Night Shift

OVERALL REVIEW:

Excellent anthology, all of the stories - many of them admirably varied in their sense of horrors - have something to recommend them. This is one of my all-time favorite story anthologies.

STANDOUT STORIES:

1.) "Jerusalem's Lot": An evil, haunted town repeatedly draws members of a cursed family into its Lovecraftian clutches over centuries. This is a loosely linked prequel to the novel 'Salem's Lot.

2.) "Graveyard Shift": A Fourth of July cleaning shift at a mill goes horrifically wrong when the workers discover secret passages beneath its sub-basement.

The resulting film was released stateside on October 26, 1990. David Andrews played John Hall. Kelly Wolf played Jane Wisconsky. Stephen Macht played Warwick. Andrew Divoff played Danson. Brad Dourif played Tucker Cleveland (aka "The Exterminator"). Victor Polizos played Brogan. Robert Alan Beuth played Ippleston.

Ralph S. Singleton directed the film, from a screenplay by John Esposito.

3.) "I Am the Doorway": An astronaut's return to Earth is troubled by forces and visions alien to his nature - elements and visions which may change those around him, as well.

4.) "The Mangler": A demon-possessed industrial laundry machine - a speed ironer - turns murderous.

With a lesser writer, this would be a dumb story. With King, who ties it into timeless penned notions, it is a fun, spooky, perhaps even milestone update of an old idea. This is one of the best stories in this collection.

The resulting film was released stateside on March 3, 1995. Robert Englund played William 'Bill' Gartley. Ted Levine played Officer John Hunton. Daniel Matmor played Mark Jackson. Vera Blacker played Mrs. Adelle Frawley. Danny Keogh played Herb Diment. Ted Le Plat played Doctor Ramos. Todd Jensen played Roger Martin.

Tobe Hooper directed the film, from Stephen David Brooks (billed as Stephen Brooks) and Harry Alan Towers's (billed as Peter Welbeck) screenplay.

Two loosely linked - if linked at all - film sequels followed: The Mangler 2 (starring Lance Henriksen, a direct-to-video flick, released on February 26, 2002) and The Mangler Reborn (another direct-to-video flick, released on November 29, 2005).

5.) "The Boogeyman": A man, whose family has been slaughtered, visits a psychiatrist. Effective twist to this one.

This story has been, or is scheduled to be, filmed as a short several times.

6.) "Battleground": A hitman fights for his life against a bizarre array of enemies. Excellent, worthy of a Twilight Zone episode.

This story became the basis for the debut episode of a television series, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King. It aired stateside on June 12, 2006 on the TNT network. Brian Henson directed the episode, from a teleplay by Richard Christian Matheson.

William Hurt played Jason Renshaw. Bruce Spence played Hans Morris. Mia Sara played "Beautiful Passenger".

7.) "Trucks": Another 'murderous machine'-themed tale, this time set as a pluralistic affair, with automobiles and other electronics involved. Fun, B-movie-esque work.

The resulting film, titled Maximum Overdrive and directed by Stephen King, was released stateside on July 25, 1986. Emilio Estevez played Bill Robinson. Laura Harrington played Brett. Pat Hingle played Bubba Hendershot. Yeardley Smith played Connie. John Short played Curtis. Frankie Faison played Handy. Christopher Murney played Camp Loman.

8.) "Sometimes They Come Back": A high school teacher confronts the strangely youthful bullies who murdered his brother years before. Unsettling, effective story.

The resulting television film aired stateside on May 7, 1991. Tim Matheson played Jim Norman. Brooke Adams (who also co-starred in the King-based 1983 film The Dead Zone) played Sally Norman. Robert Rusler played Richard Lawson. Robert Hy Gorman played Scott Norman. William Sanderson played "Carl Mueller (age 44)". Nicholas Sadler played Vinnie Vincent. T. Max Graham played Chief Pappas.

The telefilm was followed by two direct-to-video, loosely linked sequels: Sometimes They Come Back. . . Again (released September 3, 1996, starring Michael Gross, Alexis Arquette and Hilary Swank) and Sometimes They Come Back. . . for More (released on September 7, 1999, starring Clayton Rohner and Chase Masterson).

9.) "Strawberry Spring": A string of murders haunts a collegiate-later-family man. Especially well-written.

10.) "The Ledge": Twilight Zone-esque fusion of noir and natural horror. Excellent.

This story was incorporated into the threefold-tale film Cat's Eye, which was released stateside on April 12, 1985. Lewis Teague (who also helmed the King-based 1983 film Cujo) directed, from a screenplay from Stephen King. Drew Barrymore (who co-starred in the King-based 1984 film Firestarter) played Amanda (a.k.a. "Our Girl"), one of the characters that links the stories.

Kenneth McMillan played Cressner. Robert Hays played Johnny Norris.

11.) "Quitters, Inc.": A man, trying to quit smoking, is compelled to do so in startling ways. Distinctive, clever.

This story was also incorporated into the threefold-tale film Cat's Eye, which was released stateside on April 12, 1985.

James Woods played Dick Morrison. Alan King played Dr. Vinny Donatti.

12.) "Children of the Corn": Excellent, creepy tale about an argumentative husband and wife who, traveling through Nebraska, get trapped in a strangely empty town.

A film short, Disciples of the Crow, was made in 1983. It was based on this story.

The first resulting full-length film was released stateside on March 9, 1984. Linda Hamilton played Vicky. Peter Horton played Burt. John Franklin played Isaac. Courtney Gains played Malachai. Julie Maddalena played Rachel. Robby Kiger played Job. Anne Marie McEvoy, billed as Annemarie McEvoy, played Sarah.

Fritz Kiersch directed the film, from a script by George Goldsmith.

Seven loosely linked sequels (many, if not all of them, direct-to-video works) and one remake followed.

Sequels: Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice (released stateside on January 29, 1993); Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest (released stateside on September 12, 1995, featuring Johnny Legend as a "Derelict Man"); Children of the Corn: The Gathering (released stateside on October 8, 1996, co-starring Naomi Watts and Karen Black); Children of the Corn V: Fields of Terror (released stateside on June 21, 1998, co-starring Alexis Arquette - seen earlier in the King-based 1996 flick Sometimes They Come Back. . . Again - and Fred Williamson. David Carradine and Eva Mendes also co-starred, as well as Kane Hodder - who has played Jason in several of the Friday the 13th sequels.

The fifth sequel, Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return, was released on October 19, 1999, co-starring Nancy Allen - who appeared in the King-based 1976 film Carrie - and Stacy Keach. John Franklin, who made his screen debut as Isaac in the original Children, played Isaac in - and co-scripted - this sequel as well.

Children of the Corn: Revelation, the sixth sequel, was released stateside on October 9, 2001. It co-starred Claudette Mink, Michael Ironside and Kyle Cassie (who also made in an appearance in a television episode of Stephen King's Dead Zone).

A television remake of the original Children aired on stateside television on September 26, 2009. It was directed and co-scripted by Donald P. Borchers; author Stephen King was his co-screenwriter. David Anders played Burton Stanton. Kandyse McClure played Vicky Stanton. Daniel Newman played Malachai. Preston Bailey played Isaac.

The seventh sequel, Children of the Corn: Genesis, was released stateside on March 17, 2012. It co-starred Billy Drago and Duane Whitaker. As far as I know of, it isn't linked to the television remake that aired in 2009.

13.) "One for the Road": On a winter stormy night, three men (Herb Tooklander, Booth and Gerard Lumley) head out to rescue the latter man's wife and daughter - whom, unknown to Lumley, he left at the mercy of vampires.

Excellent, gripping expansion tale that builds on the history of "the 'Lot" (as seen in the earlier/first story, "Jerusalem's Lot") and, like that story, links to King's novel 'Salem's Lot.

The resulting 22-minute short film, released stateside on March 1, 2011, was directed and scripted by Paul Ward.

Reggie Bannister played Herb Tooklander. Adam Robitel played Booth. Danny O'Connor played Gerard Lumley. Audrey Walters played Janey Lumley. Sydney Ackman played Wendy. Drew Walters played Francis Lumley.

14.) "The Lawnmower Man": Fun, gleefully bloody and bizarro tale about a unique yard service company.

The resulting short film was released stateside in 1987. It was directed by James Gonis, from a script by Michael De Luca.

Andy Clark played Karras. Helen Hanft played Mrs. Parkette. E.D. Phillips played Howard Parkette. Neil Schimmer played Castonmeyer. Robert Tossberg played Bannerman.

A full-length film, linked to the story in name only, was released stateside on March 6, 1992. (King sued to have his name removed from the film.) Brett Leonard directed and co-scripted the film; his co-screenwriter was Gimel Everett.

Jeff Fahey - recently seen in the King-based television series Under the Dome - played Jobe Smith. Pierce Brosnan, who later starred in the King-based television miniseries Bag of Bones, played Dr. Lawrence Angelo. Jennie Wright played Marnie Burke. Geoffrey Lewis played Terry McKeen. Dean Norris - who co-stars with Fahey in Under the Dome - played The Director. Colleen Coffey played Caroline Angelo.

A loosely linked sequel to the film, Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace, was released stateside on January 12, 1996. Like its source film, it bears no relation to the King story, aside from its title reference.

Patrick Bergin played Dr. Benjamin Trace. Matt Frewer played Jobe Smith. Austin O'Brien played Peter Parkette. Ely Pouget played Dr. Cori Platt. Molly Shannon played a "Homeless Lady".

Farhad Mann directed the film, from a script by he co-authored with Michael Miner.

Night Shift by Stephen King is his first collection of short stories, published in 1978. This book contains many stories that went on to become either novels or movies: Jerusalem's Lot became 'Salem's Lot (both a movie and it's own book), Trucks became Maximum Overdrive, and Children of the Corn became a movie by the same name. While some of these stories are much shorter than others, each one is a complete story that leaves you feeling the creepy-crawlies. I enjoyed reading them and some even left me having to get up and walk away before reading the next story as they were very unnerving. Overall, this is an excellent collection of short stories meant to give you chills and possibly keep a night light on when you go to bed.

This is the best short story collection i ever read. And still read. I put it above all his other works. It is a close second but this has so many different stories it beats it out. Lol my favorite stories are the mangler, the lawnmower man, children of the corn, the ledge, the boogeyman, trucks.
Here is rating for each story.
1. Jerusalem's lot -5/8 good rat story
2. Graveyard shift - 5\8- another good rat story lol
3. Night surf 1/8 didnt like this one at all.
Stupid main male character lol
4. I am the doorway 6/8 pretty good space story. Eyes in the hands
5. The mangler -8/8 my favorite story in here. Gory as hell and gave me nightmares. Lol
6. The Boogeyman - 7/8 great story about a man whos accused of killing his kids.
7. Gray matter - 5\8 - put me off beer for a week lol
8 Battleground 8/8 Real toy soilders get revenge
9. Trucks - 8/8. The trucks take over
10. Sometimes they come back 4/8 bullies die and continue to haunt one of their victims after he becomes a teacher.
11. Strawberry Spring 8/8 Jack the ripper like story
12. The ledge 8/8 - a man is forced to go around a buildings ledge. 5 inch ledge 400 foot drop im terrified of heights so this is one of the scariest things ive ever read
13. The lawnmower man 8/8 just bizzare. Way better than the movie.
14. Quitters inc. 8/8 great story about a group that forces you to quit smoking. One way or another. Im a non smoker but i loved it anyway.
15. I know what you need 0/8 forgettable story. Cant even remeber what its about lol
16. Children of the corn 8/8 another favorite. Kids are creepy lol
17. The last rung of the ladder 0\8 another one i cant remember lol
18. The man who loved flowers 5/8 a man kills women with a hammer
19. One for the road 2/8 yet another one i cant remeber to well except its mentions Salems lot
20. The woman in the room 8\8 a man faces his moms death. King faced his owns moms passing while writing it.
There you have it. The greatest collection i ever read. :) worth every penny ever spent on it.

"I have walked beneath death's umbrella and thought there was none darker. But there is. There is."

Is there a right way to talk about a short story collection? I've been reading a lot of them lately and all I seem to want to do is gush about the individual stories I like and cram all the others in a desk drawer and set the desk on fire.

What's that expression, one bad apple spoils the bunch? I suppose one way to avoid this is to never read short story collections. But you read the bad ones to find the good ones, to feel the reassuring, ecstatic relief of a really freaking awesome story, however long it's been adrift in a sea of mediocre stories.

Absolutely no denying it, there were a couple bad apples in Night Shift , and while they didn't necessarily spoil everything, I'm not burning the desk for this collection. Night Shift gets a respectable 3 stars.

My favorites:
Jerusalem's Lot
I am the Doorway
The Mangler
The Boogeyman
Quitters Inc.
Sometimes They Come Back
Strawberry Spring
Children of the Corn
The Man Who Loved Flowers

"Jerusalem's Lot" has a great setting and atmosphere. 1850, Maine. Told through letters and diary entries. About a creepy house, creepy town, creepy church. That's like the holy trinity of elements for a scary story. Loved this one.

I really liked the meaning behind "I Am the Doorway" — the fear that we're not always in control of ourselves, that sometimes we're just a doorway for something else to walk through. Gives me the psychological shivers!

With "The Boogeyman" it's all about the tale, stacking one strange occurrence onto another until the tower crashes down. It's horror with a vicious grin. It's good story telling.

"Children of the Corn" wins on creativity for me. The idea behind it is so frickin twisted and hellish and out there... horrific brilliance.

"Strawberry Spring" and "The Man Who Loved Flowers" both have a fun twist. They're satisfying in a wicked way.

Why it didn't all work for me: A good chunk of the stories I was a little bored by and impatient with, even if they were only 20 pages. They either lacked narrative snap or just didn't hold my interest ("Trucks" and "Battleground" come to mind). Sometimes the stories had an intriguing element that was handled too simply or blandly. I don't even know if I'm explaining it right, but there were a bunch that just didn't do it for me.

I tended to like the stories that had the main character telling his strange tale to someone, whether a person in the story or the reader, as with "Jerusalem's Lot," "I Am the Doorway," "Strawberry Spring" and "The Boogeyman." That narrative style mimics the way scary stories are told — the classic "let's sit around a camp fire in the middle of the woods at night and try to out-horrify each other." There's an exciting, convivial spirit to it; the reader's been taken into the confidence of the narrator and that intimacy makes it engrossing.

This is my all time favorite Stephen King. Strawberry Spring is the story I read over and over and over again. My mom has owned this since the original compilation came out and I stole it when I was about 13...I'm 32 now and I have read it every year since. There is something about Spring Hill Jack. Yes, that is what I think about first when I think about this book. Spring Hill Jack and misty parking lots. I can not put it down once I start. This started my love affair with King's books. His attention to detail made me love other authors like him. Many people dislike that style but it paints a picture in your mind--he is even able to do that with a collection like this. Between the amazing stories in this book alone that have become wonderful movies--the stories will leave you feeling alive....in a way that is unexplainable.
Jerusalem's Lot, The Boogeyman, Quitters Inc., Children of the Corn....and so many more...this collection is his best.

Buy it and you will not regret it.

Even if you've never read this collection of short stories by Stephen King, I would wager that you will be familiar with most of them. King's "Night Shift" collection seems to have been fertile ground for 1980's horror film makers, and within these pages you'll discover the origins of "Children of the Corn", a couple of the stories for the film "Cat's Eye", "The Mangler" and a few others which have been turned into feature length films or episodes of one TV horror anthology or another. With that said, even if you think you "know" these stories, believe me, you don't.

The 20 tales collected here are some of King's earliest published works. Originally appearing in early 1970's skin mags, or local literary journals, quite a few of these tales pre-date "Carrie". But what has always stuck with me about King, is that even in his earliest writing, his talent to build characters and create settings just shines through. Some of these tales are better than others, but each is told in King's unique voice.

King has grown as a writer over the years, but I always enjoy looking back at these early tales and am amazed at just how polished and well crafted they are. The only suggestion I have is that you travel to a used bookstore and see if you can find the 1980's paperback version of this collection. Look for a copy of the iconic "bandaged hand" (inspired by "I Am the Doorway") cover that seemed to be in every school desk, and under every poolside lounge chair and on every beach blanket in the 1980's.

I think Night Shift shows a lot of talent. It's a little too long. There's some weaker stories, two or three of which could have been taken out. Most of the stories are fairly interesting or pretty good, some are more forgettable, but there's a few in here that are so good, they make up for the lesser ones.

Jerusalem's Lot- This one's a whopper. It goes on and on. It's written in the style of 19th century literature and in the form of letters, with very minimal dialogue. A dense read, it's pretty hard to get into, but a clever last page makes for a light at the end of the tunnel.

Graveyard Shift- An all-out horror story. This one's pretty gross. The story is much more interesting than the last one though and makes you want to keep reading.

Night Surf- Another one of those apocalypse stories. Some good writing, but the characters are completely unlikable, and the story is disturbing but much less interesting than the others in the collection.

I Am The Doorway- This one is about an astronaut who got infected with something and now cursed by alien eyes on his hands that make him see things differently. Never really got into this one. The writing style is original, but I just didn't really care for the story much. I didn't like the ending either.

The Mangler- This one concerns a pressing machine in a laundry shop that attacks people. Another gruesome tale. This is probably the best story so far though. It's a little slow a first but it becomes more and more intriguing and builds to a satisfying conclusion.

The Boogeyman- Another disturbing story with a twist ending. Another unlikable protagonist. This one's not one of my favorites but I'll admit it's pretty unpredictable.

Gray Matter- This is a nasty one about a man who drinks a beer that was contaminated by some kind of alien foul-smelling substance. Not one of his best.

Battleground- A turning point in the collection. This is where the stories start getting better. This one's somewhat reminiscent of "Graveyard Shift", and it's a bit repetitive, but it's still an entertaining read and a nice little break from the earlier, more macabre stories.

Trucks- A little bit of a hokey concept, but this story is surprisingly good. Another great ending as well.

Sometimes They Come Back- If you've ever had any appreciation for the Twilight Zone, you'll probably enjoy this story. This story is finally one with a human protagonist. The violence in this one is a little excessive and it isn't quite as believable as some of the others in the collection, but it at least holds your interest.

Strawberry Spring- Starts of a little slow but this is one of the better stories in the collection. I love the ending.

The Ledge- This one involves a man trying to walk on a five inch ledge around the 43rd story of an entire apartment. It takes him hours. A little far-fetched, but intriguing all the same. Another excellent ending too.

The Lawnmower Man- Most bizarre story in the book. This one has a nice ending but it seems to me to be one of those cases of weird just for weird's sake. Not a big fan.

Quitters, Inc- This is the story that made me want to read this entire collection. Found in a horror anthology once and was blown away. One of my two or three favorites in the collection.

I Know What You Need- I loved the first few pages of this story. This story is well-plotted and interesting but there's something unsatisfying about the ending. It's a serviceable ending but not nearly as great as those of many of the others in this collection.

Children of the Corn- Of all the stories in the book, this is probably the one people are already the most familiar with. It's just okay. I neither really liked it or really disliked it. I like how the beginning involves a crisis that brings two enemies together though. I guess this one didn't convince me like a lot of the other stories did.

The Last Rung On The Ladder: This one is a real surprise. You never would expect a horror writer like King to write anything like this. This is a powerful and beautifully crafted story. I literally cried after reading it.

The Man Who Loved Flowers: This one is nice and short, and clever. Not one of my favorites but it's still pretty good.

One For The Road- Quite good. Would definitely be one of my top five, if not one of my top four favorites in this collection.

The Woman in the Room- Couldn't really get into this one.

I'm a horror writer (not published yet), but this was my first Stephen King book that I bought. I knew it was a collection of short stories, but I didn't hardly looked into the stories nor what were they about. I WAS SURPRISED! With these 20 different stories, let me tell you, they're unforgettable, fun to read, and very good gory details. The book starts with Jerusalem's Lot, a good supernatural tale in the 1850's and ends with Woman in the Room that wants to make you cry. Nonetheless, I want to explain these stories if you haven't search them yet.

Jerusalem's Lot: something had created the village of Jerusalem's Lot being deserted. Only two men will discover the truth, and they had brought the forces of darkness with them. This seems to have a nice start, but it gets very eerie.

Graveyard Shift: A young drifter takes a cleaning job at a mill where underneath, evil is waiting. If you hate rats, than this story makes you want to kill them.

Night Surf: This is the basics for The Stand, but it tells a group of young teenagers crashing at the beach, thinking they are the only ones left for mankind.

I Am the Doorway: A science fiction tale about a man's body have alien eyes that kills people with lighting.

The Mangler: A machine had a taste of a virgin's blood, and begins to kill people surrounding it.

The boogyman: A man talks about his children being killed by the boogyman. It's a weaker story.

Gray Matter: A man has a can of beer that has a small hole that beer wouldn't even leak out, and he transform into something evil and ugly. It makes you wanna double check your beer.

Battleground: One of my favorite stories about a professional hitman getting attack by toy soldiers.

Trucks: Cars, trucks, bulldozers, and everything has a motor involve come to life and trapping people inside a diner. It's okay, but not the best.

Sometimes They Come Back: You might saw the movie, but this short story is way better. A teacher encounters his dead bullies that killed his brother.

Strawberry Spring: a killer stalks when the first fog rolls in, and the twist at the end is unforgettable.

The Ledge: A man must climb on a ledge of a tall building in order to save himself. It's also in the movie, Cat's Eye.

The Lawnmower Man: This was the most disturbing story for me out of all of them, and made into a stupid movie. Nonetheless, it's about an overweight man gets naked, eating grass with a driverless lawnmowe.

Quitters, Inc. What would you do in order to try to quit smoking. Stephen King gives you surprises in this story. It's also in Cat's Eye.

I know What You Need: A stalker boy who could actucally reads a girl's mind, and King gives you some surprises, just a little.

Children of the Corn: a stupid movie, but an unforgettable story about a married couple encounter evil, mindless children and a demon who hides in the corn.

The Last Rung on the Ladder: It's not a horror story, but it's about what humans deal from events from the past.

The Man Who Loves Flowers: Pay attention to what the man is saying on the radio, that's all I got to say for this one, other it's a surprising ending.

One for the Road: If you read 'Salem's Lot, then you know what you're in for. It deals with the aftermath from his second novel, and a lost family in the cold winter. The ending is a little disturbing.

The Woman in the Room: it's not a horror story, but King makes you think what would you do in this guy's shoes about his dying mother in the hospital. What about pills that could kill her?

