On the back cover of this devious collection, Stephen King asks and answers a rhetorical question for his readers: “You like it darker? Fine. So do I.”

I count myself among the millions of King fans who are called the “constant readers.” Not only is he a great horror writer, he is a great writer period. However, I would be lying if I didn’t admit to having a particular fondness for his darkest horror classics, like THE SHINING, SALEM’S LOT, IT, PET SEMATARY and THE DEAD ZONE. I obviously could go on, but I guess King heard readers like me and has gifted us with YOU LIKE IT DARKER, a collection of extra dark and shudder-inducing stories, many of which are available for the first time.

"YOU LIKE IT DARKER is dark but not in the overtly supernatural way you might expect. While there are definitely some otherworldly elements at play in this collection, most of the stories are deep explorations into the human condition and some dark souls that are in this world."

Here are some highlights from this stellar effort.

“Two Talented Bastids”
Freelance writer Ruth Crawford is doing a story on decorated Maine author Laird Carmody. “Two Talented Bastids” is narrated by Laird’s son, Mark, who confirms that his father died in 2023 at the age of 90. Crawford is focusing on the unbridled success that both Laird and his best friend, David “Butch” LaVerdiere, enjoyed throughout much of their lives. Butch passed away in 2019 but had become independently wealthy due to his product, the aptly named Butch Wax. Laird is reluctant to speak with Crawford but eventually gives up some tidbits about his career. It is Mark who is left to find out why his father and Butch met with such fame beginning in their mid-40s. The reason will take him into the woods where the secrets behind an unbelievable story are still given root.

“The Fifth Step”
Harold Jamieson is taking his regular rest on a bench in New York City’s Central Park when a complete stranger strikes up a conversation with him. The man, who is wearing a New York Yankees cap and a hoodie, introduces himself as Jack, and he is eager to share the steps he has taken in a program in which he is involved. Everything seems somewhat normal until Jack explains the fifth step.

“Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream”
My favorite story here is by far the longest entry, and I would have loved to have seen King develop it into a full-length novel. Danny Coughlin has had a bad dream. It was extremely lucid and seemed to show him the location behind an abandoned garage where the body of a recently murdered young woman was buried. Danny knows that he might have some psychic tendencies, but nothing this strong has ever hit him before. He is not thinking of himself or his job as the head custodian at a high school when he calls the police department to report what he saw in his dream --- that is, after he went to the place on his own and found the body of Yvonne Wicker.

This brings out investigators Frank Jalbert and Ella Davis, who initially have a very hard time believing Danny’s dream angle. Davis eventually starts to come around because of Danny’s brutal honesty, but Jalbert is determined to see him go down for Yvonne’s murder and will stop at nothing to make that happen. Just seeing the name Jalbert made me think of Javert, the inspector from “Les Misérables.” So I was pleased to see King indicate in the Afterword that that's exactly who he had in mind when he named this character.

“Rattlesnakes”
This is the story that I am sure most longtime fans of King will be looking forward to the most as it is a long-overdue sequel to CUJO. Vic Trenton is the star of "Rattlesnakes," which is set during the height of the COVID pandemic in the Rattlesnake Key area of Florida. Vic’s young son, Tad, was killed by a rabid Saint Bernard over 40 years ago, and he has never gotten over this tragic loss. He is spending part of lockdown with his old friend, Greg, following the death of his wife from cancer. Grief plays a big role in this story, and Vic’s own brand of grief is about to come face to face with a different, more supernatural form.

Allie Bell, Greg’s strange, haunted neighbor, is in her 70s but still pushes a double-sided stroller wherever she goes and speaks the names of the two boys who once sat in them. They were her sons, and they were killed by dozens of rattlesnake bites when they wandered away from home decades earlier. When Vic comes upon Allie’s body in her driveway one morning, he has to fight away the buzzards that are already picking at her. He is surprised to find that Allie, who he only had spoken to on a couple of occasions, has left him everything in her will. He also will inherit the stroller that still seems to possess the spirits of the boys, who are quite angry that they’re dead.

YOU LIKE IT DARKER is dark but not in the overtly supernatural way you might expect. While there are definitely some otherworldly elements at play in this collection, most of the stories are deep explorations into the human condition and some dark souls that are in this world. Human monsters are always the worst kind anyway. There are connections to be found between some of these tales and more than a few Easter eggs left for readers to discover and relish.