When it comes to the horror genre, Stephen King is a class by himself. In fact, he is so good, that he could probably write a solid horror story about a guy in a class all by himself. In this collection of 20 of his short stories, mainly reprinted from men's magazines such as Cavalier, Gallery and Penthouse (who would've believed someone if he said he was reading it for the stories?), King shows the many forms horror can take.
He is like a chess master, who is skilled at all the openings, as his stories differ from each other in style and content. He starts off with "Jerusalem's Lot," a sort of ode to H.P. Lovecraft and a "classic" horror story and ranges all the way to my favorite, "Quitters, Inc.," about a company that goes to any length to ensure its clients get rid of their nasty habits -- or else.
In between, King, a true virtuoso of dialogue, description and characterization, pops out a modern irony piece with table-turning encounter between a rich cuckold and his wife's paramour in "The Ledge," and goes for the kind of real-life horror of everyday people with everyday losses in "The Last Rung of the Ladder."
"I Know What You Need" is a clever tale of a have-not who finds a way to get what he wants -- his dream girl -- and several other yarns have had movies based on them -- "The Lawnmower Man," Graveyard Shift," "Trucks," "Sometimes They Come Back", and "Children of the Corn."
Just as entertaining as the stories is King's Foreword, where he finds a conversational way to communicate with his readers about his favorite topic - horror, what else?. He is truly one of a kind.
This was the first book of King's I ever read. It stands the test of time, as I'd gladly re-read it any time, a good measure of a book's worth -- especially a collection of short fiction such as this. I liked this one so much I began reading all of his books in the order he wrote them, so as to watch his evolution. I've read well over 30 of his novels (and his non-fiction efforts) and will continue to do so.
If you haven't read King before, dive right into this book. You won't be sorry. If you have already read King, what are you waiting for? I think his older stuff is still his best. You be the judge.

This short story collection by one of this generation's greatest writers was a World Fantasy Award Nominee for Best Collection in 1979. Rightly so. Night Shift was written fairly early in King's career, and some of the stories may seem a bit immature or amateurish to today's readers jaded by decades of horror stories, but that doesn't make the stories less fun; it might make them even more so.

I read this collection more than three decades ago, and although I haven't reread all the stories, most of them have stuck with me after all these years, probably because I read them when I was in junior high, a highly impressionable time of my life. I remember some stories grossing my out--"The Lawnmower Man" (yeah, it is exactly what it sounds like!), "The Mangler" (not exactly what it sounds like); other stories creeping me out--"Graveyard Shift", "I Am the Doorway", "Quitters Inc."; some stories were just plain fun for a 7 grade boy to read--"Battleground", "Trucks", "The Ledge". And then there were others that were over my head back then that I've since reread and can now appreciate for true works of art that they were and are--"Jerusalem's Lot" and "The Last Rung on the Ladder".

And that's what I love about this collection. If you think you can nail down Stephen King as this kind of writer, or that kind, guess again. He can write--as most of us who've read him over the years now know, but would not, could not have known back then when he was first scaring the pants off us so many years ago--any kind of story he wants to. Creepy and scary? Sure thing. Gross and morbid? Yeah, no problem, not ashamed to go for that. Intelligent and poignant and filled with--dare I write it--pathos? Um, let's just say The Dead Zone and leave it at that, shall we?

But we didn't know Uncle Stevie could write stories that could elicit such an array of emotions from us. How could we? Look, Night Shift was published in 1978 (many of the stories were published earlier in magazines, but not let loose on the general reading public before they were collected here). Up til then, only three novels had been published under King's name--Carrie, 'Salem's Lot, and The Shining. Scary and creepy and gross and morbid? Yeah, no question. Filled with intelligence and poignancy? Perhaps. Pathos? Um..., well,...uh, maybe not so much. Those three novels were simply scary as hell. Yeah, we might have felt sorry for Jack Torrance and Carrie, but were probably more scared of them than anything.

Night Shift showcases King's ability, even early in his career, to draw us into a story (I defy you to read "Jerusalem's Lot" and not be sucked into this time-spanning tale), identify with the characters (ever tried to quit smoking? Read "Quitter's Inc."), and get us to feel for them ("The Last Rung on the Ladder"). Look at it this way. If I, as a junior high school nerdy book-loving pubescent boy could read this collection, really get into some of the stories, kinda like others, and completely ditch a coupe of 'em, well, that's gotta say something about the breadth of the stories presented here.

If you've never read Night Shift, and you're a fan of King and have been reading him for most of your adult life, then you owe it to yourself to witness the writing of a master at the beginning of his career, before he hit it really, really big.

Oh, one more thing. Please, please don't skip the Foreward by King. It in itself is a priceless little gem, especially if you're a writer or want to be one. But even if you're not, and you just love to read, that Foreward is well worth the twenty minutes it'll take to read it. Trust me.

Stephen King, who in later years I feel has finally begun to slow down, to exhibit signs of rust and decay, especially after his famed brush with death involving a car which struck him in the early 2000's. And this is also apparent in his stories, as I feel his most recent short story collections Full Dark, No Stars and Just After Sunset, have been his weakest and least creative. However, here with Night Shift, his first short story collection, the stories, which were all written when he was young and in his prime exhibit the full range of his creativity and depth. The stories range from bloody and gruesome shockers to more literary, atmospheric fare and pretty much everything in between. Most of the horror stories have a supernatural edge to them, but a few, most notably Quitters, Inc. and Strawberry Spring, do not, although reading them you might be inclined to believe that they do, at least subtly, or at least should, especially Strawberry Spring, which despite being a serial killer story, seems like a better setting for an eerie ghost story. I heard one person refer to most of these tales as just "pulp shockers" or something like that, but in reality there are only a few of those kinds of stories. I could definitely detect a hint of snobbery in his statement as well, as if he feels that horror should have a great amount of depth and literary value, but no, they just have to be scary, and in that regard King delivers. Of course, some of the stories, despite being scary, have very unlikable characters. And that unfortunately prevents me from caring about what happens to them, this appears to be one of the problems King has with his fiction, but then again all writers tend to have flaws in some way or another, with Lovecraft it was dialogue and racism, with Bradbury it was over-sentimentality and repetitiveness, and with Poe it was melodrama and his tendency to write for popular appeal as opposed to what he truly enjoyed writing. The stories here deal with fear in it's many forms and manifestations, ranging from fear of heights (The Ledge), childhood fear of monsters (The Boogeyman), Fear of Rats and other vermin (Graveyard Shift), etc. My personal favorites of the bunch are the Cthulhu Mythos inspired Jerusalem's Lot, the cosmic body horror tale I am the Doorway, The Demonic Horror of The Mangler, The Mutation Horror of Gray Matter, The Haunting Atmosphere of Strawberry Spring, The Brutality of Quitters, Inc., The Horror and Mystery of the Children of the Corn, The Sadness and Tragedy of The Last Rung on the Ladder, and the ephemeral beauty and darkness of The Man who loved Flowers. Overall I would give the collection a 4 stars out of 5, as none of the stories had below a 3 rating for me! Thanks for reading and I hope I inspired you to give this collection a try!

This is the best collection of short horror fiction I've ever read, and that includes HP Lovecraft, Edgar Alan Poe and Shirley Jackson, great authors all, but they come in second to Night Shift.

In comparison to King's more recent work, Night Shift holds up even better. The editing and discipline come through in every piece, and that's not always the case with his more recent books, which could often use more attention and care.

Here, in 20 pages give or take, he always conveys a sense of dread and suspense. Not a word is out of place. Equally impressive, it doesn't feel dated, despite the 1970s publication. The characters and situations easily translate to the present day. A lot of these stories were adapted - badly - for movies, and it would be a shame if readers felt those movies represented the stories found here.

They are terrifying human stories, whether supernatural or not. The dialogue feels truly spoken, never stilted or phony. The working-class backgrounds of many of the protagonists helps make each plot that much more relatable.

For most of the 1970, King was at the height of his powers both in book length with The Shining and Salem's Lot, and the short stories that are represented here. For fans of short horror fiction, this should be the first book they try - though very few books will measure up afterwards.

My relationship with the genre of horror is sporadic and often short-lived. Most of the horror out there deals with supernatural elements, a theme which doesn't elicit any measure of fear or foreboding from my readership. I much prefer the human element of horror; where the manifestation of human evil is corporeal, where deadly deeds are dealt by the hand of a stranger. Regardless of my preference, I still managed to enjoy the supernatural elements found in Night Shift. Some stories just don't have the right twist or right angle for maximum enjoyment, while others are creepy and direct to the point of utter success. I suppose I enjoyed the variety more than anything: supernatural, science fiction, dramatic, apocalyptic, etc.

I've read King's The Running Man (1982) and The Shining (1977), but these two novels pale in comparison to this collection. Now that I've enjoyed this collection so much, I eye my copy of Skeleton Crew (1985) with eagerness. His other two novels on my shelves are The Stand (1978) and The Tommyknockers (1987), both of which I hope are as creepy as they are voluminous.

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Jerusalem's Lot (1978, novelette) - 4/5 - The ancestral home of Charles Boon in the year 1850 appears to be vacant, haunted, and shunned by the nearby villagers, who also shun the ghost town the house is situation in--Jerusalem's Lot. A series of correspondence is presented from Charles and his life-long friend Calvin McCann which outlines their struggles and haunting with the little village, the cellar of his house, and the abandoned church, host to The Mysteries of the Worm. 31 pages

Graveyard Shift (1970, shortstory) - 5/5 - The third floor of the century-old nylon factory is infested with rats, which transient worker Hall picks off with aluminum soda cans. His meddling foreman offers him a dirty, week-long job over the holiday to clean the basement out--a job for a crew of men with hoses and a penchant for getting dirty. Here, the rat infestation reaches epic proportions and men are bit and sent home... then Hall discovers a wooden sub-cellar door. 15 pages

Night Surf (1974, shortstory) - 3/5 - College kids on the beach listen to the radio as the waves crash and the tide ebbs, except his day is one of the last for all humanity. Ghastly symptoms of the most recent flu outbreak, A6, have steeled the youth against such acts as immolating a diseased man, but when the silent killer rears its head among the motley crew, will they favor death's prospect with fortitude or fatalism? 8 pages

I Am the Doorway (1971, shortstory) - 3/5 - Resting on a wooden deck next to the beach with bandages around his itchy hands, an ex-astronaut recounts his story of the Venus expedition he manned and the later paralyzing re-entry attempt on Earth. Passing his physical exams, Arthur begins to develop beastly eyes on his hands, whose visions haunt his life with their alien perception of his familiar world. His actions, too, soon seem alien to himself. 11 pages

The Mangler (1972, novelette) - 4/5 - Officer Hunton is called to investigate the grisly death of a worker who was caught inside a drying and ironing machine. An inspector deems the machine fit for use and up to standard, but the recurring injuries is too much of a coincidence when it's discovered that the blood of a virgin had been spilled on the steaming, gnawing hulk of machinery. Their suspicion of possession points in many directions, both tame and deadly. 17 pages

The Boogeyman (1973, shortstory) - 2/5 - Visiting a psychotherapist after the death of his third and final child, a man recounts the sequential deaths of his three children by the closet-domained, sleek, black boogeyman. His initial belligerent attitude toward its existence distances him from his wife, but the creeping suspicion and closet doors left ajar soon make him realize its corporeal existence. 11 pages

Grey Matter (1973, shortstory) - 3/5 - Workman's compensation has turned one man into a sybaritic beer guzzler/couch potato. His drowned miseries silently punish his son who he tasks with the beer purchasing. The local men at the shop are coolly called to arms when the boy arrives at the shop teary-eyed but with a weird tale involving a suspiciously skunky beer and the resulting metamorphosis of the man, his gelatinous father, in front of the TV. 11 pages

Battleground (1972, shortstory) - 4/5 - A professional hitman returns to his penthouse suit with a package under his arm from the front desk. Upon his opening of the package and seeing an innocuous set of war figurines, the miniature army suddenly comes to life, complete with jeeps, helicopters, and medics. Retreating to the bathroom, a barrage of rockets assaults the door, a dubious inclusion which the labeling failed to mention. 9 pages

Trucks (1973, shortstory) - 5/5 - Long-haul rigs circle a truck stop under their own volition. Trapped inside are the lucky humans who haven't been run down or ran off the highway while the machines began to take over. Without power, the humans need water for their life while the trucks and machines state their demand for fuel by way of Morse code. The autonomous machines prowl the roads and stalk the sky, making escape impossible and slavery a realization. 15 pages

Sometimes They Come Back (1974, novelette) - 4/5 - Jim's brother was killed by some hoodlums back in 1956, when Jim himself barely got away after wetting himself. How years later and teaching literature at a new high school, Jim is haunted by the memory of his brother's death during his dreams, which soon begin to manifest in his very own classroom. Slowly coming to believe the thugs are the same from his childhood, Jim prepares to meet them on their own terms. 25 pages

Strawberry Spring (1975, shortstory) - 3/5 - The spring thaw welcomes more than flowers and birds to the campus of New Sharon--within the banks of fog rolling through the town stalks a killer. The early onset of spring lulls some into false comfort as the killer strikes again, dismembers again and yet still eludes police. A devastating winter squall eclipses the false spring and with it go the suspicions of the killer and his crimes. 9 pages

The Ledge (1976, shortstory) - 4/5 - Forty floors above the city streets, a tennis professional is remaining calm and collected even though confronting the rich husband of his extramarital love interest. Parrying with words, wages, and lies, the men come to a decision: the adulterer can tiptoe around the building's ledge and, if successful, win the bag of money, the wife, and his freedom; the alternative is a forty-floor plummet or forty years in prison. 15 pages

The Lawnmower Man (1975, shortstory) - 2/5 - A man proud of his lawn but succumbing to the idle pleasures of summer weather watches his yard's growth reach unparalleled heights. He phones a yard service company and a large man appears on their behalf. The unconventional mowing style--crawling behind the automatic mower while butt-naked and eating the trimmings--brings on a fainting spell to the yard owner, who soon decides that this type of behavior is miscreant. 9 pages

Quitters, Inc. (1978, shortstory) - 5/5 - Coming across an old college buddy at an airport bar, Morrison is impressed with his successful friend's demeanor, physique, and determination to never have another cigarette in his life... so comes the business card for Quitters, Inc. into the hands to Morrison. Playfully considering the secret success of the company's secretive methods, Morrison drops by, signs the agreement, and learns, the hard way, why their method has proven itself effective. 18 pages

I Know What You Need (1976, novelette) - 4/5 - He says all the right things, buys all the right gifts, knows your every mood, and known your every enjoyment--he also happens to innately know a little bit too much about your personal life, but everything else sounds so perfect. Liz meets such a boy at university and falls in love with him after her boyfriend's unexpected death. Her roommate is more streetwise and investigates his strangeness more thoroughly. 20 pages

Children of the Corn (1977, novelette) - 5/5 - Crossing America on the way to California, Burt and Vicky exit the turnpikes and enter the countryside for a better view. Met by the endless Nebraskan fields of corn, the couple bicker and argue before running over the body of a boy. Taking the corpse to the nearest town of Galtin, they discover it abandoned for twelve years--all but the church with its ominous Christ and cryptic epistle. 25 pages

The Last Rung on the Ladder (1978, shortstory) - 4/5 - Katrina and Larry are carefree siblings on a Midwest farm, sharing chores and sharing the thrills of falling seventy feet onto an earthy pile of hay. The rickety ladder fails them one day and Katrina falls into a hastily prepared bed of hay by her brother. Content with the reassurance of an elder sibling, the life challenges which follow through adulthood fail to reflect the safety of the fateful day's fall. 11 pages

The Man Who Loved Flowers (1977, shortstory) - 3/5 - Even the numerous souls which populate a city can easily see the look of love on a young man's face; the eagerness to please with flowers, the daydreaming gleam on the film of his eye, and the casual approach to conversation with strangers. His destiny with Norma lay within the city of tittering teenagers, well-wishing grandmothers, avuncular florists, playful pedestrians, and a murder wielding a hammer. 6 pages

One for the Road (1977, shortstory) - 4/5 - The warmest place during a fierce Maine blizzard is at the bottom of a capful of brandy. This capful of fortification revives the frostbitten man whose family is stuck in Jerusalem's Lot six miles south. The look between the two barmen upon hearing this news infers a deep sense of fear and foreboding. Reluctantly, the trio fight through the snow to the burnt remains of a town rumored to be home to vampires. 14 pages

The Woman in the Room (1978, shortstory) - 4/5 - Stricken with abdominal cancer and bed-ridden in a hospital, a man's mother loses her motor control along with her sense of pain. Her pathetic state drives the man to contemplate euthanasia, but also presses him to escape in his own personal way--by imbibing in the drink prior to his visitations. Loving his mother for better or worse, the man makes his ultimate choice personal. 12 pages

Two main elements make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after the Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great reading experience for anyone looking for something less involving than a novel.

I like Stephen King's short stories because you never know whether you are going to get an erotic, horror, quasi science fiction, magic realism, supernatural or an incredibly touching human interest tale laid in your lap. As with all his stories evil lingers just out of sight almost everywhere. I always feel King is working out ideas and concepts in his short stories that he expands in his novels. This is one of his shorter short story collections and the stories themselves are not as long or as memorable as you will find in his master collection, Different Seasons. but I thoroughly enjoyed the book. It's like a box of chocolates, You might not find all the centers satisfying but you appreciate the craftmanship and imagination of each individual story.

OK, first of all, I really enjoyed this book. I subtracted one star because of expectations going in and not because of the writing itself or the entertainment value I got from it. I expected to be scared out of my mind(especially ever the forward!), and that didn't happen. So 4 stars.

I generalize here because saying too much about any one of these stories would be a killer spoiler. I just give my impressions after reading, and that's it. There is one reviewer here on the store that basically gives away every story in the book, leaving no point in reading them. Spoilers piss me off.

The stories in it are not what I would call scary; although as King states in the forward, every one of them makes the reader contemplate mortality in a number of ways. If you're hypersensitive to the topic of death, this is one you may wish to skip.

General Story Notes:

'Jerusalem's Lot': It's a prequel to King's book Salem's Lot. The first time I attempted to read this book, some ten years ago, I couldn't get into it, and it was because of this first story. It just didn't feel right to me, for whatever reason. I have to confess that this time when I read the first half of this story while drunk; and that half scared the crap out of me. At some point, I passed out, and when I woke up I read the second half and it wasn't scary at all to me. It does paint a wonderful, historical viewing of the area and expand the story a bit. I remember that during the first half of the story, when the house dweller is describing the sounds coming from the walls, it really did a number on me; but I was drunk, so I render no opinion on the writing.

'Graveyard Shift': If you are afraid of rats, this is one for you. I'm not. It was entertaining, but not scary (to me).

'Night Surf': This story was great; I loved it, to say the least. I'm a huge fan of epidemic pieces, and in particular I love the humanistic reveal in the work. I really liked how King handled the mind of the characters here. It reminded me a lot of The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet), although I'm not sure if this is any way actually connected to that story; it's been too long since I read that tome to remember most of the subtle details.

'I Am the Doorway': This one worked on me a bit. It's one of my favorites in the book, and it's one of the few Science Fiction Horror stories I've ever read. I really enjoyed it.

'The Mangler': I enjoyed it, but it didn't scare me at all. King often uses every day items, machinery, etc to scare people. This works a good deal of the time, and in fact it works on most people most of the time. For me, it's rare that this kind of thing does the job. It's hard to break into the suspension of disbelief that needs to happen to get me to believe that a laundry press can be demoniacally possessed in such a way that it can kill people in horrific ways such as described in this story. That said, it was enjoyable.

'The Boogeyman': Entertaining, great up until the end. The end was decent, not great like the rest of the story. I'd say this is the weak point in the collection, if there is one. Still an accessibly, enjoyable read though.

'Gray Matter': Enjoyable read. Not weak, just a middling affair.

'Battleground': This story is fantastic. I loved it. It was pure fun. I don't think this was intended to be scary, but more a thriller. It did the job. In hindsight, after putting it down, I felt a bit of deadpan humor in it.

'Trucks': This is a story kind of like Desperation but without the weak ending; hopeless situation, built on tension, lots of violence and it has a great pace. I thought this story was going to be dumb, but I ended up digging it a lot.

'Sometimes They Come Back': I don't know how this was made into a movie, much less multiple sequels. It's not a bad story per say, it's just not the best in this book, or anywhere near the best he's ever written. It's passable here, and it's not bad.

'Strawberry Spring': This is a cool handed story that is basically a thriller, works well, and has a tight ending. I really liked it.

'The Ledge': Great stuff. Loved the pacing, and story.

'The Lawnmower Man': At times, I rolled my eyes during this story. It's as comedic and silly as much as it is anything else. I didn't dislike it, but it's not my favorite. I'll also say that I'm not into slapstick, 1990s Jim Carey comedy, and that's what this came off to me as, with a surrealist horror bend. It was enjoyable, though... (To those who have seen the movie of the same title, this story is nothing, at all, like the film)

'Quitters, Inc': This is a great story. As someone who has recently quit smoking (and knowing Stephen King went through a hell of a time quitting various things) I appreciated this story a lot just on the basis of it's premise, and the tension and problems that quitting brought the main character. It's a great story about how deranged we all get when we're locked into a particular kind of behavior and the lengths we go to get away from things. I loved it!

'I Know What You Need': One of the longer sets in this book, enjoyable but not in the top 5.

'Children of The Corn': First of all, I've never seen the movie so I can't make any comparison. The story was solid, suspenseful and memorable. Again, not my favorite in the collection, but it was tight and very enjoyable.

'The Last Rung on the Ladder': This is in tight competition for being my favorite in the collection. It's visceral, compact, and almost heartbreaking. I already know that this won't be anyone else's favorite, here, but it's a really good piece of short fiction. The fact that it's still on my mind days after reading it, reinforces it's power.

'The Man Who Loved Flowers': In comparison to the rest of the book, this was the least memorable story, but that's not to say that while I read it it wasn't enjoyable. It reminds me a lot of the Strawberry Spring story, but without the impact. Not to say that this story doesn't contain a kind of 'impact' of it's own. ha ha...

'One For The Road': This story is another in strong competition for the best of the collection. It's another story about Salem's Lot, but it (for me) did the job much better than the lead-off story in this collection, Jerusalem's Lot. It's another 'wrong turn, oops' kind of story but with the backdrop of historical story going on here, as well as the sharp quality of writing and pace, it just kills it. Fantastic story. The ending situation is great. Stephen King, for whatever reason, writes older people very well. Reading Night Shift has definitely made me want to revisit Salem's Lot.

'The Woman In The Room': Lackluster end to the collection, after 'One For The Road' but it's a pretty good read.

My absolute favorites: 'Night Surf', 'I Am the Doorway', 'Battleground', 'Trucks', 'The Last Rung on the Ladder', 'One for the Road'.

The stories in this book are great examples of how entertaining short stories can be. Stephen King has always been my go-to guy for properly crafted short stories; he's so prolific with them, and the quality of story is always there. Every story in the book, in my opinion, is definitely worth reading. Not all of them actually scare me, but that's not always the goal. I just want to be entertained, and he nearly always knocks it out of the park in that regard.

I would highly recommend the book Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales by King, particularly for 'The Man In The Black Suit'; I have introduced a good number of friends to that story over the years, and it scared the crap out of all of them. It has become a perennial favorite of one of my ex-girlfriends.

Anyway, Night Shift will stay on my bookshelf for a long time because I will be revisiting it again and again.

Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to reading format, but I enjoy having a hardcover edition of every book in my collection. Most dedicated readers will tell you that it adds something intangible to the reading experience holding an actual book, as opposed to listening to a book on tape or reading from a computer or Kindle. And there's even a difference between holding a paperback and a hardcover; maybe it's a genetic memory from a time when only people with money and power owned books, who knows, but it's definitely different. It's almost a feeling of literally getting lost in the pages, like the kid in the Neverending Story movie. I love the vintage design of the Night Shift hardcover, and have two on my shelf. I got the first one a few years ago, then saw a copy in better condition at a local bookstore. If you can find one in decent shape, it looks nice on the bookshelf and lends that old-fashioned feel to reading.

As for the book's content, two main qualities make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after the Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great read if you're looking for something less involving than a novel.

Two main elements make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after the Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great reading experience for anyone looking for something less involving than a novel.

I read this collection way back in the 1970s, not too long after it was originally published.
It was the first SK I ever picked up, even before I started with his breakthrough novel "Carrie."
Well, here I am, over thirty years hence, and I still pick up this book and read over some of the stories contained therein, many displaying King at the height of his powers, when he was still hungry, long before complacency had set in.
To those who so easily poo-poo some of the more fantastic stories in this, I would like to remind you that of COURSE these stretch well beyond the boundaries of believability.
This is not some documentary or true-to-life anthology.
This is the realm of horror and fantasy.
I would also like to remind the critics that this is where Stephen King truly shines, meaning his uncanny ability to pose a simply preposterous situation, then - using his incredible skills at character development, explanation, and imagery - to very effectively guide the reader into somehow following the story as if it were true.
He displays that gift no stronger than in probably his greatest book, "Salem's Lot," in which he deftly premises the mythological vampirism as a kind of super-virulent and fast-acting form of rabies.

With that said, here is my brief review of all the stories in this great anthology:

"The Lawnmower Man" was probably the one I liked the least of the lot, although it was incredibly weird and sardonic in the extreme.
It is about a man who wants his grass cut, but instead gets far more than he bargained for.
Many of you will remember a CGI free-for-all movie by the same title.
Forget completely about the movie if you have seen it, as it bears no resemblance to this story in any way, except for its strangeness.

"Jerusalem's Lot" was told in the style of Lovecraft or Poe, from a series of letters between close friends about some terrifying incidents in a damned and abandoned village.
This is also a kind of slightly unrelated prequel to "Salem's Lot," but with different types of dangers.
Spooky stuff, and the specter of sounds in the walls will really keep you shivering.

"One for the Road" is the other prequel to "Salem's Lot," this time with the story being much closer to the novel.
I loved the idea of setting this in the winter, and the imagery of confronting something truly horrifying in such a manner will really prop up your hackles.
You will never again look at the Bible as just a book after this.

"Graveyard Shift" is magnificently creepy, as King propels you inexorably into a place you never wanted to go, just as the characters in it are.
Just think giant industrial textile mill basement large scale cleanup, and just imagine what unexpected things might turn up in such a location over greater than a century's time.

"Night Surf" is another prequel, this time for King's epic "The Stand."
This is not the most uplifting material, yet he uses his powers of storytelling well even here to expertly convey despair and a feeling of inevitability, seasoned with a touch of horror, just to make it all the more chilling.

"Gray Matter" is where he really ventures forth into the area of stomach-churning material.
Just think of what could happen if a can of beer got contaminated with something far nastier than even E. Coli or Salmonella, and you will get the idea.
Keep your bottle of Pepto-Bismol handy for this one.

"Battleground" is just terrific, premised upon a particularly realistic and deadly toy kit, a kit whose parts actively seek out the recipient for cosmic vengeance in a completely unexpected way.
Intense story, with a very bad guy doing all he can to survive.
The ending is brilliant.

"Trucks" is an interesting what if type of story about trucks and construction equipment going sentient.
Think "Terminator" crossed with a Peterbilt, and you will get the idea.
Emilio Estevez was in a crappy movie called "Maximum Overdrive" based upon this, so don't let that bad movie dissuade you from reading this really very good story.

"I am the Doorway" is a really good first-person story of an alien invasion of a particularly nasty variety.
The cover of the edition of "Night Shift" that I originally read had a direct graphical reference to this story.
Creepy and disturbing, 'nuff said.

"Sometimes they Come Back" is a really good story about seeking justice and escape from childhood killers come back to life in a man's adulthood.
Very good, and it makes you want to get back at the villains...until you realize just what the cost of defeating them might be for the protagonist.
Tim Matheson starred in a movie version of this that really was pretty decent, albeit about one hour longer than it needed to be.

"The Ledge" is a not horror per se, yet it really is good at putting you right on the edge of your proverbial seat.
A mafiosa forces the man his wife is sleeping with to circle a building...forty stories up!
This was also used in the movie "Cat's Eye," and done pretty well at that, but this is still vastly superior.
Great suspense.

"The Last Rung on the Ladder" bears a similar theme of the possibility of falling from great height, again not a horror story.
The ending will tear your heart out.
Very well told, so don't be a ninny by skipping this one.

"Children of the Corn" is spooky, posing the idea of isolation, religious fanaticism curdled into nihilistic satanism, and you get a wonderfully frightening proposition.
The movies based on this were awful, so don't let them prevent you from reading this really good story.
He Who Walks Behind the Rows awaits you.

"Quitters, Inc." is another non-horror story, but that doesn't stop it from being really disturbing, taking anti-smoking crusades to their logical conclusion.
James Woods starred in the short movie version of this in the movie "Cat's Eye," and (unsurprisingly) he turned in a first rate performance.
You will really like this one, and the ending is definitely unsettling.

"I Know What You Need" is about a woman finding someone she THINKS is the man of her dreams.
But things just seem a little TOO perfect.
The answer, discovered at the end, is a kind of "Aha!" moment.

"The Man Who Loved Flowers" is a disarmingly pleasant love (?) story that takes a malevolent turn at the end.
Pretty good, but probably only a bit better than "The Lawnmower Man."

"Strawberry Spring" is magnificent, about a series of killings in a college town, committed by someone dubbed "Springheel Jack."
Now, just whom might THAT be?
Great atmosphere, and the layers are gradually peeled back to reveal something you don't want to see, but can't help but look anyway.

The last three are my favorites:

"The Boogeyman" is absolutely terrifying, especially if - like me - you have an active imagination and had some really colon-clenching nightmares as a young person.
What would happen if the monster actually WAS real?
What would you do if you were torn between believing - against all your worst fears - what your own eyes told you, or forcing yourself to ignore the horrifying reality?
You will never look at closets the same again.

"The Mangler" to me was the best of the scary stories, and King expertly uses his device of guiding the reader into accepting a completely ridiculous premise about a laundry steam press seized by a dark spirit.
There is some gross out here, but he also cleverly uses the device of pulling the reader right up to the edge, jerking the reins at the last second, forcing your imagination to fill in the blanks.
The protagonists in the story are up against something that wants to get out.
It would LOVE to get out!

Which brings me to what I consider his best story here, which is quite unlike all the others.
"The Woman in the Room" is neither scary nor suspense.
However, King uses his amazing powers to place the reader directly in the shoes of a man overwhelmed with grief and guilt at the lengthy and painful suffering of his own terminally ill mother.
You can practically smell the disinfectant of the hospital, see the winter light filtering through the window in his mother's room, and feel her withered hand in his.
This is what a master storyteller can do when he really sets his full focus upon it, and King rarely excels at that more than he does with this gripping story.
This is the harsh reality that we ALL must face.
No sense of the fantastic here, only cold truth.
You won't feel like dancing afterward, but please read it.
This will haunt you for a wholly different reason than the scary stories will.

This is the book that started it for me. I got hold of it at home -think it was my moms but I'm sure she didn't read it as she never liked horror much. I was about 12-13 and it started my love for King and for horror and the macab. I recommend it highly!

Two main elements make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after the Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great reading experience for anyone looking for something less involving than a novel.

Two main elements make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after the Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great reading experience for anyone looking for something less involving than a novel.

This is a collection of stories and so some will be better than others. There were a few that left me going "really?" in that I thought they were a little cheesy. That being said, some were really a pleasure to read:

My favs with my take:

- Children of the Corn (that one kind of you made your heart pound and was a page-turner)

- Quitters, Inc. (a terrifying little twist on smoking cessation)

- Grey Matter (I liked the build up in this one)

- Trucks (a story of man vs. machine, I love the helpless tone)

- Strawberry Spring (I really enjoyed the style in which SK wrote this one. Even though I felt I knew where it was going, I was still intrigued).

- The Ledge (this one made me hold my breath)

- I Know What You Need (I know it was not meant to be a love story, but I really enjoyed the way the characters came to know each other. It also had a nice little lesson about what it means to be in love).

- The Last Rung on the Ladder (I enjoyed the nostalgic story-telling and the sad tone)

- Jerusalem's Lot (this was a fun, thrilling read with vampires!)

I just finished reading this compilation of short stories by Stephen King. I have been in a major Stephen King vortex since the beginning of the new year. Anywho, this book was a pleasant surprise. For some reason, I had no idea that King wrote "Children of the Corn". I blame the fact that it was written a year before I was born, and I was 6 when the movie came out. Once I made the realization, I promptly watched the movie on youtube [if you look hard enough, quite a few of Kings movie adaptations can be found there, I spend many mornings riding my exercise bike watching them ;) ].

All in all, I have to say I really enjoyed the book, I liked the recurring themes of 'Salems Lot, having not yet read that book. It will now be on my list of must reads.

Of the stories in the book, my two favorites were Strawberry Spring and I Know What You Need.

Strawberry Spring had such striking imagery, and a real haunting quality. But why I liked both of these stories is because, for me, the stories are always scariest when the monsters could actually be real.

What did you like or dislike? Based on this, what are your further recommendations?

I love the fact that King's writing career has been longer than my actual life....I recently read a more recent collection of his short stories entitled Just After Sunset. If you like the more "realistic" scary stories, like me, then I highly recommend!

Overall - I really liked the first story, but after that the stories really seemed to taper off quite a bit until I got to Battleground. After that one, my interested was piqued and the book continued at a high level through The Ledge and on to the end with a few exceptions here and there raising my overall rating from a 6 to a 7.

Jerusalem's Lot - The first story is an "historical" account of the events that take place when a man and his faithful servant take residence in his ancestral home and explore the shunned ghost town of Jerusalem's Lot. The story is told through a series of letters and journal entries and is very different from King's normal style. It's a bit slow, but still creepy.
Graveyard Shift - A group of men who work in a factory are offered the "opportunity" to work over the 4th of July holiday cleaning out the basement of the factory. They discover a rat problem in the depths of the building that turns out to be worse than expected. This one was mildly amusing, not the best of the bunch.
Night Surf - Post apocalyptic preview of The Stand. The super flu has run rampant and wiped out most of the population. For all that this small group of survivors knows, they are the last people on the planet. So-so, maintains interest because of The Stand.
I Am the Doorway - A wheel-chair bound former astronaut with a strange affliction tells his friend about his vision of a crime that he is sure that he committed even though it is a physical impossibility for him to have committed it. This one took me much longer than it should have to finish. It did not keep my attention and frankly I was bored with it.
The Mangler - A police officer investigates an industrial accident at a laundry. What he finds there turns out to be more than just an accident. I liked this story. It was engaging and kept the tension going through the end.
The Boogeyman - A man speaks to a therapist about the deaths of his young children at the hands of the closet monster and the blame that he has taken upon himself for his part in them. Pretty darn good story...until the end. Just my opinion, but I though that the ending really sucked.
Gray Matter - A man gets some kind of illness from drinking a bad beer and it begins to change his physical form. Not bad, this one moved along pretty well and had some decent suspense.
Battleground - Excellent story. A hit man receives a box from his mark's mother when he returns from a job. The suspense is built up really well and there's a great ending.
Trucks - This one is pretty good. It centers on a group of people who are trapped in a truck stop by a mob of possessed trucks. The movie Maximum Overdrive is based on this story and uses most of the major parts of the story, but extrapolates upon the story quite a bit. Another one with which I was not too pleased by the ending.
Sometimes They Come Back - Well written story about a man who is having recurring nightmares involving the childhood murder of his brother. When the teenage murderers begin appearing in his class 16 years later, he knows that something unnatural is afoot and takes it upon himself to find out how to stop it.
Strawberry Spring - Best story in the book so far, although a bit predictable. I can't really say why I enjoyed the story so much, it just seems to flow well. Told in first person, it is an account of a series of murders that take place on campus during the time that the protagonist is in college. I loved the ending of this one.
The Ledge - The Ledge is another solid offering. A tennis pro caught cheating with a millionaire's wife accepts a wager to walk the 5 inch ledge around the 40th floor. Good build up of tension through-out and another nice ending.
The Lawnmower Man - After a string of excellent stories, this one is pretty weak. A man sells his lawnmower after a cat is accidentally run over by the kid he hires to mow his lawn. The following summer, he procrastinates hiring a service to do the mowing and the lawn grows out of control. When he finally hires a service, he gets a strange and dangerous surprise. Very odd and not really fitting in with most of the book so far, this story seems very random and I just couldn't get into it.
Quitters, Inc. - Back to another excellent story. A man decides to follow a friend's advice and quit smoking. The company that he goes to for help uses some rather unorthodox methods. I found this one to be very entertaining. The story moves well and keeps the reader in high gear.
I Know What You Need - This one was a fairly dull stinker. A guy uses his psychic/voodoo powers to charm and win a girl. It just didn't seem to go anywhere and I was bored.
Children of the Corn - One of the longer stories in the book. A couple traveling through Nebraska has an accident and proceeds to the next town to take care of things. The town is mostly deserted and all that is left is a cult of psychotic children. It's an excellent story and really creepy. This is another of my favorites in the book.
The Last Rung on the Ladder - This is another good one. This is a touching, sad story about an event that happens to a boy and his sister and where it has left them today.
The Man Who Loved Flowers - This story is not as good as some of the rest, but still enjoyable. This is a story about young love in the spring-time...or is it?
One for the Road - This was a fun one for a Stephen King fan. Winter in Maine and a terrible storm has blown in. Two men at a bar are surprised when a well dressed and frozen man bursts in. It seems that his car has been lodged in a snow drift a few miles down the road at the exit to Jerusalem's Lot. His wife and daughter are waiting in the car for him to bring help...or are they?? Help or something else may have come for them already.
The Woman in the Room - Boy, what a downer to end the book on. It's a well written story, but very depressing. The story is about a man whose mother is dying from cancer. It mainly centers around his feelings about whether or not she would be better off dead and whether or not he should help her to end it.

While 'Night Shift' may not be the absolute best short-story collection Stephen King has produced, it's definitely worth reading to see how he developed his style. These stories, all but two of them reprinted from 'The Cavalier' and other early-70s 'men's magazines', cover more territory than just the horror and suspense genres which King eventually dominated. The stories feature a wide variety of settings, situations and character types, including, but not limited to, the usual 'country folk coping with bad weather in the Northeast' which would soon become a standard King plot device.
I'll do a quick assessment of each story, in small groups:

Out of the first batch of stories, I found 'Jerusalem's Lot' to be a poor choice to start the book. While it was interesting at first to see King attempt to write in dry, outdated, nineteenth-century prose, the novelty wore off within a couple of pages. The plot device of telling the story through letters was very awkward at times, and, frankly, I've just never shared the author's fascination with the town. There was some suitably creepy imagery, and some touches of Edgar Allan Poe, but in the end, it seemed to unlike a King story to merit a high rating.
'Graveyard Shift' really got things rolling, a nice little character study interrupted by the inevitable 'discovery'. This, and 'I Am the Doorway', reminded me of some of the stories I've found in old horror and science-fiction anthology comics, particularly the final-sentence 'revelation' at the end of 'Doorway'. 'Night Surf' was another interesting experiment, seeing as it served as the germ of the idea (no pun intended!) for 'The Stand', and would have naturally fit into that novel as an interlude. But, perhaps by neccesity, the characters were not developed enough for me to feel any real connection with them; probably the only story in the book where I found that to be the case.

'The Mangler' was a fantastic, 'Twilight Zone'-esque look at what could happen when everyday objects turn against us. 'The Boogeyman' was very solid, but might have been better without the sci-fi reveal at the end(another one seemingly borrowed from the '50s comics mentioned in the story). The next three relied on suspension of disbelief, with mixed results. 'Gray Matter' was itself, a rather unappealing sort of blob, but 'Battleground' was a fun read, right up to its 'explosive' finish, and 'Trucks' had an eerie parallel to today's culture of 'gas-guzzling big truck'-loving drivers.
'Sometimes They Come Back' gave us a darker look at school bullies, with a few neat twists thrown in to keep it interesting. 'Strawberry Spring' was somewhat predictable, and its similarity to 'The Man Who Loved Flowers' makes it odd that both would have been chosen for this collection.
'The Ledge' edged out 'The Mangler' and 'I Am the Doorway' as my favorite story in the collection. I enjoy reading stories where the 'hero' has to find a way out of some sort of life-or-death predicament, and the way the main character did so here, and the manner in which the tables were turned so completely on the baddie, resulted in a great finish...I almost felt as if I'd walked the ledge myself!
'The Lawnmower Man' was yet another throwback to vintage comic-book horror, but by that point in the book, I was beginning to wish for the 'lter' King to emerge, without having to worry about the constraints of the short-story format.
'Quitters Inc' was a bit slow, and maybe too similar to 'The Ledge' in using another sort of blackmail as a plot element, but the ending, a nod to the Alfred Hitchcock TV episode 'The Man From the South', made up for its sluggishness.
Out of the last batch of five stories, only 'The Last Rung on the Ladder' had any real poignance, despite, or maybe because of, its not being a true horror story. 'I Know What You Need' needed a better ending. 'Children of the Corn' revisited the 'small town full of weirdo cultists' theme, with only slightly better results than 'Jerusalem's Lot', and 'One For the Road' literally revisted that infamous vampire-infested town yet again, with the two stories here serving as bookmarks of a sort for the novel and movie, neither of which held my interest.
'The Woman in the Room' brought things to a rather downbeat ending.

Maybe there was actually a bit too much to choose from here, as the book might have earned that fifth star if a few of the lesser stories had been left out. Still, the ten or so best stories here make the book well worth reading, and even the weaker efforts outdo many other authors' best stories.

I'll admit, I do not like Stephen King's novels. Yep. I said it. I usually find them too boring to finish, and have decided to give up on reading anymore. However, when it comes to Stephen King's short stories, they're absolutely phenomenal.

I first experienced King's writing in a collection titled Skeleton Crew. Blown away by the masterpiece The Mist (seriously...a MUST READ for any horror fan), and awe-struck by the cleverness of the rest of those stories, I decided to venture into his novels. I was let down. King's novels seem to wander, ramble into unnecessary plot lines, give unnecessary back story on EVERY character, and are generally hundreds of pages longer than they need to be (in my opinion). Needless to say, I was wary about purchasing Night Shift, afraid it wouldn't hold a candle to Skeleton Crew. Boy, am I glad I purchased this collection. It's every bit as good as Skeleton Crew.

Now, I wouldn't call this collection a stroke of genius. You're not going to find deep stories in here that will drastically change you, or force you to think about the bigger questions in life. I wouldn't even call this collection "scary." However, what I would call this is 100% perfection in entertainment.

The stories in Night Shift have everything one needs to waste away their day, lost in the world of fiction. There's action, suspense, horror, and even some comedy (or maybe I just have a sick sense of humor). And what I love about King's short stories is that they take everything that's great about King and get them right out there in the open, in a timely manner. The timely manner part is very important.

If you're on the fence about King, because you might want to read him, but don't want to invest the time to read a 1200 page novel. Then this is the book to start with (or Skeleton Crew). I would also say that if you've seen most of these stories adapted to the big screen, then it's also well worth viewing them in a different medium. I see King's short stories as a way to casually read a serious novelist. Each story is a page turner, and just short enough that it leaves you wanting more, which in my opinion is the best way to end ANY story.

Five stars and two thumbs up from this guy.

Graveyard Shift and Children of the Corn are the kind of stories that Lovecraft would've written. They build up and get creepier along the way. Jerusalem's Lot had even more in common with Lovecraft; the evil word living below the church.

I read this book hoping to be scared stiff, but that wasn't the case. Lawnmower Man was more weird than frightening; when the guy sees the fat naked gardener eating the grass, it sounded more like he was dealing with a psycho than a supernatural force. Jerusalem's Lot is epistolary, using diary entries and letters to tell the story. But I was a bit disapointed, because I felt the story ended with not enough in the middle.

Night Shift's stories all have something in common; ordinary Americans getting screwed by supernatural elements. Throughout "Sometimes They Come Back" I couldn't help thinking that this guy is getting dicked. He has no way of fighting off these demons, so what is he expected to do? Perhaps King is trying to tell us that the working classes are born to be miserable.

I've been on a short story/anthology bender as of late. I just can't seem to get enough of short, quick paced stories. I guess it should come as no surprise that I would return to Stephen King for a 3rd trip into this literary art form.
"Night Shift" may be King's first collection of stories, and only my 3rd such kind of collection, but there is no doubt that this is by far his best (at least of what I have read). Unlike some of his newer stuff that tries to be cross-genre, mixing horror with drama, romance, etc, all of the 20 stories (with the exception of "The Woman in the Room") are, as the front page says "excursions into horror."
And really, they all are fantastic. You have "Jerusalem's Lot", "Trucks", "Children of the Corn", "The Lawnmower Man", "Sometimes They Come Back", and many other forms of literary horror within this short, but entirely entertaining book. Aside from the aforementioned "Woman" story and "The Man who Loved Flowers" there isn't a bad story in this book. And even those 2 aren't even that bad of stories, they just don't match up with the calibre of the greatness King is known for.
The only problem with this book? That it sat collecting dust on my shelf for so long!

Great collection of short stories from the master of horror. Includes 2 'Salem's Lot' stories; a prequel and a sequel, both were scary reads. 'The Mangler' is good too, a killer washing machine, HOW ORIGINAL!!! 'Gray matter', a story about a guy mutating after drinking a spoiled beer, GOLD!!! I've been reading 'The Night Shift' while working the night shift, cool huh.

7.99 is not a bad price for this, current price for mass market paperback threw the store. I myself bought the hardcover for 2 bucks from Good Will. You may want to check around a little before buying from the store. If you can't find it and still want it, 7.99 is still a decent price.

Short stories are a medium that is not indulged enough by writers anymore. I personally like short stories above all. You get just enough story, rarely get bored and when you done with one story you have more waiting for you.

HIGH recommendation for this older collection of short stories, you will not regret buying and reading this.

Some of the best storytelling that Stephen King produces is usually contained in his short story collections. Night Shift is no exception. Written well over 30 years ago for various publications, the book contains some real classics - most of which have been turned into movies (most of which sucked). Stories such as Children of the Corn, The Lawnmower Man (which oddly enough the movie had very little to do with the story...and even more oddly...the movie was better), Graveyard Shift, Trucks (became Maximum Overdrive), several that became Cat's Eye, and many more. It even includes the 'Salems Lot prequel and follow-up. Each story does a wonderful job of either creating tremendous suspense or scaring the hell out of you. They all mostly end with a bit of a cliffhanger ending that allows your imagination to run wild with how the story ends. A great read that allows you to experience one of the greatest storytellers of all time in bite-size chunks.

Stephen King's first short story collection Night Shift is pretty solid. Overall, it's not as good a collection as Skeleton Crew, but there are some real classics here.

For my money Graveyard Shift, I Am the Doorway, Gray Matter, Children of the Corn, The Last Rung on the Ladder and One for the Road (a cool, spooky sort of an epilogue to 'Salem's Lot) are King at the top of his game.

The rest of the stories don't quite approach that level, but all have something interesting about them. There are some that I wish were better, but I didn't think there was a clinker in the bunch.

In a couple of stories, you can see King working out some early ideas for what would become classic novels. The first is Jerusalem's Lot, a fun Lovecraftian tale about a family curse, a deserted village and the old gods. King is a monumentally better writer than Lovecraft ever was. Even his purposely-purple-prose seems less of an affectation than Lovecraft's usually is.

The other, Night Surf is a sort of alternate take on Captain Trips and The Stand. A neat idea, but I wasn't wild about the story itself.

There were a couple of horror/comedy stories (The Lawnmower Man and Quitters, Inc.) that were handled very well. They reminded me of the sort of stuff that Bentley Little does so well.

Worth a read, definitely. For any other writer, this would be a top tier collection, but King is King for a reason and has done better collections since this one.

Stephen King is an undeniably talented writer. He has written several books that really and truly scared me. But of the many works of fiction he has published, I find that the most effective are the shorter ones: CARRIE, SALEM'S LOT, CUJO, the Bachman books. Even some of his misfires (CHRISTINE, GERALD'S GAME) still make for some compelling reading. But the novels I am less impressed with -- THE STAND, IT, THE TOMMMYKNOCKERS -- take too long to tell what are essentially simple stories. I feel that the more time King spends on a story, the less effective it is. That's why I think I like NIGHT SHIFT so much. Sure, there are a few clunkers here: "The Mangler" is a less-than-thrilling thriller about a killer shirt-pressing machine (!), in "Battleground" killer toys come after a poor sap wanted by the Mafia, and "I Know What You Need" is predictable and silly. But never mind... there's alot of great stuff here: if you only know "Sometimes They Come Back" and "Children of the Corn" from their incredibly lame film counterparts, now's your chance to revisit them in their fullest (and most effective) forms; "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One for the Road" revisit SALEM'S LOT to wonderfully creepy effect; "Night Surf", "I am the Doorway", "Quitters Inc.", and "The Lawnmower Man" supply a generous portion of gleefully grotesque weirdness; "The Ledge", "The Last Rung on the Ladder", and especially "The Woman in the Room" all represent a change of pace, though no less disturbing than the more overtly horrific tales on display here; "Gray Matter" and "Trucks" are solid horror tales; "Graveyard Shift" will test your gag threshold (at one point I had to stop reading it to keep from tossing my cookies -- and THAT'S hard to do to me!); and "The Man Who Loved Flowers" is a swift little shocker reminiscent of the writings of Robert Bloch. But the best story here -- a crowning achievement for King, if you ask me -- is "The Boogeyman". This is the single most terrifying Stephen King tale I think I've ever read. In fact, I've read it several times, and it still scares me every time. This story alone makes the book worth buying. Most of these stories come from the earliest part of King's career, back before he was apparently paid letter by letter. I enjoy the stories in this book immensely (even the mediocre ones), and I hope if you haven't read it that my review has painted a clear and accurate picture of what you're in for. Thanks.

I quickly looked through the Table of Contents in my Night Shift book before I began to write this review, because I really didn't know whether to give it three stars, or four stars. I decided to give it three because out of the twenty short stories in this novel, I like about eleven, so about half. Here's a quick run down of all the stories, and how they were in my opinion.
(Jerusalem's Lot)-pretty good opening story that is the longest of all the stories in this book, and is quite scary. But like I said, it is the longest, and far too long at that.
(Graveyard Shift)-I didn't like Graveyard Shift so much, that I refused to finish it. Neither Hall, or the rats appealed as good story points for me to continue.
(Night Surf)-Night Surf is a short version of The Stand. The story really has no plot, but isn't that bad.
(I Am The Doorway)-Probably the second best story in the book. Typical plot, but interesting and fun. Good ending.
(The Mangler)-Probably the stupidest story in the book. What a waste of a tree. Come on Stephen.
(The Boogeyman)-Scariest story in the book with a good main character, Lester Billings, and another good ending.
(Gray Matter)-Third best story which is a unique storyline; a lot of fun to read.
(Battleground)-An okay story with a usual ending, which wastes all the suspense King tries to build up. You know it's coming.
(Trucks)-Stupid, stupid, stupid. Christine didn't thrill me as a novel, and that had a good chachter, Dennis. Also, it was like King said "To hell with it!" and wrote the ending for a laugh.
(Sometimes They Come Back)-Good story about revenge and payback.
(Strawberry Spring)-In my opinion, the best story in the book. Strawberry Spring is unique and scary, and King writes it perfectly, not giving us the main character's name, and then delivery a good, twist ending. Fantastic.
(The Ledge)-I liked The Ledge. Nothing out of the ordinary, just how far one man will go for love I geuss.
(The Lawnmower Man)-What was King thinking! I don't understand why people like this story. It's dumb and pointless.
(Quitters, Inc.)-Nice story which has the best plot of any in the book, and King writes it well.
(I Know What You Need)-Pretty good, but very predictable.
(Children Of The Corn)-Another story a lot of people like that I don't get why. Children Of the Corn is disappointing, and the very end, the last two pages, makes no sense.
(The Last Rung On The Ladder)-I liked this story because you understand what Larry is trying to say, even though the storyline is a bust.
(The Man Who Loved Flowers)-I liked this story a lot. It was short and sweet, and King built up the innocence of the man, so that our anticipation for the ending for high. Very good storytelling.
(One For The Road)-King really must like 'Salem's Lot. Again he uses the the town infested with vampires as a story. I liked it because Tookey and Booth were good characters.
(The Woman In The Room)-Sad depressing story with a message for people with dying parents: don't make them suffer. More good storytelling.
So, overall, Night Shift isn't that bad, but three or four really bad stories, make me only give it three stars.

Halloween- that dark holiday of freaky festivals and macabre gatherings of costumed personages prancing about in the cold nightscape, reflecting the shared recollections of the monsters that have haunted the vistas of our subconscious through the ages- always puts me in a mood for tales that can be read in a single sitting by flickering candlelight, or by the crackling aura of a fervent campfire.

One of the best sources for brief flashes of horror is the first short story collection issued by Stephen King: Night Shift. Just about all of the stories come with a hearty recommendation; taken as a whole, the anthology provides a useful survey of all the subcomponents which together comprise the genre. There are vampires, ghosts, and all species of demons; lusty practitioners of black arts and seething sadistic children; machinery possessed by otherworldly forces and on the attack against their creators; gelatinous blobs hungry for living sustenance and extraterrestrial eyes which infect the flesh; serial killers surrounded by poetic prose and a suffering woman on a bed of death whose circumstances extract a deadly decision from someone close to her...

The table of contents found in Night Shift is resplendent with titles that are reminiscent of old E.C. Comics properties like "Tales From The Crypt". King's deft penchant for storytelling shines through admirably with such memorable contributions to the horror lexicon such as "Graveyard Shift"- those fearful of rats should be wary here- and "The Boogeyman"- those frightened of closet-dwelling ghouls should keep this door firmly shut.

In a sense, Night Shift is comparable to a Monkees album; some might aptly term the stories as quick, fleeting sticks of bubblegum terror. That's not to negate the powerful impact of King's talent on hand here, for even bubblegum can be analyzed and reverse engineered to reveal the secrets behind its complex chemistry. Allegories abound, whether it be man's struggle to understand his role in the context of modern technological society ("Trucks") or the nature of religion's effect on the most impressionable members of our society ("Children Of The Corn"). But any reader is justified in ditching the critical lens and enjoying on a more superficial level the visceral concepts and plot schemes that are ubiquitously in evidence. Fair warning though: if you've never read Mr. King before, you may find yourself in the same boat as one of the hapless victims in a George A. Romero zombiefest- you may get bit and come down with a bug which will cause you to walk the earth forever in a numbed slumber, on an eternal search for everything he's ever written, a search you will make again and again and again. I for one remember becoming hooked on King partially because of this collection, read so many years ago; for me, these tales represent a golden age in the writer's career where each successive novel/story was more astonishing than its predecessor.

When you're done watching the various marathons featuring Freddy, Jason, Ash, Frankenstein's Monster, and the plethora contemporary interpretations of Vlad the Impaler via Stoker's seminal tome showing on all the various cable channels, when you're ready to curl up with a creepy tome to celebrate the night of the witches and the day of the souls, then pull the shades up high so that the icy moonlight may scream its way into your bedroom and provide its lunatic illumination...open up Night Shift, and prepare for a dose of disconcerting discourse...

I love King's older stuff. And this is his best collection in my opinion. I wouldn't normally do a review for a book that has so many but I decided to as a parent.
My son and I read together every night and now he is the same age as I was when I first read this (12) so we decided to give it a go. I did skip these because I thought they would bother him or because of the subject matter:
Boogeyman, The Last Rung on the Ladder, Strawberry Spring, Sometimes They Come Back, The Woman in the Room and The Man Who Loved Flowers.

He loved all the rest a lot and with some skimmjng minor parts were perfectly fine. It's very easy to parentally edit while reading if some of the language bothers anyone and the very few times that sex is mentioned are very easy to skip over as well without hurting the story.

Night Shift is a great collection of early horror stories from the master himself. 20 stories in total, most of them great winners.

Notable standouts include:

Quitters Inc. where a man goes to an agency to quit smoking. The first time he is got caught cheating he gets a warning. The second time he is caught smoking his wife goes missing. You will have to read to find out what happens the third time.

The Ledge: A tennis pro has been having an affair with a woman married to a powerful and evil man. The Hero must want around a skyscraper's narrow ledge on a bet where is life is the stakes. If he wins he gets the girl and Money. If he looses he has a long drop...

I am the Doorway: an astronaut caught something evil in space. It is now part of his body and soul. Eyes from another dimension open from the palms of his hands and the hatred from their eyes rains destruction on earth. But can he stop the aliens before it is too late?

Battleground: A box of toy soldiers that are more than just plastic. A man rapped in his apartment has to escape, but he is not the type to run away. He would rather fight than flee...

And 16 more...

Anyone who is unsure if they want to become a "King Addict" like me, unwilling to buy a full length novel may want to start with this collection, as they are short stories, but are classic King nonetheless. Be warned however, after reading this great collection, you will likely be hooked on King, and scared for remainder of your life...

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Night Shift is filled with mind-blowing short stories(Children of the Corn). One of which is about an infestation of rats in the cellar of a commercial building, and industrial grade rats at that. Another story of an astronaut who is infected with alien eyes, with nefarious intentions. Then there's the Boogeyman, a father seeks out a therapist because his kids had been killed by ...the Boogeyman. A memorable tale about a high school teacher with some unruly students, some of which end up threatening both his life and his wife's(not to mention his brother's). Then there's The Ledge--a man scoring on a Mafia big wig's wife is forced to walk a ledge 40 stories up to circumnavigate the outside of the building, or die trying. Lawnmower Man--a naked man that eats grass clippings while the lawnmower mows itself??? ...(totally different from the movie).

The more you read Stephen King, the more you'll keep your doors locked, your windows tightly shut, eventually leading to a concealed permit. Night Shift is King at the top of his game. The stories are lean and to the point.

Stephen King's first short story collection shows a writer honing his craft and combining two strands: one that is very urban and socially conscious, concerned with the limits of science and technology, whose tone is usually cynical, sarcastic, disillusioned; while another, more romantic and individualistic, taps into esotericism, religion, symbols and allegory. This fruitful encounter gives birth to stories which are varied and more complex than they initially appear, and the best of them are usually those that go the farthest in blending the two approaches. All the tales are worth reading, but here are a few notes on some of my favourites: 'Graveyard Shift', a taut descensus ad infernos that features numerous symbols of initiation; 'Night Surf', one of the most silently effective of end-of-the-world stories; 'I am the Doorway', a subtle and memorable tale that works both as a criticism of technology and as an allegory of possession; 'Quitters Inc.' and 'The Ledge', two urban nightmares in the purest sense of the term; 'Children of the Corn', a somber meditation on religion, violence and a lot more; 'The Man Who Loved Flowers', a brief and troubling veil-removing story; besides, the reader won't soon forget the drama of 'The Last Rung on the Ladder' and 'Strawberry Spring', the powerful strangeness of 'The Mangler' and 'The Bogeyman'. In order to get the most out of Night Shift's stories, one should read them more than once.

Night Shift was the first collection of short stories by Stephen King that I have read. I was immediately impressed with the diversity of horror ideas and his style of writing. From the first story to the twentieth, I was captivated and wanted to read more (so I am now reading Skeleton Crew, another short story collection).
In my opinion, the best stories in Night Shift are "Jerusalem's Lot", "Sometimes They Come Back", and "Quitters, Inc." They are terrific examples of King's literature and how he can turn a simple idea into an interesting horror story. After I read "Jerusalem's Lot", the first story in Night Shift, I was hooked.
On the other end of the spectrum, some of the stories were not very good. In particular, I found "Night Surf" and "The Woman In The Room" particularly boring and not up to par with the other short stories. Those two stories seemed to lack any real suspense and I quickly breezed through them.
Although there are some good stories and some not-so-good stories in Night Shift, overall the good outnumber the bad. The collection was quite enjoyable and I hope his other short story collections (Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes) will be just as good, if not better. I will have to read them to find out. If you are interested in Night Shift, I recommend reading it -- you will not be disappointed.

There are plenty of titles here to keep people reading. At least 10 of the stories in this book were 'adapted' for the big or small screen. Most of the films were bad (some were appalling) but the titles will catch people's eye and hook them. Most of the stories are rather short, and that works to their benefit.
Many of the tales collected here are missing...something. A motivation, an explanation of SOME type, a likeabe character. Children of the Corn comes off as the scariest, in my opinion. Just plain creepy.
Meanwhile, Gray Matter was just plan...weird. Not scary, just bizarre. Over time, an old man turns into a giants, disgusting and slimy gray blob. It may have something to do with all the beer her drinks, but...
Sometimes They Come Back is unsatisfying in its ghost story setup, but The BlackBoard Jungle-type setting and character development work well.
Trucks is, of course, the source for one of the worst Stephen King films of all time, and also one that he directed: Maximum Overdrive. This is a very short story, and it has a simple point, if you can call it that. The machines are striking back. That's it. Very bad film. But because people love us, they made ANOTHER version of it, using the story's title.
Battleground is something out of a bad comic book. Toy soldiers attack a man. Not a bad treatment, but a little bit more here would have been better.
Graveyard Shift is creepy and atmospheric for most of the way, but the characters are way too weak. Another inspiration for another bad film.
The Lawnmower Man. Nothing at all to do with the film. This story is just plain bizarre. Not scary, not creepy. Just freakin' weird. King must have been on something when he penned a few of these.
All in all, a lot of this stuff resembles a Twilight Zone-eque world. Think Tales From the Darkside but maybe a little better. And sometimes worse. Best apart about this book is the variety and amount of stories. King is a great storyteller, say what you will about his writing style. He hooks readers and in this book he keeps the tales short and often sharp.
I'm nowhere near a King afficionado, but I would say this is probably a pretty good start if only to appreciate his maturity and superior handling in the novels he wrote right after these stories.

Twenty stories are contained within this gem of a collection. To be honest not all these stories are great but there are enough that are to make it a worthwhile purchase. Trucks is the one I've remembered after all these years. Imagine if all the vehicles out there didn't just come alive but wanted to kill you and everyone else. You may have seen an average movie called Maximum Overdrive with Emilio Estevez which was based on this story but don't be put off. The story in the book is a lot better and you're imagination is better than any movie.
Ever wanted to quit smoking? Then Quitters Inc. is for you, it's a great one. If you're really into beer then Gray Matter is for you. Children of the Corn is another classic that way surpasses the average movie made from it. You've got aliens controlling a guy in I am the Doorway. Lawnmower man is pretty good to which the movie made from has nothing to do with this brilliant story. A few movies have also knocked of Battleground which is about toy soldiers coming to life but no one can beat the original King version and your imagination.
If you're a King fan or a fan of short horror stories then this book is a must buy. It's actually a shame some of these stories weren't made into full length novels because there's some good ideas here.

If you want to read some scary stories, I would advise you to read this book before any others. I have read almost all of King's books, and the majority of them were somewhat frightening, but it wasn't often that I would be truly terrified by what I was reading. Then I read this collection of short stories and it blew me away. I'm twenty years old, and these stories still keep me up at night when I read them.
I don't want to spoil anything, but I thought that the scariest stories in this series were Jerusalem's Lot, One for the Road, The Mangler, and Children of the Corn. Some other stories that weren't particularly scary but were excellent nonetheless include Quitters Inc, The Ledge, Trucks, I Am the Doorway, and The Lawnmower Man (which is nothing like the awful movie, so don't be fooled).
The only reason this collection lost a star was due to several stories that really failed to scare or entertain me. If you're looking for a good scare or an intersting read, I would strongly recommend avoiding The Last Rung on the Ladder, The Woman in the Room, Night Surf, and Strawberry Spring.
Despite a few bad apples, the rest of the stories in this collection are pure gold and they do well to remind us why King is one of the most bestselling authors in the world today.

Stephen King once again writes another classic horror collection. Night Shift is a an anthology of short stories of about 5 to 40 pages long. I was a bit dissapointed because I enjoyed the poems in Skeleton Crew, another of his collections. Night Shift didn't have any poems, but still great terrifing stories.
The first story, Jerusalems Lot, is kinda weird at first, it is in the form of only written letters, the kind in the mail, to and from the main characters. It is a version of the longer story, 'Salem's Lot.
A couple after that you get to the Mangler, I though that one was good, and quite gory. It is about a laudry ironer and folder, that is cursed.
The Boogyman is definately a must read, and maybe the scariest one in the collection. It will become a horror classic for sure.
The lawnmower man is a chilling one that will get you thinking a lot, or at least it did for me. This one is about a man who needs to hire a someone to cut his lawn, and gets what he asked for, and a bit more.
I liked the ones I told you about the best, but they are all good, and will give you sleepless nights. It is definately a true King book, not one of his weird ones. The Ledge, Graveyard Shift, Trucks, Sometimes They Come Back, and I Know What You Need were also very good.

The first book I purchased from The King of popular Fiction and Horror literature was his 1972 debut novel "Carrie", and I loved it. I was going to buy more until I heard about how good his short stories were supposed to be so I picked up his 1978 release of "Night Shift", and I was not let down.
The scariest stories in the book were "Childern of the Corn"(which I thought was much better, and scarier than the overated movie version was) "The Manglar"( Which also was much better than the pretty forgetable film) "Graveyard Shift", and "The Boggieman" which was just as much of an adult nightmare as "Childern of the Corn" was. Just different plots and wicked plot twists at the end of them. I would say that "The Boggieman" is definetly The King at his most creative. Some of the stories like "The "Lawnmower Man" and "Battlefield" are very good and errie stories, but those stories in particular seem to lack logic which is out of the norm for The King in an otherwise perfect collection of short stories. Stephen King certainly gave "Night Shift" the right title, because every story is equally compelling.
I also suggest "Skeletion Crew" any other fans of The King's short short stories.

Others here have done fine jobs of telling the plot details of each of these amazing stories, so I'll only add that personally I think this is King's best short story collection, and overall my favorite among his books. This is a classic to get lost in, one for a chilly autumn afternoon, a cold winter night, a thundery spring morning, or a hot summer noon spent on a tree swing, the real world abandoned and King's Maine--a state where reality is at its thinnest--unfolding before your third eye. I think I picked this book up at just the right age, at the cusp of my teens, and for most of the next year King was my favorite pleasure reading. These are tales penned by the young Stephen King, a man not yet the world's best seller novelist and America's literary scaremeister, but just a twenty-something writer with a lot of good ideas. King wrote these short stories to pay the bills and make a name for himself, and out of those lean years came these stories which represent the most imaginative period of all King's writing. Not a bad tale in the bunch in Night Shift, and several rank among the greatest of the great. Words fail me here, so let me just tell anyone reading this that these are some seriously awesome tales!

One thing that has always distinguished Stephen King among his peers is his commitment to the short story. You don't find many novelists writing short stories these days, but King has always excelled in the area of short fiction, and I daresay the discipline involved in telling a story in a relatively small number of pages has helped make him such a successful writer of long fiction. Night Shift, which was first published in 1976, is the first of King's short story collections, bringing together twenty stories originally published in such disparate magazines as Cavalier, Penthouse, and Cosmopolitan (yes, Cosmopolitan) in the early to mid 1970s. These stories have given birth to a surprising number of film adaptations, but I would urge you not to judge these stories in advance by the quality of films such as Children of the Corn, The Mangler, Sometimes They Come Back, and The Lawnmower Man (especially The Lawnmower Man, as the film has nothing whatsoever to do with King's story).

There is a lot of variety to be found in this collection, as King delivers much more than a sequence of horror stories. The horror is there in droves, of course, but so are stories of a general bent that show just how effective a writer King is when he wanders away from the dark forces usually driving his imagination. The Woman in the Room, for example, is a rather tender story of a son struggling with his mother's impending death, while I Know What You Need and The Man Who Loved Flowers display romantic sensibilities of a truly engaging nature.

The book opens with Jerusalem's Lot, a thoroughly Lovecraftian exploration of the early history of this infamous little hamlet; told in the form of letters and steeped in Mythos lore, it is the type of tale that could have been written by a member of the original Lovecraft Circle. One For the Road also centers on Jerusalem's Lot; it's unusual to set a vampire story against the backdrop of a severe New England blizzard, but this proves to be one of the most effective stories in this collection. Rats, traditional horror favorites, play a part in a couple of stories, particularly Graveyard Shift with its rat-infested subterranean levels containing monstrosities that can no longer be considered mere rats.

The Ledge is, to me, the most uncomfortably effective story in the collection, mainly because it ruthlessly exploits my own fear of heights. Quitters, Inc., though, stands head and shoulders above the other nineteen stories; brilliant in its conception and development, it details a brutally surefire way to quit smoking. Children of the Corn is also a masterful tale; the film adaptation elaborately expounds upon the idea, but the core of the story and the mysterious horror of He Who Walks Behind the Rows is given a glorious birth in these pages. Sometimes They Come Back gave birth to two less than exhilarating films, but the original story is vintage Stephen King, with three dead youths returning to high school to finish the deadly job they started years ago. Then there is The Boogeyman which builds upon the palpitating fear that has touched every child scared of the dark; I can picture King grinning wickedly as he was writing the twisted final lines of this tale.

Battleground holds special meaning for me as this was the first Stephen King story I ever read - believe it or not, we actually read this in my advanced English class in seventh grade. Some regard it as a weak contribution to Night Shift, but the story is a lot of fun despite its rather unbelievable nature. The Lawnmower Man is more than weird enough to be memorable. Some people also don't care for The Last Rung on the Ladder, but I think it is a wonderful little story; the human element takes precedence over any overt horror, and some people prefer their monsters to be external to themselves. The Man Who Loved Flowers is masterfully done, an idyllic look at a young man in love that takes a deliciously insidious turn at the end. I Know What You Need is similarly executed; this account of a young lady who finds true love (or so she thinks) in the most unlikely of potential mates calls to mind the psychological mastery of Shirley Jackson.

There are no bad stories in this collection, but a few don't live up to the standards of the rest. Strawberry Spring is a little disappointing, as this story of a serial killer who comes in with the fog of unusual New England weather is quite predictable. I Am the Doorway, with its touch of alien horror, isn't as good as I think it might have been, Gray Matter is the equivalent of Creepshow's The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill, The Mangler offers nothing special, Night Surf is a pale shadow of its cousin The Stand, and Trucks runs out of gas rather quickly.

All in all, Night Shift delivers a shockingly good collection of short stories from the hand of a masterful story teller plumbing the depths of his horror-laden imagination while at the same time tapping into his immense knowledge of human nature and popular culture to produce tales of fiction that will appeal to a wide range of readers.

Here is another book I would take along with me if I were banished to a tiny island to live in seclusion. "Night Shift" is a compilation filled with so much quivering madness from King's imagination, it's a wonder the book doesn't slither in the hand.

In the stories presented here, King proves that he can write as powerfully in short form as he does with his epic length novels. Here are a nearly two dozen stories that are as fascinating, frightening, disturbing or humorous the third or fourth or fifth time you read them. As he does so well, King creates vivid characters, demands that you love or hate them, and then thrusts you all into an absurd situation.

Among my favorites:

"I am the Doorway," an astronaut comes back from a mission to Venus with, let's say, handy new abilities.

"Quitters Incorporated:" Quit smoking or we will rape your wife, beat your kid or subject them to the electric shock room. This is a story ever smoker should read.

"The Mangler," ever wonder if a big, snarling laundry machine got pissed of and ran amok? Of course you have.

"Gray Matter," a lazy beer swiller gets ahold of some bad brew and turns into mold. Hey, laugh all you want. It's scarier than you think.

"Trucks," later made into a movie. But only in written form can King really bring home the idea of the world's cars and trucks taking over the planet with a collective conscience.

"Sometimes They Come Back," the original idea that mutated into "Pet Semetery."

"The Ledge," a wealthy madman bets another man his life if he can walk around a top floor of a high rise building on a very narrow ledge. A story that inspires acrophobia.

"I Know What You Need," man, if I could know exactly what a young woman likes and then provide it for her, well... I'll just stop right there.

"Children of the Corn," an extremely creepy story about Nebraska cornfields and the young people who live among the rows.

"Night Shift" is full of gems. A must have for any King fan and a great introduction for those random weirdos who are not yet familiar with his work.

For those of you who don't know, this is how Stephen King begins the introduction to this little collection. Only he says he wants to talk about fear.
And talking about fear indeed. I think horror films/books generally exist on three levels. First, it's just physical horror (B movies, for example) -- two headed monsters, animated corpses, etc. Could be thrilling if managed correctly, but can never leave a lasting impression on an adult's mind. Second, it's some sort of attempt to present the fear and the darkness both inside the character's mind and externally. More sophisticated than the first level, but if presented clumsily, could turn into ridiculous self-rightous preaching (some guy named Dean for example -- yeah, you know who you are). The highest level, however, is the perfect synthesis, the fusion, of the external and internal darkness. This is the level of mastery that King has demonstrated in this collection of short stories.
Not all stories are equally excellent in this regard (some, such as the Lawnmower Man, are essentially "first-level" stories). But here are the few that I think are the shining jewels of that rare third-level achievement: Graveyard Shift, Boogeyman, and The Woman in the Room. Graveyard Shift, for example, superficially is about a group of workers going down to the basement of a factory to do clean up and encounter deformed and murderous rats. But the entire storyline is an excellent metaphor: going down the ladder of the human psyche, trying to "clean up," but finding darker and darker things lurking down there, things that have eluded the light of nature, of society, and meanwhile have mutated and transformed into horrible nightmares. The same applies for Boogeyman, where the true horror that is lurking beneath is not so much the monster that jumps out of the closet, but the lack of courage of people to confront their fears, and consequently they get trapped by such fear. Finally, The Woman in the Room brings the collection to a climax. In the introduction written by himself, King says that ultimately all fears are really fear of death. This is just such a story -- the fear, the suffering, the terror of death -- all the excruciating details carefully drawn out, that one trembles to even look at them.
There are some other excellent stories as well, such as Quitters Inc. (a sinister service company), The Ledge (graphic description of fear of height), and Last Rung on the Ladder (heartwrenching, but I don't think really qualify as a horror story). Even though they don't quite achieve the lofy heights of the first three mentioned here, they are still very good readings. Yes, there are a few stinkers, such as Night Surf and The Lawnmower Man, but overall this is defintely recommended.

Night shift is a classic collection of horror tales. There's something for everyone here, as the stories range from chilling ("Sometimes They Come Back," "I Am the Doorway") to gory ("The Mangler," "Gray Matter") to a mix of laughter and horror ("The Lawnmower Man," "Battleground"). My favorites are the longer stories in which King takes the time to develop the characters, making their usually tragic endings all the more horrible. For example, "Strawberry Spring" is the story of terrible, seemingly random killings that plague a college campus as told from the perspective of a young male who is watching the events unfold around him with increasing horror, and in "I Know What You Need," King focuses on the destructive nature of obsessive love. Stories such as "Quitters Inc." and "The Ledge" are gripping--albeit unrealistic--page-turners. All-in-all, you're sure to find a favorite amongst these stories from master storyteller King.

King truly hit his stride with "Night Shift," a collection of twenty or so short stories collected in the early seventies, when Stephen King was still a horrer writer. Truth be told, you can't find his more mature works in this collection (Those are in abundant supply in his three later- and much more tedious- collections, "Skeleton Crew," "Nightmares and Dreamscapes," and "Everything's Eventual."). Insted, we see something much better- a more raw, primal King, when he was still writing horrer stories, twenty page fright-fests about topics like Campus Serial Killers, Vampires, Homicidal Trucks, Vicious Rats, Machines Possesed By Evil Spirits, Monsters Hiding In Your Closet,and of course, lots of Ghosts.
The stories are short, much shorter than his later works (The longest one in "Night Shift" is Jerusalem's Lot, weighing in at 34 pages in the paperback edition.), which is a treat unto itself. This means no long, drawn-out introductions to characters who are perfectly represented by their actions rather than ten pages of back story. Of course, this does not mean that King's writing style suffers. In fact, Stephen's talents as a creative writer shine with full force here, spinning the prose in brilliant, well-crafted sentances that seem to be designed to keep you reading, all the while telling you a fascinating story that stays in your head long after you've finnished reading it. The imigary is spectaculr, the characters are original and convincing, and most importantly, the stories are superb, all of them horrifying, addictive, and extremely entertaining. What more could you ask for?

What I like most about Stephen King's books is not their plot, but the way it is retaled and the way characters in story are developed. Maybe that's the reason I found some of the short stories in Night Shift not very good (and some even bad). No one could develop a full character on some 20 pages or at least King hasn't succeeded in Night Shift. A remarkable exception to me is "The Last Rung On The Ladder" - very good story about a little cute girl with tragic and touching ending. Definately my favourite among these stories. There are some stories that possess King's writing style at his best - "Graveyard Shift" (ominous feelings provoked by industrial factory environment that end with action-like denouement), "The Ledge" (here we have two characters waging struggle against each other on psychological level that ends on physical level), "Quitters, Inc." (when you have problems with some temptation just remember this story), "The Man Who Loved Flowers" (what a story about a man giving flowers to a lady, poor lady...). There are other good stories as well. When I read "Trucks" I really looked at the vehicles as they have individuality and intellect, although the story itself is nothing exceptional. "Battleground" is for me a story that even King couldn't make something catchy out of its plot. I was very curious about "One For The Road" because I knew it would deal with Salem's Lot. Well, I wasn't impressed.
As a conclusion I would say that every story in Night Shift possesses something that makes it worth reading but I personally seem to like King's novels more.

Two main elements make Night Shift my favorite Stephen King short story collection; first, the quality of the writing, and second, the age and familiarity of the stories. The influence of Lovecraft and Poe is apparent in most of these tales, resulting in a tone that earns all the same adjectives used to describe the work of those writers; gloomy, bleak, eerie, disturbing, anxiety-inducing, and many others along those lines. A few of these titles include Jersusalem's Lot, The Mangler, Strawberry Spring, The Lawnmower Man, and The Man Who Loved Flowers. Then, at times, King shows his influence from sci-fi mags and comics, with stories like Battleground, Trucks, and I Am the Doorway, which, despite the variation in genre, manage to retain the same morbid, spooky essence of Lovecraft or Poe. In addition, more movies have been made from this collection than any of King's others, including a few of those already mentioned, plus Graveyard Shift, Sometimes They Come Back, the duo of The Ledge and Quitters, Inc. (both part of Cat's Eye), and Children of the Corn. King had an intensity and urgency in his early writing that is on full display in Night Shift, published just a year after The Shining and nine months before The Stand. It's a great reading experience for anyone looking for something less involving than a novel.

I figured that I would try the Short Story route with Mr. King the second time around. Although there are some very good stories, there are a few clunkers which just did not maintain my interest. Jerusalem's Lot just never seemed to grab my attention and merely seemed to be a blah blah blah in my memory blanks. Night Surf does not say anything of consequence and Trucks is incredibly insane where nothing connects. It just seems as if the Trucks go crazy destroying everything yet how does one man even attempt to defuel them. Maybe I am not getting this one but I'm sure others feel the same.
Quitters, Inc. leaves a good message in between the horror stating that you must have a strong willed attitude when you committ to doing something. The Ledge is another winner where control is a key element and strength of character perserveres. The imagery of the spooky town and blood sucking vampires is very captivating in One For The Road. I Know What You Need and The Man Who Loved Flowers are interesting especially for those of us who are looking for love and tired of being told "I am seeing someone else." Last Rung On The Ladder and The Woman In The Room deal with some sad issues involving family that people need to deal with better.
If nothing else, the vivid horrific imagery of Stephen King makes this collection a good read. Even on some of the middle of the road stories such as The Mangler, Battleground, and Children Of The Corn, the various scenes are fairly captivating even if the overall plot is questionable. Combine this with several captivating stories and a few clunkers, a 3 1/2 star grade seems about fair.

It had been a while since I read a King book. The last was Gerald's Game, which I did not enjoy. Before that, I read Salem's Lot. That book scared the holy crap out of me! It wasn't until I read his book On Writing that I decided to give him another go. I wasn't interested in getting involved with a novel, so a collection of short stories was the way to go. I chose Night Shift.

Night Shift is a collection of King's earliest works. I enjoy delving into a writer's early works very much. They're usually fresh and exciting. Night Shift is just that. From Jerusalem's Lot to Children Of The Corn, you'll never find a dull moment. The vampire stories are especially intriguing as you'll see King working out the early ideas for Salem's Lot, the most frightening book ever.

I loved this collection and I recommend it to the tenth degree. King is a master of suspense and horror. You won't have nightmares, but your skin will crawl.

I don't like all of King's books, and at times my admiration for his writing has been more grudging than whole-hearted, but in collections like this one you can really see the skill and style that set him head and shoulders above most writers in the horror genre.
I first read Night Shift when I was 13 years old, and for years could remember clearly the pure terror of "The Mangler" and "The Boogeyman" and how I felt like I was too old to be afraid of the closet, but still couldn't resist shining inside with my Daddy's flashlight. Reading it again after all this time was an interesting experience and I felt a lot of respect for stories that hadn't stuck in my mind the first time like "Sometimes They Come Back", "I Know What You Need", and "The Last Rung on the Ladder".
In his foreward, King says that he's not a writer as much as a man with a marketable obsession. And while his career does not always intersect with my tastes, I must respectfully disagree on this point.

For the sake of continuity I'm putting something like this at the beginning of all these reviews. I've taken it upon myself to read the entire King library in chronological order.

This collection was fantastic. I can honestly see why a lot of people long for King's 'classic style'. Personally, I'm a huge fan of monsters. Specifically, non-cliched monsters, or cliched monsters that are being examined in a new life. This book was filled with monsters of all kinds and was extremely satisfying.

The stories ranged from absurd to awesome to frightening to downright grim. The grim ones weren't horror of fantastic sort but more of a real-life sort, almost serving as a prelude to what would eventually come along in Full Dark, No Stars.

A definite read for anyone considering King for the first time.

Most of the short stories in this collection could be considered some of King's best early work. A few were misses for me, but the majority of them were great. The more King stories I read, though, the more I find I like the ones that aren't quite as heavy on the supernatural elements.

I own every king book all the way upto the dark tower 7, then i stopped. Since then he seems to have gone a little soft and even still, i'm a HUGE fan. His short story collections are the pieces of his work i was always the most excited about reading. I LOVE THE KING SHORT TALE. They are my absolute favorites and have been waiting anxiously for his next collection after "everything's eventual". I just picked up "just before sunset" and decided to take a trip down memory lane and re-read and rate ALL his earlier collection's that i enjoyed so much as a teen once again as an adult. Now with every king collection there are hits and misses and even with the misses i still enjoyed reading through them since king has such a wide and original variety of storys tucked away. Everyone has there favorites and thats whats great about his collection's. A story you love might be the next person's dog of the book and vice versa so i am taking the time to share my hit and miss list from stephen king's night shift collection. It's funny and (i doubt this will happen again with one of his collections) but After i finished night shift for the second time i found myself divided ALMOST right down the middle. There are 20 storys in this book. 11 were hits for me and 9 were misses. The storys in this particular collection are his shortest of all his short story collections. It is a largely entertaining book and comes highly reccommended.(I will say though that i do not agree with the order in which the storys are placed) So for me anyway, here are my hits and misses of king's night shift collection.

HIT
Jerusalem's Lot
I Am The Doorway
Gray Matter
Battleground
Trucks
Sometimes They Come Back
The Ledge
Quitters, INC
I Know What You Need
Children Of The Corn
The Last Rung On The Ladder

MISS
Graveyard Shift
Night Surf
The Mangler
The Boogeyman
Strawberry Springs
The Lawnmower Man
The Man Who Loved Flowers
One For The Road
The Woman In The Room

Though not a work of genius like "Skeleton Crew", "Night Shift" is still a great and spooky collection of stories with only a few clunkers. The author's preface proves King's true genius, offering a perfect summary of fear and its effects on all of our lives. From there, there's something for everyone among the stories in the book: from gothic horror ("Jerusalem's Lot") to dark humor (maybe I'm the only one who saw something funny about the ending of "The Boogeyman", but I think it was meant to be blackly comic) to poignant drama ("The Last Rung on the Ladder", "The Woman in the Room") to fast-paced suspense ("The Ledge", "Quitters Inc.") to good old-fashioned supernatural chillers ("Gray Matter", "The Mangler", and most of the others). One of my favorite stories in the book was "I Know What You Need"; although not too scary, it was suspenseful and made a very good point about love and other things that can be mistaken for it. And although I don't see how they managed to make a fairly normal science fiction thriller out of the beyond twisted little story "The Lawnmower Man", it was still an enjoyable (but WEIRD) read. All in all, a great book for any Stephen King fan, horror lover, or just anyone who likes really good short fiction.

I'll give it four stars for having mostly good stories. My three favorites here are Graveyard Shift, The Boogeyman and The Mangler. Here is and overview of the stories.

Jerusalem's Lot
Not the best but not the worst either. This concept was done much better in 'Salem's Lot and One For the Road. It was a little interesting though but the fact that it was a bunch of written letters to a guy named Bones kind of distracted me. Otherwise good buildup and ending.

Graveyard Shift
Probably the best in the whole book. Now whenever I see a rat I will think of this book.

Night Surf
This one was done so much better in The Stand so i didn't really care for it much. It was neither scary nor interesting and thanks to a dull buildup and ending and the absense of likable characters I really did not like this one.

I Am the Doorway
This one was kind of odd yet somehow a good story. Reminds me of those old 50's movies about people being controlled by aliens.

The Mangler
I will never look at a washing machine the same way again thanks to this story! Another one of my favorites.

The Boogeyman
Not very scary but very interesting. This one still good though.

Gray Matter
I ended up having a funny dream thanks to this one but Im not gonna tell it becauseit has some spoilers in it. Also an interesting one.

Battleground
Reminds me of the movie Small Soldiers only more bloody and more likeable characters.

Trucks
I heard this one was made into a really bad movie but I thought this story was really good.

Sometimes They Come Back
The ending was kind of gross but this one was okay. A good lesson for why you shouldn't call on a demon to help you.

Strawberry Spring
An interesting murder mystery story with a surprise ending.

The Ledge
Here is a good reason why you shouldn't trick someone on a wager.

The Lawnmower Man
Really odd and warped. I wouldn't want this guy mowing my lawn!

Quitters, Inc.
I never was planning on smoking and even if I did want to start smoking thanks to this story I wouldn't want to smoke. You'll find out why when you read this story.

I Know What You Need
This one was just boring and very dry. I don't even know why he wrote it.

Children on the Corn
I always thought this was a standalone book so I was surprised to see this one here. It was an okay story but the ending was kind of disturbing. Now this is what I will think of when I see a cornfield.

The Last Rung on the Ladder
This one was just dumb. It wasn't scary or anything it was just really boring and dry.

This book would have been worth it if the only good story was "The Last Rung On The Ladder." As it is you get that wonderful story, with no touch of the supernatural and bunch of other good reads.
"Graveyard Shift" and "Children of the Corn" fare far better as short story than as movie. "Gray Matter" resonates with that creepy, organically horrific vibe that King has at his best. "Quitters, Inc." and "I Know What You Need" both provide a nice dose of psychological horror, and then there's "I Am The Doorway," a Lovecraftian, invasion-from-space story that, while unsurprising, is very well-crafted.
This is probably my favourite Stephen King book. With 20 stories, at one story before bed every week night, this is a solid month of good writing.

I just love King's short stories, and this brilliant book contains 20 of the really good ones. His foreword is pretty interesting, but the stories-WOW! Mostly, I'm a guy for the supernatural stuff, but King really makes some unforgettable psychological tales, too. My favorites in this book are Jerusalem's Lot (creepy epistolary Lovecraft/Poe pastiche), The Mangler (the movie version didn't treat the story very well), Children of the Corn (again, the movie version was a bit out of control), Gray Matter, Sometimes They Come Back (faithful and good movie version, except for the sweet-son stuff), The Lawnmower Man (not faithful to King's story, but watchable), Quitters, Inc. and One for the Road. I like all the stories and if anyone out there haven't read King yet, I say: Read this book first, then all his novels!

Stephen King is a master storyteller. And he proves here, as in other short story collections of his, that, be a thousand pages or ten, he can still terrify the reader. This, King's earliest collection, is also his best. What never ceases to amaze me is King's ability to take completely ridiculous concepts and make them truly terrifying. For instance, some of the stories in this book concern demonic trucks, a possessed industrial laundry machine, killer toys, and a race of mutant rats. A lesser writer wouldn't dare to try and make these into realistic horror stories. But King's talent for embracing that which is campy and cliched in summary, and rendering it into a bone chilling reality bears witness to his genius as a writer. Several of the stories from this book have been made into very bad movies: The Mangler, Sometimes They Come Back, the Lawnmower Man, Children of the Corn, The Boogeyman. Yet the original short stories are pure miniature masterpieces. My personal favourites are The Ledge, Quitters, Inc., Graveyard Shift, Gray Matter, The Mangler, and Night Surf. Truly, shorter is not lesser with Stephen King.

A - nay, THE - seminal horror short story collection; many of King's early (and I say best) short fiction, written with a white-hot intensity that's lacking in his later fiction, mostly because he was writing these stories to help keep food on the table. Perhaps it's this raw energy, and the market he was being published in (skin magazines like 'Adam' and 'Cavalier") which helps make these gems stand out so well. "The Ledge" is still my favorite, but there are so many great stories in here it's hard to pick just one (or even five).

If you're new to the horror genre, or you're new to Stephen King and the size of his novels scare you, try this one on for size. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. This is only the second book of short stories that I've read by him. The other is NIGHTMARES & DREAMSCAPES. This one was much better. In King's novels, he takes a long time to set up the story and build the characters. In his short stories, he doesn't have that luxury, but he still manages to do both beautifully. The characters are vivid and the stories progress smoothly, just pulling you in. My favorites were JERUSALEM'S LOT, TRUCKS, CHILDREN OF THE CORN, and ONE FOR THE ROAD. Then there was QUITTERS, INC. which was quite Hitchcockian...totally unexpected stuff. Even the ones that I didn't care for too much were well done. This is a must read for any King fan and I also recommend it to anybody looking for a good scare.

As an avid King fan, I always disagree with those who label King solely as a horror writer, stating that his best works are often not grotesque. However, if you are looking for spine tingling horror and macabre, Night Shift provides adequately. A series of short stories, each disturbing but captivating. Those who have read 'Salem's Lot will enjoy "Jerusalem's Lot" and "One for the Road" which are tied to that despised town of vampires. "Quitters Inc." is especially frightening, with its Twilight Zone feel. "The Boogeyman" is another great tale which will frighten anyone who feared their closet door when they were little. There is just too many quality stories in this collection to name them all. A great read. Do not be scared by the short story format, the stories are fast paced and envigirating.

Although there are a couple terrible stories in this collection, the great outweighs the bad. Here are my thoughts on the 20 stories of NIGHT SHIFT.
-JERUSALEM'S LOT: A terrible prequel to 'SALEM'S LOT that steals it's format, badly, from Bram Stoker's DRACULA.
-GRAVEYARD SHIFT: Very engrossing and fun tale about giant rats.
-NIGHT SURF: Boring tale about people sitting through the end of the world.
-I AM THE DOORWAY: Great Twilight Zone-esque story about a man overcome with an alien disease.
-THE MANGLER: Gory, scary tale about a possessed iron press machine, I know it sounds dumb but it's a good story.
-THE BOOGEYMAN: The most popular of all King's short stories, it is about a father's battle with the monster in the closet.
-GRAY MATTER: Good premise, about a man turning into a living blob, is told soppily and the ending is horrible.
-BATTLEGROUND: Fast, action-packed story about killer toy soldiers.
-TRUCKS: Freaky story about machines revolting against humanity. Personnaly, I liked the movie MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE better.
-SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK: A good and frightening first half is destroyed by a ridiculous second that makes everything before it terrible.
-STRAWBERRY SPRING: First story in the book about a real monster, a Jack the Ripper style killer on a school campus. Very interesting with an ending that rivals THE BOOGEYMAN in shock factor.
-THE LEDGE: Suspense filled story about a man forced to walk around the 5 inch ledge near the top of a very tall building.
-THE LAWNMOWER MAN: Stupid, illogical story is even worse than JERUSALEM'S LOT, and that's hard to top.
-QUITTERS INC: Very effective story about a man who goes to a very different kind of quit smoking group. Nothing supernatural but, like THE LEDGE, is very suspensful.
-I KNOW WHAT YOU NEED: As in GRAY MATTER, a good premise, this one about a girl being wooed by a seemingly perfect guy, is ruined by a terrible second half.
-CHILDREN OF THE CORN: Genuenly disturbing tale about a couple stranded in an unusual town.
-THE LAST RUNG ON THE LADDER: Very boring story with absolutely no plot.
-THE MAN WHO LOVED FLOWERS: Kind of boring beggining is saved by a shocking conclusion, but I didn't think it worked very well.
-ONE FOR THE ROAD: Good sequel to 'SALEM'S LOT is scary, but it would've been better if King made a full novel sequel.
-THE WOMAN IN THE ROOM: A sad, non-supernatural story about a man dealing with his dying mother.
The Best: GRAVEYARD SHIFT, STRAWBERRY SPRING, THE BOOGEYMAN, BATTLEGROUND, and CHILDREN OF THE CORN.
The Worst: THE LAWNMOWER MAN, JERUSALEM'S LOT, THE LAST RUNG ON THE LADDER, and NIGHT SURF.

This is Stephen King in his best years. If you like his writing, you should definitely have this in your collection. You can always pick it up and read a 5 or 10 page story when you're in the mood for it.
"Night Shift" contains some moments of brilliance (Children of the Corn, Quitters Inc., The Ledge) and some not so great ones (The Mangler comes to mind). Overall, though, even when dealing with some absurd plot lines - like The Mangler or The Lawnmower Man - the prose is fantastic, with the brilliant metaphors, characters and dialogue King is known for. Several films have come from stories in this collection, such as Graveyard Shift, Maximum Overdrive, Children of the Corn, and Sometimes They Come Back. There's even a continuation of Salem's Lot.
This is a must for the Stephen King reader. It's a snapshot of one of our most brilliant writers doing his best work.

I'm re-traveling the roads Stephen King drew me a map for so many years ago. I did not fully appreciate the great writing in these stories when I was a teenager, but I remember loving the creeps they gave me. Now, I adore both.
My favorite is the opening story, Jerusalem's Lot, a prequel tale of the book, 'Salem's Lot, but this collection is stuffed with great stories. It's interesting to read how the stories differ from the films. I do prefer King's longer works, though. I like to stay in his world a bit longer

although SK later on would have mor inventive stories, and more artistically written ones, this is his most entertaining collection. it is still very inventive, the stories have very much charm, and are carreied out in a suspenceful manner. there is some drama, matheson-inspired and pulp-inspired stories, but mostly it is plain good SK-horror read, as his style was at the time. good ideas with charm carried out in a suspenceful manner should tell you all. well written. you can't really expect more from a collection. i wouldn't really claim this collection had any highlights. it continues to deliver. some may be a bit worse, and two are not that good, but all in all i wouldn't claim this is a collection where some stories are way better than others.

It's almost 3 a.m., and I just finished reading Night Shift...on the night shift. When I got this book I didn't even realize it was a collection of short stories, but I'm so glad it was. I really enjoyed diving into a story and reading the entire thing in only 20-30 minutes. Of course some are better than others for each reader, but all were worth it. My faves were "Quitters", "The Ledge", "Trucks", and "One For The Road". A few of these became movies you'll come to find if you don't know already. What I learned most from Night Shift is that Stephen King isn't just a good horror writer, he's a good writer.

Sometimes short stories bug me, but since it is Stephan King I decided to try it out. I also tried it out because the short stories. Most of them are about ten pages.

In this collection of stories King keeps you in suspense because you don't know if the main character is going to live or no. That is the fun of King.

The BEST

Sometimes They Come Back- This is the most terrifying because the main character becomes helpless and thinks he can't do anything about it. It's also a tragedy, its horribly sad, but its one of the best stories in here.

Trucks- Great! Trucks come alive and start killing people. A group of survivors are trapped inside a truck stop with trucks waiting for them outside. This is the point in the book where the stories start getting really good.

Strawberry Spring- A truly creepy story of a serial killer stalking a college campus, the twist ending is predicable, but the story is so well written and it is a good story at that. I will never think of fog the same way again.

Children of the Corn- Everyone's heard the story about religious kids who sacrifice adults to "he who walks behind the rows". To bad that married couple had to stop there. It's a great scary story with a great ending. I loved it!

The Ledge- A man has an affair with a married woman whose husband is a mob boss who lives on the 43rd story, bad choice, but makes for a great story. This one will have you on the edge your seat.

The Lawnmower Man- Some may find this to bizarre for there tastes. Because it's bizarre and it really doesn't give any explanation, but I loved it, a man hires this company to mow his grass, soon does he find out that something is very wrong with the guy who came to mow it, Very.

Quitters Inc. - A truly great idea for a story. If he smokes the first time (after signing a contract with Quitters Inc to stop) they kidnap his wife and... that's for you to find out. The ending is really unsettling.

The Man Who Loved Flowers- The less you know about this story the better. Trust me its really good.

The GOOD

I Know What You Need- A good story, its like a love story with a creepy Stephen King twist. A woman falls in love with a man who knows somehow everything that she needs.

One for the Road- Similar to Grey Matter, but way better because it actually goes where the story should it doesn't just end. Truly creepy and a great ending!

Boogeyman- A sad scary tragic story who has been victimized by the boogeyman a number of times, a good story with a twist at the end that makes it even better.

The Woman in the Room- A story that has no suspense or horror, it's just a sad story about a man who is trying to decide to whether to euthanize his mother who is dying slowly and painfully.

The Last Rung on the Ladder- Again it isn't suspense or horror, but it's a really good story about a special relationship between a brother and his sister.

I am the Doorway- While I thought the story was way too short this just has such a great idea. A man wakes up with eyes allover his hands that make commit murder.

The DISAPOINTING

Graveyard Shift- Had a promising start, but the ending was totally random and it didn't feel very complete.

Night Surf- I was looking forward to this story, but it flickered then died. It gave us a glimpse of a good story then it ended.

The Mangler- I liked the idea, but the ending was way too ambiguous for me.

Grey Matter- Sets up a great story then ends just as it was getting good. Again a little to ambiguous for me.

Battleground- It's a hard story to put to page; I saw it made it into a TV episode in the Nightmares and Dreamscapes TV series before and it was better way better than this.

This is a great book of short stories. Even the disappointing ones are worth reading. A great collection.

I enjoyed most of these stories. I believe they are a fair representation of King's development as a horror writer. His Lovecraftian tales are excellent and there are works that eventually became 'Salem's Lot and The Stand. They also include the expected references to old products, brands, and people that often make the stories outdated. I have always wished King would quit doing this as often these older references are jarring and distract from the timelessness of his well written horror.

KIng's creative and imaginative gifts are never better. These stories were written, or at least published, within 10 years of Carrie and The Shining. Well worth reading.

Over the years I have watched several movies based on Stephen King stories. Some I have liked very much while there were some I didn't care for at all. I finally decided that I wanted to read one of his books and this was the one I picked because I figured it would be best to start with a collection of short stories rather than a novel. I am impressed! If this is a true taste of King's other books I think I may have become and avid fan.
As with any collection of short stories I found that I liked some more than others, but even the stories that did the least for me were quite good. King's style of writing draws the reader into the story and makes one really feel as if he were right there with the characters that make up the story. Needless to say, chills will run up and down the reader's spine on several occasions. I couldn't put this book down and devoured every page and I think most everyone who gives it a try will find the same to be true.
Several of the stories in this book have been made into films but as is usual, the written story is much better. Even though I liked "The Mangler" in it's film form I wasn't all that impressed by it but the story in this book is not bad at all. As for "The Children of the Corn", I didn't like the movie at all but the story in this book is excellent. The reader will also find two stories of the place known as Jerusalem's (Salem's) Lot in this book. One is set before the time frame of the novel while the other comes in after the novel ends.
Some of the other stories that really drew me in were, "Trucks", Sometimes They Come Back", and "I Am the Doorway". All of the stories were good but those caught my extra attention. I may never go to another truck stop in my life!
If you have never read any of Mr. King's works I suggest you give him a try, and I suggest you start with this book. I'm hooked and I think you will be also.

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. There were some that I loved and some that were a bit too strange for my taste (i.e., Lawnmower Man), but all of them served their purpose—to entertain. I would recommend checking out this collection if you are a fan of short stories, a diehard King fan, or would just like to be entertained. I still can’t believe that the short story Lawnmower Man (the story of a man who ate grass instead of cutting it) was the inspiration for a movie.

I recommend this very highly if you are a fan of horror fiction mostly because this is King's anthology that includes one of the scariest, most disturbing short stories of all time (at least that I've read) entitled simply, The Boogeyman. That childhood monster that never really goes away. If you have any conscience what so ever this story will rattle you, I can only think of two other short stories that I would say are scarier; H.P. Lovecraft's The Rats in The Walls and Algernon Blackwood's The Wendigo. The rest of the stories in the collection are undeniably King (if you liked Salem's Lot you get a glimpse of the shadows in the town in Jerusalem's Lot, a fantastic atmosphere piece). It's fun reading, what short stories should be and IF (note the capitalization) you have a love of entertaining, interesting reading you just might want to pick this one up. If you're not particularly a Stephen King fan I'd recommend borrowing this book from your local library just to read The Boogeyman, 'cause it's gonna end up in future horror fiction text books.

This collection of short stories by Stephen King encompasses all that is great about one of our most prolific and talented writers. I've given most of King's latest work a hard time over the last few years, but only because I know how truly talented he can be. These stories, most of which are from the middle or late 70s, are absolutely entertaining. Creepy, engaging, perfectly paced, and utterly shocking, this is vintage King.

If you're a King fan, this collection will remind you why you love him so much, despite his recent lackluster offerings. If you're looking to get acquainted with King, maybe for the first time ever, Night Shift is as King as it gets. You will not be disappointed.

~Scott William Foley, author of The Imagination's Provocation: Volume II: A Collection of Short Stories

I enjoyed reading this book. All the stories in the book are good and very readable, none of them are boring. I particularly enjoyed 'Sometimes they come back', 'I know what you need', 'Quitters Inc.' and 'Children of the corn'.
I would go into the storylines but as these are all such short stories with a twist in the tail I would probably end up spoiling them for you.
I would recommend this book to anyone who likes good horror stories. I am sure you will enjoy them.
I wouldn't give this book five stars because although all the stories are good and scary, none of them really 'dragged me in', none of them made me 'genuinely' scared rather than just scared 'for the characters'.

"Night Shift" is a collection of King's short stories from the 70's, when he was at his prime. Almost every story creates an ambience of suspense, surprise and terror. Personal favourites are the stories "Children of the Corn" (this short story is better than all the movies 'based' on it combined), and the little-known "Quitter's, Inc.", a story about a man who would do anything to quit smoking, and the doctor ready to help. It sounds sappy, but trust me, it turns into a brilliant page turner.
"Night Shift" is a brilliant anthology of Stephen King's short stories when he was in his prime, and is a must buy for any King fan, or general horror/suspense lover.

The Summaries(of the popular ones):
Jerusalem's Lot: Man moves to a town called Preachers Corners. He lives in a haunted house. Him and his friend travel to Jerusalem's Lot and they find a church and also the Book of Worms. Man finds out of the mystery of Salem's Lot and the Boone familyline.
Graveyard Shift: Hall works the 'Graveyard Shift' while cleaning a basement full of rats. In a small trapdoor down in the cellars there is a secret not even humans can handle.
The Mangler: An iron presser goes crazy from a virgin's blood. It goes on bizzare killing spree. Do they beat it or not?
The Boogeyman: Man's 3 children die from The Boogeyman. Man tells story of the children's death in a hospital place. Ending is cool.
Gray Matter: Man drinks beer with Gray Matter. Man becomes Gray Matter himself
Battleground: Little plastic toy people come to life(this was my favorite one), and start attacking a man. I won't spoil the cool ending.
Trucks: Group of people get surrounded in a gas station buy killer trucks. Trucks demand fuel. Ending is pretty bad.
Sometimes They Come Back: Man sees demons from his past. He tries to eliminate them forever.
Strawberry Spring: Serial Killer is on loose in college campus.
The Ledge: Man makes deal with other guy to cross the ledge of a 43 story building.(this is probably my 2nd favorite one)
The Lawnmower Man: Killer Lawnmower Man(this one was very good and extremely funny)
Quitters Inc.: Man tries to quit smoking. He is in for the surprise of his life.
I know what you need: Girl befriends "psychic" friend and learns some terrible secret about him.
Children of the Corn: A couple go to Gatlin Nebraska and find demented Children. These Children are crazy!
The Last Rung on the Ladder: Kids are playing on ladder when it falls. Sister is hanging on last rung.
Writing:
Awesome collection, favorites are The Ledge, Battleground, The Lawnmower Man, Graveyard Shift, Children of the Corn, and Sometimes they come back.

I'm not a big Stephen King fan but Night Shift is excellent. I worked for three years as a summer camp counselor and when you have a group of 15 year old boys, they don't want to hear cheesy ghost stories or little kid stories. I read them a few of King's short stories and they LOVED them. While his novels tend to drone on a bit too much for my taste, his short stories are just right. Some of the ones in this book are better than others, but they're all pretty good. I particularly recommend "The Boogyman" for a good scare and "The Ledge" for excellent storytelling. For more of King's short stories, check out "Nightmares & Dreamscapes".

Night Shift is probably my favorite book of story collections. Each one of the stories are a new kind of thrilling. Every story keeps you on your toes, anticipating what'll happen next. You try to stop after one story but you can't seem to stop turning the pages. The suspense is so intense that everything around you just blurs and soon enough you'd been reading for hours and not the few minutes it seemed like. This book is not for the faint of heart. If you're seeking a book that takes you on an intense roller coaster of fear and suspense then I highly recommend this book.

I want to take a moment to review this classic collection of short horror fiction to say it contains one of the finest horror stories ever written, and possibly one of the finest short stories in the American cultural canon. That story is "Children of the Corn." Despite the series of tongue-in-cheek movies it spawned, and deserved smirks it draws in the pop-culture milieu, I think it ought to be said that this story claims that America's capacity for religious extremism is alive, dangerous and frightening in the extreme.

The story portrays a middle-aged suburban couple lost in rural America who discover murderous farm children who've changed Jesus into the emissary of a monster called "He Who Walks Behind The Rows." Its theme is perhaps even more relevant today, with the country steeped in turmoil that features religion as a dividing marker on both domestic and foreign policy. And the fact that it is the children who are murderous, the supposedly meek that disembowel their enemies with a vengeance, makes the ominous claim that such extremism is potentially as much a part of the future as of the past.

Not that the author makes any overt political claims in the story, or engages in any exposition at all. King writes it in prose that reveals a keen sense of stark realism. He brings that which is fantastic into Hemingway-esque clarity, which is one of the main credits of his writing style. Stories like this one secure his place in the history of American Literature from here forward.

I write this as a critic and admirer, and perhaps it is also worth saying that I am probably not a "Stephen King fan's Stephen King fan" in that I've read quite a few of his novels that didn't seem to say much that was profound, and that I also preferred Kubrick's interpretation of The Shining to the one the author did himself later on.

Still, for those looking for intimations into the psyche of 1970's and 1980's America, intimations that predict some of the places where the country is now, Night Shift is a collection that will thrill and give you the willies. Other stories that stand out are Graveyard Shift (where the `rat race' is put into grotesque allegory) and `I Am The Doorway' (where a subtly Lovecraftian alien mixes with an astronaut's body and makes us think again about exploring space). Once more, it is the fantastic contained in prose that sounds starkly realistic that secures King's enduring relevance.

I dont understand what everyone is talking about. These stories are not that good. Half of them are so average that I forget that they are written by the supposedly horror master Stephen King. Half of the stories are average, and the rest are down right bad. I only enjoyed about 5 of the 20+ stories. I was truly disappointed. A few of the stories were so bad that I find myself asshamed to having read them. However, I will give credit where credit is due. The story about the army men was a very good read. It was very exciting and interesting. The story about the trucks was readible; and all of the stories which spawned movies except the lawnmower man were all Ok.In particular I found that Children of the Corn was a great short story. I was very surprised.

I never really liked short stories until I picked up NIGHT SHIFT. The twenty short stories it contained chilled my bones (and so far, seven of the twenty have been made into movies). If you read closely, you will realize that several of King's novels written after NIGHT SHIFT are foreshadowed in this collection, such as the huge spider living in the sewer system under Maine (It, mentioned in the short story, 'Gray Matter') and also the superflu from THE STAND, in 'Night Surf', another short story. Some of my favorite stories from this book include, 'Children of the Corn', 'Quitters, Inc.', 'The Boogeyman', 'Graveyard Shift', and 'Gray Matter'.

My introduction to "modern horror". And I loved it. I devoured this book over the course of twenty four hours. When I go back and read it again, it doesn't have quite the same kick, but then again what does? With settings ranging from abandoned, time-haunted villages to suburban back yards, King takes the familiar and makes it a setting for the horrific and outright bizarre. To me, horror works best in short story form and this collection is proof.

James Pratt, author of 'When Dead Gods Dream - A Collection of Lovecraftian Short Stories'

Night Shift is a collection of Stephen King's earliest stories that were first published in the 1970's in various magazines such as Penthouse and Cavalier's. A great assortment of fun ones such as "Grey Matter," and ones that curdle your blood, such as "Jerusalem's Lot." Night Shift contains two masterpieces, standards of horror writing: "Quitters, Inc." and "Graveyard Shift."

What I like about Night Shift is that the stories are good examples of horror. They scare or even terrify, but most of all, they impress. King is an excellent writer, and an educated college English professor. However, his later work such as Pet Semetary became more vulgar, graphic, and left the reader feeling ill rather than amazed. Even though the dumbing down of some of his work led to his immense popularity, the horror created for mass consumption is inferior in some ways. So it is good that we have these superior collection for the intelligent horror reader.

This is one of my favorite SK books. Not every story is good: watch out for Jerusalem's Lot it is an homage to Lovecraft and gothic novels but is just dull and boring, also look out for Night Surf, it lacks definition and is a waste of time, but other than these scant two tales the book seriously is a great read! The best stories in it are "I Am the Doorway" "The Boogeyman" "The Mangler" "Strawberry Spring" and "one for the road". I read this book a few years ago, but these stories stick in my mind, and I reread them frequently. They are really original and scary.

I love it when King comes out with collections of short stories because he has such a diverse amount of material. Anyone who appreciates a good story will like Night Shift. The master of horror should be more so the master of the medium because he provokes your imagination with so many wonderfully constructed tales. Not every book, novella, ect... written by King has been horror, they have been stories of people, and places, not just a subject. The supernatural, the unexplained, the weird, as King explores his writing, the readers experience this journey as well. That's why I enjoy the collections so much, the have so many tales and a broad richness to them. And even better, if a story doesn't strike a likeable cord, there a 20 or so more, waiting to be read. However, I've never found a King story intolerable.

This short story collection is King at his best- imaginative, good storytelling, exciting, and sometimes pretty scary. I'm trying to decide whether I think this collection is better than "Skeleton Crew", and I think it is. King is a master of the unexpected. He's also a master of dreaming up stories for which, after you read them, you might say, "Why didn't I think of that?" In other words, he's able to come up with ideas that are so basic to who we are as people that you can't help but identify with them. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

I was never much of a reader until I read this book when I was 19 years old. I was deployed on a nuclear-powered submarine (The USS TUNNY SSN 682)somewhere in the pacific ocean when I saw a copy of this book in our ship's library. I picked it up and was immediately drawn into the characters and circumstances surrounding these short stories. I began reading other Stephen King novels as well as many other authors. I would like to thank Mr. King because it was his books that inspired me to read and I have never stopped turning the pages in many books since that day under the water back in 1981.

Like all things Stephen King, loved it. A nice collection of short stories, several have been made into movies. Plenty of creepy in this collection. If you are a fan of King, this one is good for when you don't want an epic novel, just some quick reading.

This was King's first collection of short stories. Man, was I happy I read this!

This was the first of several books by King that I read. It really introduced me to the rest of his works, so, if you are wanting to try reading the stuff he writes, then this book serves as a great first stepping stone into his freaky world of imagination.

Here's a brief overview of the short stories included in Night Shift:

Jerusalem's Lot: Classic King, here. A great Vampire thriller.

Graveyard Shift: Employees at a hotel (or apartment building, I can't remember) work in the basement. To their surprise, they find a tunnel that has been completely left alone for years...left alone by humans, that is...

Night Surf: Look at one of the spotlight reviews, and you'll receive what the deal is with this short story; it is there for descriptive purposes.

I am the Doorway: A handicapped man's hands go out of control...or, better yet, they are in control of themselves.

The Mangler: Clothes machine that has gone out of control and is possessed by none other than an evil spirit, and starts looking for PEOPLE to fold? Now that's the kind of stuff I like to read...one of my personal favorites in Night Shift.

Battleground: Toy Soldiers begin hunting their buyer...and if you thought they were just unarmed plastic figures, ya might wanna think again.

The Man Who Loved Flowers: Some crazy guy with a small hammer...yes, we do get a great description of the surroundings: not too much, nor too little. But this character is on the insane side.

The Lawnmower Man: Another favorite. A grass-cutter is hired to trim a lawn. Little does the lawn-owner realize that the machine isn't the only one cutting the grass...

The Woman in the Room: A fairly short piece. A mother is dying slowly in a hospital room, quite a depressing story when you read it.

The Last Rung on the Ladder: Two kids are left on their farm while their parents leave for a few hours. The girl? She climbed a weak ladder to the top beam of a 70-foot barn. And guess what: her brother is going to need a heckuva lot of hay to get her out of this predicament...

One for the road: Think of this as a story linked to Jerusalem's Lot, the fact being that vampires are there again. This story takes place in winter. An old man runs into a bar, telling a friend that his family is gone. They both set out to find them...but, who is that with the red eyes and dripping fangs out in the snowstorm?

The Boogeyman: The Boogeyman doesn't just give kids the scare.

A father is talking to the doctor about the strange deaths of his children...but maybe he should shut that closet, just to be safe.

Gray Matter: Something's breaking out over town. What's happening to the bodies???

Trucks: To think that a truckstop would be overtaken by its own vehicles. And now, here they are, circling like hawks, around a group of people that have the will to escape alive.

Sometimes they come back: A man's family is killed by what he believes to be ghosts of long-dead teenagers that tormented him when he was younger. And he'll do anything to achieve revenge.

I Know What you need: She likes him, but her friends has doubts about him. He's got a hobby of making strange dolls...and murdering people.

Strawberry Spring: Killer on the loose? In springtime? Nah, couldn't be...

Children of the Corn: A husband and wife stop in an old town, their car broke down. Hey where'd she go...? And this place reeks of old cornhusks...

NOTE: Do not watch the films of this story, they're horrible. You're much better off reading the real thing.

...I think that's all of them. I know I haven't given great descriptions of some of the stories. But you've gotta get this book. Trust me, it's worth it, new King fan or not.

A Must read!!! even if your not a Stephen King Fan. This is a collection with history. Avid King reader's already know how some of this material got used and abused!! In these very original stories you get glimpses of what King would write in some of his best novels. Some of this material was trashed in movie scripts. You really need to read these stories to see what King is really about. No one in this century has left a more valid mark on "America" than King. I didn't give this collection 5 stars because there are a few Cujo's (dogs, ha ha :-) ) in it.

I've read over two dozen of Stephen King's books, and this one is his best. King's short story writing is what allows him to be mentioned in the same sentence with the likes of Poe as one of the best horror writers ever. There are so many King classics in "Night Shift" it is scary. "Graveyard Shift," "The Mangler," "Children of the Corn," "Trucks," "Gray Matter," "Quitters Inc.," the list goes on and on. Many of these were made into inferior movies, but the stories themselves are are among the scariest things he's written because they reduce fear to its most basic elements. This is one King book that qualifies as a "must" read.

Its hard to review a collection of short stories because its hard to lump the good with the bad. Some were really good, such as Children Of The Corn, Sometimes They Come Back, Strawberry Spring, and One For The Road. Sadly, there are a couple clunkers in the mix like: Lawnmower Man, Trucks, and I Am The Doorway. What this book does show however is the extremely wide array of stories floating around in King's head. Pretty amazing when you think about the diversity. A pretty good book to flip through but far from great.

This collection of stories was published when King was still early in his career. Most of them are very frightening. "The Bogeyman", which I first read when I was 12 will make you think twice about leaving the closet door open at night was especially good. "Strawbery Spring" has a horrifying twist ending and "I am the Doorway" has an echo 20 years later in King's book Dreamcatcher. Read the introduction by John MacDonald and the foreward by King himself. In light of what life was to throw at King in later years both are fascinating.

There are so many awesome short stories in this book. It's got:

Battleground - John "the human hawk" Renshaw is one of the best hitmen in the business, but, after arriving home he receives a package from the mother of a man he murdered. This piece of hatemail will put the "human hawk" to the test. A bit bizarre, but still great!

The Boogieman - The best short story ever!

Children of the Corn - Skip the movie and read this story instead... the ending here is much better. Another gem in this collection.

The Mangler - This one is pretty good. A laundry press is posessed and starts killing employees by mangling them up. Hence the title!

One for the Road - A side story to Salem's Lot. I liked this one, too.

The Ledge - No super-natural stuff in this one, but still great. This story shows why you should never sleep with a mobster's wife.

Lawnmower man - A Satanic Lawnmowing service! It doesn't get any cooler than this! This guy mows the lawn in the nude, will eat whatever the lawnmower spits out, even mole guts (literally.) He's nice for the most part, just don't call the cops on him or you'll be in for an unpleasant surprise!

There are some other great ones in here too. Buy this book, it's great. King's best book, imho.

Stephen King's Night Shift is the book that made me want to become a writer in the horror-genre. Each of the stories covers a wide variety of horror staples...vampires, giant rats, gooey monsters without names, aliens, serial killers, wicked toys, and trucks without a conscience.

Personal favorites of mine would be: Graveyard Shift, Battleground, Sometimes They Come Back (that end was a shocker), The Ledge, and Gray Matter.

I own this collection in paperback, hard cover, and on Kindle. These are the kinds of stories that invite me back every year for some fresh goosebumps and frights...and they help remind that author's like Stephen King don't always need 900+ pages to be scary. Sometimes 10 pages is all it takes.

Stephen King's short stories seem to be rather hit-or-miss but when he writes a good one, he hits it straight out of the ball park. Night Shift has good and mediocre stories but the good ones completely remedy the mediocre ones.

This is my first classic King, as all I have read before by him was DIFFERENT SEASONS, a collection of novellas without supernatural or horror elements, and since I had really enjoyed that book, I thought I'd go for something more "typically" King. And since I enjoy short stories, I went for NIGHT SHIFT.

It's very hard to rate a book such as this one because some stories would get 5 stars from me, others 1. My rating for the book was originally going to be 2, then 3, and by the time I was done reading, I thought the better stories in there redeemed the others.

The foreword by Stephen King alone is good stuff: "All my life as a writer I have been committed to the idea that in fiction the story value holds dominance over every other facet of the writer's craft; characterization, theme, mood, none of those things is anything if the story is dull. And if the story does hold you, all else can be forgiven." Which I think is a great quote. The rest of his foreword is equally interesting.

As to the stories per se, it begins pretty badly, in my opinion, with a story that reads like bad Lovecraft fan-fiction: "Jerusalem's Lot". "Graveyard Shift" is barely better, although more enjoyable. "Night Surf" is the first that I thought was truly good; it's set in some post-apocalyptic world where everyone is either dead or about to be; it has a great mood and is well written, as always with King.

Before I talk of some of the other stories, I must say that King's fetish theme of inanimate objects becoming alive is something I never really connected with. To me, any object coming to life is at best silly, but usually ridiculous. That theme comes up no less than 3 times in this collection: "The Mangler", "Battleground", and "Trucks". I liked "The Mangler" up to the point where it turns out that this machine is actually alive somehow. Then I thought, "oh no, not again". Of course, if you like that theme, you'll like the stories, no doubt.

"Battleground" is one truly epic story, except this time, I think, it's highly hilarious. A set of toy soldiers come to life and start battling with a hitman who was sent the box that contained them. I don't think King intended to scare people with this one, or so I hope, because it really is hilarious in a B-movie kind of way. And it's once again excellently written.

"Children of the Corn" - the story I bought the book for, sort of - was actually really good. Vast expanses of cornfields, weird abandoned town, religious craziness; all the elements in the story make for a really good read, and I am now curious to see the movies they made out of that tale.

My favourite of them all is "The Last Rung on the Ladder". This story, and the novellas in DIFFERENT SEASONS, make me wonder why King doesn't write more non-horror stuff, or non-supernatural stories, because he is obviously talented in those. I won't tell you anything about the story, just that you should read it. Ok, a little then. It tells of a childhood memory and... It's hard to summarise without spoiling it, so that's all you get.

"The Woman in the Room" is similar in that it's really heavy stuff, but without the distance of supernatural horror. It's about old age and euthanasia, and dealing with your parents becoming old and dying, to be short and general.

"Sometimes They Come Back" is one story I didn't like. It's very subjective, but the reason why I didn't like it was because I felt there was some incestuous crossovers between "realism" and "horror", in the sense that some seriously heavy material is in there, but is connected to much less heavy material, sounding like a B-movie, and that made me feel bad. It's hard to explain, but it's something like: if you make a movie about losing your child to an untimely death, you shouldn't add stuff like a cliché alien invasion or demons from hell, or anything that looks straight out of a bad horror movie. That's one comment I make often about King, the B-movie thing, and I totally admit that you may like that (I do sometimes, just not every time), but in this case, I felt it didn't mix well.

So yeah, sometimes the stories end in a cheesy way or the plot turns to something worthy of a... well, yeah, a B-movie.

That said, none of these stories is boring (or just a few), and on the whole, the good stories will make up for the others. If you're into short stories, this book is quality, and a good read (if you can get over the B-movie elements I mentioned, but you can, and they can be fun too). Recommended!

First of all let me start off by saying that this is the first Stephen King book I have read. I had heard good things about Stephen King as an author and decided to check out one of his books. This book consists of a few short stories that were mostly published in magazines prior to this book being released with a few previously unreleased stories. Since it was a compilation of short stories I figured if I got bored with one story then I would have a few other stories to choose from. To make a long story short I really liked all of the stories and found the book to be very intertaining. Jerusalem's Lot is the first story in the book and it was a kind of a weird story that was written in a letter type format. Next is Graveyard Shift which had a lot to do with rats, bats, and any other kind of vermin. The third story is Night Surf which to tell you the truth I didn't really even understand. I Am The Doorway had a lot to do with space and aliens. The Mangler is a murder/mystery story with a weird yet intriguing plot. After that story is The Boogeyman which starts off with a man talking to a therapist about his kids deaths then the story takes off from there. Grey Matter was one of my favorite stories in the book that i really can't explain and would require you to read it to really understand it. My top five favorite short stories in this book were (in no particular order) Trucks, The Ledge, Quitters Inc., Grey Matter, and Graveyard Shift. There are a few other stories I didn't review so get the book to read them and form your own opinion.

I'm not used to reading long novels, due to the fact that time is not the greatest friend I have. When I first glanced at Night Shift,it had a picture of a hand with eyeballs all over it (I suppose I have an older version of the book since I didn't see that picture on any of the books sold here.)This caught my attention, as began to flip through the pages. I realized that this book has many stories not just one, which is great because I can take my time reading it little by little. Most of the stories in the book surprised me one way or another. There are some stories that were so predictable I just skipped to the last few pages of the story to see if I was right, and most of the time I was. One of the stories that caught my attention was a story called "Sometimes They Come Back." This story kept me on my toes, because every page seemed to bring another clue to its surprise ending. This story was also the scariest to me. This story was about revenge from the grave,which gave me goosebumps. Another story which was not as scary, but was indeed very diferent from any story in the book. The story was called "The Ledge." From the very first page, I was exited to see what would happen next. Every page was an extended gasp. Something dangerous or fatal came on every page. There were also some stories that were just so predictable or stories with ideas that I couldn't believe the great Stephen King came up with. An example of a ludicrous idea was "The Lawnmower Man." This was the most irritating story in the whole book. The main character was not interesting, and the plot was so asinine that I just wanted to finish it to see how ridiculous it could get. A story that was predictable was "Battleground." Though the plot was interesting, the story was just far too predictable. I knew in the middle of the book what was going to happen at the end. I enjoyed this book to the fullest because I actually read it without procrastonating it. Most of the stories were so compelling, I just couldn't concentrate on anything else that I would normally blow off books for. This was not only a great book, but I had fun reading it, which is rare so i'm thankful I had a chance to read it

There are some stories that I didn't care for and others that I liked. Its a bunch of stories in one book. I love Stephen King's books but I think I prefer a book that has one story instead of multiple stories in one book.

I am usually a reader of SK's novels but last summer I decided to buy Night Shift to read some of his short stories. I love them! They hold the same amount of "Kingness" if you will, as the novels. My favorite stories in this book include "The Ledge", "I Know What You Need", "Gray Matter", "Quitters,Inc.", and "I Am the Doorway". Once reading this book I also recommend Skeleton Crew and Nightmares and Dreamscapes, which are also collections of short stories.

To start things off, I was really pleased with this particular book. I don't usually like to read a book of short stories, probably because there isn't nearly enough detail. As a matter of fact, one of the only reasons I actually picked it up is because of the stories that were listed...Children of the Corn, Graveyard Shift, and Sometimes They Come Back might sound a bit familiar (i.e.-movies that have been made). Nevetheless, I wholly approved of The Night Shift, and I recommend it to anyone that likes to read King's works. :)

This is, as I said, a purely thrilling collection of absolutely entraping tales. Mr. King has done it again with this book! He explores many concepts and aspects of horror, both traditional and controversial. This book has a story for everyone, whether you are more adept to reading slightly romantic, or silly, sci-fi, or full blown horror! For a full spine chiller, I suggest the story called "The Boogeyman". I would not reccomend reading this if you get frightened easily. Other good stories are "Trucks", "Sometimes they come back",and "Children of the Corn." While Stephen King does not always satisfy my hunger for a good thriller, (i.e., Pet Semetary is somewhat dissapointing.), I applaud him for his work with this collection. As the original cover suggests, this book is surely an excursion into horror!

One word comes to mind when I recall the stories in Night Shift, inspiring. The novel is a brilliant collective of creativity that is express through stories of fear and the bizarre. What makes this book so preeminent, in my eyes, is Stephen King's spellbinding style of writing. Stephen King's sense and ability to write such unique stories make him an author like no other.
The novel, Night Shift, had countless attributes that made it great, but I would like to focus on only a few. The first strength, which I found was Stephen King's unmatched style of writing. The most noticeable of his style comes at the ending of his stories. He adds a little "twist," for lack of a better word, that creates an emotion that is beyond what you have felt so far, which can either be the emphasis on the same emotion or a completely new one. Another strength of the novel was Stephen King's ability to imply certain actions and facts about characters, but not actually mention then. The example of "Strawberry Springs" shows how events lead the reader to believe that someone is the murderer without bluntly stating it. Mr. King's style of writing was what kept me reading until the end because the best part was at the end.
Mr. King's novel did have one small weakness, but that didn't impair the overall effect the novel had on me. The little flaw was that some of the stories were very short. Stories like "The Lawnmower Man" and "The Ledge" could have had a greater effect if more detail and plot were added. Before I could be fully engulfed by these stories, they were over. The climax can too soon and that hampered the possible impact that they could have had. "The Lawnmower Man" and "The Ledge" were two of my favorites, but without building strength on the plot, the ability to capture the moment was limited.
Night Shift was without a doubt the best horror novel I have read so far. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys stories that deal with fear, terror, and a surprising twist at the end. Stephen King's style of writing is truly unique and I urge anyone to read Night Shift to see just how unique his style really is.

i can remember reading this book when i was in JHS and the story of 'the boogeyman'scaring me so badly that i literally had problems feeling comfortable with my closet for years! i had long since forgotten about this collection of short stories until recently a friend of mine brought up the title. Almost as though i was hypnotized, i had to go buy the book again and I am glad i did. I loved re reading all of these old stories again. definitely creepy! my favorites were the boogeyman, the man who loved flowers, battleground and quitters inc. check it out!!

I read this volume when it first came out and still re-read it whenever possible. "The Last Rung on the Ladder" is one of my favorites...I always get a tear in my eye, and it also made me realize what a fine writer Mr. King truly is - the story doesn't have a breath of supernatural horror in it, but rather the horror we carry within ourselves as burdens.
I also enjoyed "Jerusalem's Lot," and the other stories. Give it a try...you won't regret it!

The quality of the short stories is this collection is markedly uneven, but none are boring. A handful ("The Boogeyman", "The Mangler", and "The Children of the Corn" spring to mind) are magnificently frightening and will stay with the reader a long time. Also contains a few non-horror dramatic stories, poignant and haunting in their own way. A good showcase of King's formidable talents, often unsettling and always fascinating.

I read this book a while ago and am giving it a while before i attempt it again. it is brilliant and the kind of book you can't put down. my favourites include 'Quitters, Inc.''Children of the Corn', 'Graveyard Shift', 'The Boogeyman'. Most of all though the prologue is very scary, it took me ages to get to sleep after reading it, i was too SCARED!! i'd recommend this book to everyone you enjoys being scared, so what are you waiting for go get a copy now!!!!!

This book of 20 stories in which many contain a frightening psychological undertone whether it is a horror story or a dramatic one. But like every short story collection, there are some bad ones and some weird ones. Nevertheless, this book should not be missed.
Jerusalem's Lot: Long, confusing, boring. If you were to skip one story in this book, I'd say skip this one.
Graveyard Shift: creepy story about mutation. I will not say any more.
Night Surf: Most people hate this one, but it caught my interest. Not a horror story, but interesting. How will the world really end do you think?
I Am the Doorway: Sci-fi horror story that addresses aliens controlling a man. Creepy.
The Mangler: Gruesome, but pretty stupid. Not as scary as people say it is, but it makes you wonder about the safety of heavy machinery.
The Boogeyman: I must say, I did not connect with this one like most people did. People say it's the scariest story in this book, but I disagree. I did not like the main character at all, and the ending was a twist but a stupid, unrealistic twist. I read it in the daytime, which can have a large effect on the scare level of horror stories. Whatever. It's scary as [heck] if you read it during the night, but a silly piece of [junk] during the day. Take your pick.
Gray Matter: Weird weird weird. Sort of an anti-beer tale about bacteria and the effects it has on an alchoholic. Never liked beer much anyway.
Battleground: What if toy soldiers came alive? Do you ever ask yourself that? Didn't think so.
Trucks: It's a sort of "what if?" story that's about automobiles rebelling. That's about it.
Sometimes They Come Back: Great great story with great characters. Gets under your skin.
Strawberry Spring: I've never read a better surprise ending in my life. A wonderful yarn about a serial killer.
The Ledge: I tend to like King's realistic stories more than the horror ones I guess. If you are afraid of heights, this will scare the hell out of you.
The Lawnmower Man: Yeah, King must have been high when he wrote this. Seriously, you wonder what that guy thinks about in his free time after reading this. In other words, one of the weirdest and most utterly bizarre stories I have ever seen. Which is not necessarily a good thing.
Quitters, Inc: This was my favorite story of the bunch. About a strange, sinister company that "helps" people quit smoking. I thought it was very creepy.
I Know What You Need: Not really horror either, more of a "not what he seems" type of story. Can you really trust just anyone?
Children of the Corn: I saw the movie before this unfortunately. Kind of spoiled it for me, but a terrifying story nonetheless. DO NOT SEE THE MOVIE.
The Last Rung on the Ladder: Touching, sad story. Not an inkling of horror in it.
The Man Who Loved Flowers: Similar to Strawberry Spring in a way, but shorter and not as good. Read it anyway.
One for the Road: The sequel to Salem's Lot, and I hear it is much better if you haven't read Salem's Lot yet. It is not exactly a screamer, but it is eerie.
The Woman in the Room: Addresses euthanasia, and if thats a subject you would like to address, then go ahead.
All in all, even the stories which I did not give positive reviews for had some bit of worth. So, stop reading this review and go buy the book! Read every story to get the full potential.

Ive been reading alot of King lately and I must say this book packs the most for your dollar. I like King writing shorter storys rather then a whole novel dedicated to one subject, I guess you can say I have ADD. The only problem I had was the first story sucked and so did the last one, but the rest of the book is on par with some of the best horror writing of all time. I highly recommend this book for a good scare.

Damn him. Praise him for taking the ordinary, making it extraordinary and scaring the hell out of us. This is King before the five-pound door stoppers.'The Boogeyman' was my favorite in this collection. I'd like to compare this volume to Everything Eventually to see if his mojo has changed any.

Stephen King's books are extremly interesting.You have to get into the mines of the killers or the bad guy or thing. I like Stephen King's books because they keep me on the edge of myseat. His work is truly spataculer. I believe he should be nominated for bestseller in books. Ithink one day I'd like to work with him on a really scary book. Then maybe we could put our ideals together and make an extrodary books together.

Ok, if you like stephen king, and havn't read this book, please get it asap! The short stories in this book are amazing! You'll be thinking about them long after you've finished them. These stories are just so imaginitive! This is the first of King's short story collections I have read. I'm definitely going to pick up Skeleton Crew then Nightmares & Dreamscapes. WOW! ok, some of my favorites (althought I likes em all) are, "gray matter", "Sometimes the come back" "quiters INC", "Battle ground" , Strawberry Spring, "graveyard shift", well, i was going to list them all probably, but you know what I mean. Do I like this book?, hmmmm.....

As a dedicated Stephen King fan, I was somewhat ambivalent about this book after I finished it. To its credit, there are a few good stories to be told here, but there are just as many truly awful ones that probably never ought to have seen print. You can see what King would later become, but those spots can seem few and far between when you're mired in the desperate struggle to understand The Lawnmower Man. But, specifically:
Jerusalem's Lot--Talk about a confusing title. Named after another book that he had already published and written a sequel story to in this volume, this story has nothing whatsoever to do with 'Salem's Lot. It's a pretty good indicator of the overall quality of the book, though he doesn't stay true to the letter based format that he opens with, and would have been just as well served by a narrative.
Graveyard Shift--I don't understand any of the motivations here, and that ruins the story for me. The incipid hatred between the protagonist and the foreman seems utterly baseless. C+ at best.
Night Surf--Is it just me, or didn't stories used to have beginnings, middles, and ends? This is a middle without anything around it. Add to that the fact that it's basically a precursor to the Stand (note that in the Stand, the disease didn't originate in the wild), and you've got some confusion. Nonetheless, it is reminiscent of the events of the first half of that great book, and can be recommended on that basis.
I Am The Doorway--Okay, now here we have a relatively unoriginal concept (being taken over by forces you can't control) given a nice new twist. One of the better efforts.
The Mangler--Oh look, more confusion--it's the Blue Ribbon Laundry from Roadwork. Just another argument for reading this before you start any of King's other work, I suppose. All the same, while this story is certainly implausible and a little hard to grab hold on, it's not bad. B.
The Boogeyman--This is a fan favorite, but not so much one of mine. It probably is the best achievement of the book--it just doesn't rub me the right way. Nonetheless, it is still an excellent piece of short fiction. A.
Gray Matter--I wasn't really satisfied with this. The sort of King short stories that I prefer are the ones that are remotely plausible--this one is not. It's adequate fiction, but nothing to write home about. B.
Battleground--First of two absolutely idiotic pieces of prose. It reads like the script to a bad animated horror movie. F.
Trucks--Worst story ever for King, bar none. This is so implausible as to be laughable, if it weren't told with such a serious and grounded tone. Obviously the precursor to Christine (a much better book), this story lacks any of the reasoning or thought that was put into that work. Trucks go crazy and kill people and nobody knows why...oh well, you can't win them all. F-.
Sometimes They Come Back--Now we're back into the swing of things. This story is a lot better than the others to date, and contains a lot of the character development King's fans have come to expect of him. The ending fizzles a little, but it's not the worst. A-.
Strawberry Spring--Here, King manages to write a story with good atmosphere, characterization, and plot. Unlike a similar story (The Man Who Loved Flowers), he also avoids sounding as though he's imitating Poe in the process. Probably the best story in the book, and certainly one of the best closing lines in King history. A+
The Ledge--I just like realistic Stephen King; that's probably why Hearts In Atlantis is my favorite story from him yet. This is a nice story that stays at a good constant emotional level and gives exactly the right amount of backstory and development. A.
The Lawnmower Man--All that I can say is, "Huh?" I read this story three times in a row and I still don't understand what any of it means. This reads like something a drunken frat boy wrote after he got done watching the Exorcist and eating a salad. F-.
Quitters, Inc.--It amazes me that fewer people have examined what this story has to say about the process of kicking an addiction to begin with. As a story, it's still wonderful, and as an examination of addiction, it's even better. A+.
I Know What You Need--Just what everyone is most afraid of--meeting somebody who's absolutely perfect for them. No, wait a second...I was disappointed with this, not only because it seems rather implausible (even in a fantastic reality), but also because the reversal occurs a little too quickly and the primary villain in insufficiently dealt with. D-.
Children of the Corn--This is okay. Not good, not bad, but okay. C.
The Last Rung on the Ladder--So many people are going to be disappointed with this story because it has absolutely nothing to do with horror. All the same, it's the best story in the book, and it really carries an emotional whallop that you might not be used to finding in King. This is reminiscent of his pathos at its best (see Pet Semetary). A+.
The Man Who Loved Flowers--This story is fairly hackneyed, but still well done. For some reason, it reminded me of Poe, though he wasn't famous for his plot turns. Compared to the other big twist story, this one is executed better, but lacks the well developed atmosphere. A-.
One For the Road--Here's the REAL sequel to 'Salem's Lot, which unfortunately spends a lot of energy to go absolutely nowhere. D+.
The Woman in the Room--He doesn't end on his best, but he doesn't end with his worst, either. It's fairly well told, I suppose, but the subject matter is nothing new, which translates to nothing impressive. C+.

Some twenty years ago I received my introduction to Stephen King through this collection of short stories, Night Shift. King brought a variety of topics to bear, ranging from objects with minds and agendas of their own (Trucks, The Mangler and Battleground) to a twisted program for smoking cessation (Quitters, Inc.). Stephen King gets it. There is horror in the mundane, the usual, the everyday and King knows how to draw it out. Night Shift is both a terrific entry work for those who have never experienced King's writing as well as a continually solid read for those who have enjoyed his full offering. This is a fabulous book that set me on a path of pleasure; twenty years of King's storytelling later and I can still smile and remember the first time he made me shiver. Years from now he may finally get the credit he deserves as one of this generation's most engaging novelists. Until then he'll have to be content with rabid, loyal fans and huge commercial success.

I'm not yet done with the book but most of what I'v read is good (with a few exceptions like Night Surf and The Man Who Loved Flowers) my favorites where The Boogieman (A man is haunted by a monster from the closet, had me scared for days) and Battleground (a box of army men comes alive and gets revenge)and other great story's like Gray Matter Jeruasalem's Lot and The Mangler. A must read if you like King.

This was my first time reading King's short stories and I was not disappointed. They all start in the middle of the action, and then explain later how they got there. All of the stories are great and many have been made into movies. After reading "The Boogeyman" you'll be checking your closets at night. If you have only read his novels check this one out I think you'll like it!

I'd purchase this book if it only contained "The Boogeyman," which is the only story I've ever read that continues to frighten me every time I read it.
The fact that the book contains several other superb King offerings ("One for the Road," "Jerusalem's Lot," and "Strawberry Spring" are also favorites) makes this one a must-own for any horror fan.

I can not praise this book enough.Every word is worth reading.Two forewards to the afterward."The bogeyman" was later expanded to "It" .These stories are griping and masterfully written.It features intriguing characters,diverse plots and deft insight."Battleground" has an ending Wells or Kapek would admire.

Guy M. Word 300
Twenty and Fifteen Guy
Disposable Copy

The Sequels of Stephen King

by

M. M.

Stephen King has written many sequels. “Big Wheels: a Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman # 2),” “The Way Station,” “The Slow Mutants,” “The Gunslinger and the Dark Man,” The Dark Tower II: the Drawing of the Three, The Dark Tower III: the Wastelands and Wizard and Glass to name a few. There are also The Regulators and Desperation. There is also, what I like to call the Castle Rock stories.
“Nona,” Cujo, “The Sun Dog,” “The Body,” The Dark Half, Sleepwalkers, Needful Things and “It Grows on You.” “The Breathing Method” is a sequel to “The Man who Would Not Shake Hands.” Stephen King once wrote a sequel to the Cthulhu mythos. “One for the Road” is a sequel to Salem’s Lot.
Nevertheless, Stephen King didn’t write all of his own sequels. In 92, they wrote Pet Sematary Two. Then they made Children of the Corn II: the Final Sacrifice. Then there came Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest.
Then there came Sometimes They Come Back Again. Then there was Children of the Corn IV: the Gathering. Then there is The Rage: Carrie 2. Finally, there is Children of the Corn V: Field of Terror, Children of the Corn 666 and Children of the Corn (2009) the remake maybe don’t you think? Yes; ‘course there is!!

---30---

Children Of The Corn is so far the only story I've read from this book. Let me just say that I have no idea how they could make a whole movie and sequels to it. I wouldn't go see the movies because their is no way that it could be any good without tons of filler.
Anyway, Children Of The Corn is not a real long story, but it's really good and quite creepy when you get down to it. It's smart and original.

This was great! My favorite stories were "Quitters, Inc.", "The Mangler", "The Boogeyman", and "Sometimes They Come Back". I also enjoyed "Gray Matter" and "Children of the Corn".
However, if you don't like any of these stories, buy this book for the story "The Last Rung on the Ladder". Pure genius!

If you weren't thrilled with Kings latest big books, Nightshift is just what you need. These short gems are King in his prime. They're scary and they have don't try too hard like Bag of Bones, Tom Gordon or the really unfortuneate Hearts in Atlantis. If you are waiting for King to "come home" re-read or read for the first time this incredibly scary collection.

I've read alot of king, but never this collection. The first few stories I felt were fairly weak. About a 1/4 of the way through, the stories get better and just keeps getting better. By far, my favorite story was battlefield.

I really enjoyed several of these short stories. Some have been turned into movies, but the stories are better. There were a few that were not the usual caliber of King, but several were very interesting.

Upon reading this book it becomes apparent why King became as famous as he is. This past summer I had a job in a museum and I am still thanking this book for the company it gave me. Stories of particular interest are "Jerusalem's Lot", "The Boogeyman", "One for the Road", "The Ledge", and "Graveyard Shift".

I'm finding more and more that I like King's short stories better than his novels, and I love those! My favorites in this was Trucks, Quitters, Inc. , I Know What You Need, and The Man Who Loved Flowers.

Stephen King is best known for his terrifying, bone-rattling, horror novels. The book Night Shift proves that he can definitely send chills crawling up your spine with these scary short stories.
Tons of short horror stories, all in one book, could this get any better? Vampires, giant rats, phsycotic criminals, these characters could give you nightmares for weeks! Each story has different characters and settings, although all of them will amaze you. Everytime I turn a page more and more of Stephens's fearful thoughts and creations frighten me.
Night Shift is, by far, one of the best books I have ever read. The detailed descriptions in each book shocked me. After every story I caught myself trying not to shiver from my fear. Usually short stories are childish and cheesy, but Stephen King's stories will haunt you and make your blood run cold. If you have a craving for horrifying books, then this is the book for you!

I just got "Night Shift", and it is truly one of the best collections of short stories I have ever read. All of these are classic stories, absolutely bone-chilling. I read "The Boogieman" last night before going to bed, and I was scared to turn out the light. I kept looking towards the closet, expecting the Boogieman to pop out of it and eat me at any moment. "Graveyard Shift" is also one of my favorites, as are the two gems titled "Jerusalem's Lot" and "Gray Matter." I don't care how old you are or what type of books you prefer reading; this book will have you rivited by the first paragraph. Kings writing is superb. Go to the nearest bookstore and buy this collection of short stories by the Master of Horror. I can garuantee you it is worth it!!

Of all Stephen King's books, Night Shift is by far the best. A collection of easily digestible short stories, each is deliciously twisted enough to make you squirm out of your late night coziness. The stories frequently take everyday events, frustrations, and predicaments, and transform them into shocking metamorpheses of our deepest fears and dreads.

Most of the stories in this book are King at his best, but some fall drastically short. For example, the boogeyman is a great story (I didn't sleep for three days after reading it), but Trucks and the Lawnmower Man are just plain silly. Some of the stories are not really horrer, but science fiction...Trucks, Battleground, Quitters, Inc., Night Surf, and possibly I am the Doorway. Still, out of the 20 stories that make up this book, only 4 are truly bad. But, The Ledge, I Know What You Need, The Last Rung on the Ladder, and The Man Who Loved Flowers are REALLY bad...I skip over them almost every time I read this book. For pure fright, though, the Boogeyman, the Mangler, Gray Matter, Strawberry Spring, and One for the Road are as good as they come. The Foreword is also creepy...very. Overall, a book everyone should own...Whether you love to be scared or not, this book is awesome.

After revisiting this collection I find myself taking yet another look at my own stories. King's early tales had such a wonderful feel and I am so glad I took the time to delve back into them. Great collection.

This book is about mystery, horror, and hearing noises in the walls. A group of men find a place that they didn't think could exist. They find a town that they believe has been taken over by Satan. In this town there is a small church. On the mantel of the church there is a large, dirty book about mystery and exploration that was written in a strange language. This book will "scare the pants off of you" and leave you breathless. It is also a book of many stories; for example, Salems Lot and The Dark Half are just a few stories that follow the very scary and breathtaking story of Night Shift. I recommend this book to anyone who likes reading the horror/mystery books by Stephen King. This is a great story.

It's a shame Stephen King doesn't write more short stories: he really does it well, even if he does leave you wanting more---a sign he's done something right. If, after finishing a book, you're merely obstinately glad you finished the thing as a literary obstacle course it's a sign the author likes to hear their own voice a bit too much.

Night Shift instead offers the opposite: a selection of nifty little stories, good old fashioned horror with none of the mind control stuff he relies upon for his longer fiction.

Night Shift is a collection of twenty short stories written by horror master Stephen King. Most of the stories date from quite early in his three-and-a-half-decade-long writing career (in fact, some of them predate his commercial success by several years). Most likely because of this, many of the pieces are little more than sensationalistic pulp-magazine shockers, though a few rise above the rest as more thoughtful inquiries into human nature, foreshadowing some of King's later masterpieces. Below is a quick synopsis and evaluation of each of the twenty stories.

Jerusalem's Lot:

Written as a collection of letters from a man named Charles Boone to a friend called Bones, this story continues the eerie plot of King's novel 'Salem's Lot, a book about vampires taking over a New England town. In this story, we read about the experiences of Mr. Boone as he investigates the strange occurrences in and around the seemingly abandoned town. While the story will hold some interest to readers of the novel, the letter-writing format gets old after the first half of the lengthy story.

Graveyard Shift:

Abused workers in a hellish mill take revenge on their sadistic foreman by abandoning him in a subcellar inhabited by huge rats. This quick-moving story is good right up to the end, where the implausibility of the premise distracts from the otherwise tight writing.

Night Surf:

This story seems to take place during the events of King's masterpiece The Stand. As the world is slowly dying due to the accidental release of the "Captain Tripps" super-flu virus, a group of teenagers on an unnamed beach reflect on their lives and the new world. The tone is nostalgic, but the absence of any plot or likeable characters makes the story a rather dull read.

I Am the Doorway:

Hardly an original concept--an astronaut returns to earth to gradually discover that his body has been possessed by some malevolent extra-terrestrial force. The story is told in the first-person, and after a somewhat convoluted opening, it becomes quite interesting. The ending is predictable but satisfying.

The Mangler:

A true slasher story with a demon-possessed machine rather than a demented human as the antagonist. Reminiscent of King's Christine and From a Buick 8, where evil cars terrorize the residents of small towns, this story recounts the possession and attempted exorcism of a malevolent washing machine. If you like senseless violence for the sake of senseless violence, with a little genuine human terror thrown in for good measure, you'll like this one.

The Boogeyman:

King has always been a master of the surprise ending (though after thirty years, some of the surprises seem a bit stale). In this story a psychology patient tells his compassionate doctor a horrifying tale regarding the demise of his family due to the incredible presence of a boogeyman in the children's closets. As the story unfolded it reminded me of "Suffer the Little Children" from King's Nightmares and Dreamscapes collection. It's a very interesting exploration of a father's grief with an unfortunately disappointing ending.

Gray Matter:

An interesting take on the unfortunate fate of an alcoholic who drinks a very bad bottle of skunky beer. The descriptions are quite disgusting, which means they must be effective, since that was apparently King's goal here. Not a pleasant story, but it's well written.

Battleground:

One of my favorites from this collection. A cross between Dean Koontz's Tick-Tock and Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels, this story recounts an epic battle between a professional hitman and a band of voodoo-animated toy soldiers. It's a great story, complete with a delightfully unexpected twist at the end.

Trucks:

Another evil cars story--though in this case it's trucks, and instead of terrorizing a town they take over the world. A fun twist on apocalyptic literature.

Sometimes They Come Back:

A classic ghost story with a splash of the demonic. When a schoolteacher's dead childhood tormentors show up again in his classroom, he is forced to take drastic action to resolve the situation. The story's conclusion seems to impart a moral of sorts: summoning demons for one's own purposes is not necessarily a good idea.

Strawberry Spring:

Strikingly similar to "The Boogeyman," but better written and with a much better ending. This story explores the evil lurking within us that we ourselves are blissfully unaware of.

The Ledge:

Another of my favorites. A wealthy and arguably insane businessman makes a wager with the young tennis pro who has been sleeping with his wife. If the tennis pro, who is also the narrator, can make it all the way around the top of a high-rise building on a five-inch-wide ledge, he will escape forty years in prison for a trumped-up dope charge.

The Lawnmower Man:

An interesting if somewhat macabre look at alternative lawn mowing techniques. Suffice it to say that the lawn isn't the only thing that gets mowed.

Quitters, Inc.:

King evidently wrote this story either while or just after quitting smoking. Overcoming an addiction is a difficult--and for some, impossible--proposition. That's why Quitters, Inc. was founded. It's a company that assists smokers in kicking the habit once and for all. Backsliding is not unexpected--but neither is it unpunished. This is a great story, though I would stop short of ascribing any theological significance to it, as some have attempted to do.

I Know What You Need:

What would you do if you found the one person in the world who truly understands everything about you? Would you be suspicious? Would you fall in love? Or maybe both? There are plenty of stories out there about resorting to the dark arts to win a would-be lover's heart. This story explores in a compelling and realistic manner what it's like to be on the receiving end of that kind of attention.

Children of the Corn:

This horror story managed to pique the interest of a generation and became the foundation of a movie franchise. After six films the premise is no longer fresh, but the original story still packs a solid horror punch.

The Last Rung on the Ladder:

This is a sad story about broken dreams and unrealized expectations, about the hopes of childhood being squashed by the stark reality of adulthood. There's nothing horrible about it except for the horror of the human condition. It's well written but rather depressing.

The Man Who Loved Flowers:

One of the worst stories in the book. It starts out well enough, but it seems like the author got tired of the premise halfway through and just gave up. The last page is a prime example of "telling" (rather than "showing") the events that are supposed to comprise climax of the story.

One for the Road:

Another 'Salem's Lot spin-off, with a Maine blizzard added for extra chill.

The Woman in the Room:

Another depressing story, and another of my least favorites. Here King analyzes euthanasia (a.k.a. matricide, in this tale) in an ineffective and unenjoyable story. Like Clint Eastwood's movie Million Dollar Baby, some would probably call this story precient and ahead of its time; I simply found it dreary.

This collection was not my favorite from King. It's his earliest short-story book and in my view the least cohesive. Still, there are some definite bright spots. Looking back, it's not hard to see how this book contributed to King's early and phenomenal success.

That might be a bold statement to make- but I must add that I have a weakness for short stories. To manage to create a complete story which packs a punch with limited word count is a wondrous task- and everyone in this collection is a knock out.

King at his best.

contains some of the best short stories i've ever read, such as quitters inc., trucks, the ledge, battleground, graveyard shift, and children of the corn. but at the sme time contains not so spectacular stories like night surf, the mangler, the boogieman, and the man who loved flowers.

This book is a compilation of several of Stephen Kings short stories. I found that some of the stories were great and some were dismally pointless, so that is why I gave it a 3 star. Since this book is a mixed bag, you have to take the good with the bad. Certain stories I found to be interesting, well written and exiting while others I found to be pointless and boring. Here is my personal breakdown.. this is my opinion, of what I thought so definately read the book before agreeing or disagreeing with me. Remember this is based on personal opinion and is based on my own likes and dislikes..

Jerusalem's Lot (5/5)- This book seems to continue Salem's Lot and is a compiliation of letters written between two friends regarding vampiric attacks and hauntings in the town. This was very weel written but I found it to be a complete rip off of H.P. Lovecraft's works.

Graveyard Shift (5/5)- This is a great fast moving story, which is also very exciting. A boss forces his workers to clean the cellar of an old building and they find a hidious surprise. This story is great but is another blatant rip off of H.P. Lovecraft.

Night-Surf (1/5) Basically this story follows a group of punks who are reminiscing about the world after it has been implied to have been destroyed by an apocalyptic event, possibly a super flu from the Stand. This story was quite slow moving, dull and boring.

I am the doorway (3/5) This one is simple, an astronaut returns to earth and is possessed by either a demon or an alien. Havent we seen enough of these movies already? This one was ok at best.

The mangler (3/5) A town is terrorized by a demonic washing machine or clothes dryer or something dumb like that. The story was pretty exciting but dumb as anything.

The Boogeyman (3/5) A guy is talking to a therapist about how he is scared of a boogeyman who is killing all the kids of the town. The ending is ok, while extremely obvious, the story is moderately paced.

Grey Matter (2/5) A guy is a terrible alchie and and sits home, vegs out and turns into a mutant. This one was quite dumb in concept though it is written pretty well.

Battle Ground (5/5) This story was phenominal and fast paced. A hit man finds a gift at his house, and boy is it something he wishes he could return!

Trucks (5/5) Interesting commentary on machines coming to life, similar to a Buick 8 or Christine. Very good read, I really enjoyed this one. Fast paced, the ending could have been better.

Sometimes they come back (3/5) Not a bad story, a kid who is bullied gets visited from his now dead bullies. Its ok, moderately paced, think IT except the clown dosent come back, a bunch of punks do.

Strawberry Spring (1/5) Typical evil lurking inside botch job. Mysterious murders, who dun it? blah blah blah.. this one was boring, i couldnt finish it.

The Ledge (5/5) Young tennis star has been with a rich guy's wife. Rich guy bets him that he cant safely walk along the narrow edge of the building.. Great story, fast paced, awesome ending.

Lawnmower man (3/5) This story is just to dumb for words.. I had to give it 3 for creativity and fast paced action.. well written, odd but really dumb.

Quitter's Inc. (5/5) Guy is looking to quit smoking, so he hire's a company to help him... well the company uses some real intense methods to get him to quit.. great story.

I know what you need (1/5) guy uses black magic to get what he wants.. a really boring version of needful things, except needful things is well written while this isnt.

Children of the Corn (5/5) A classic! family drives through rural town, think demonic, crazy, hyper religious kids. Awesome! fast paced! exciting! great!

The last rung on the ladder (1/5) story of broken dreams was too boring and dull, i could not finish this one

The man who loves flowers (1/5) I dont know what this one is about it was too slow and boring, i couldnt finish it.

One for the road (2/5) more salems lot, more vampire, more of the same, Jerusalems lot is far better.

The woman in the room (1/5) more preaching about death of a loved one, assisted suiced, killing a family member. Nothing dark or horror related here, just plain preachy.

As you can see some are great and some are boring and some are just plain dull. A real mixed bag here. In my opinion this is an ok read, but definately a library rental or at least one you will probably wind up skipping around with.

Stephen King definetly is the master of macabre. This book proves it the best. This happens to be my favorite King book, and for good reasons. First of all, the stories in this short story masterpiece are the best. I think two or more have been made into films, but you have to read them. If you want a great stephen King book, look no farther than this one.

Stephen King has written so many amazing books that it is hard to keep track of them all. This book is one of his best. It really is. It spawned a million movies. Some good, some bad... But the stories here are just great. I've read this book 5 times, at least. And every time I read it I love it a little more.

I believe the short stories King creates are some of his best work. I enjoy them even more than his novels the majority of the time. I definitely recommend this to King lovers (but keep in mind he rarely sticks to just horror in his short story collections!)

I first read Night Shift back in high school. Back then my favorite story in the anthology was Battleground. My least was Night Surf. Re-reading these recently my taste has changed somewhat and Night Surf is now my favorite by a way. This collection contains some of the best short stuff Stephen King has ever produced. The stories seem to have something his later stuff does not. Can't place exactly what it is but I suspect it has something to do with his storytelling machine operating at its rawest and imo finest.

All of the short stories were at least good, some better then otheres. My favorites were the famed Children of the corn(freaked me out), Battleground one of the more creative ones(great ending), Quitters inc. a creative and creepy one, The Ledge an SK masterpiece, and Strawberry Spring about a serial killer. There were a few that failed to wow me Lawnmower Man just plain weird, I Know What You Need kept me on edge but the ending flat out stunk, and The Last Rung on the Ladder I never really got into this one. Truly the best SK short story collection.

I'd recommend this book on the boogeyman alone. It is probably the scariest damn thing I've ever read. Some of these stories didn't do much for me, but most of them move along at a good clip, are extremely vivid, and more than a little dark and scary.

Though these stories are short, they are some of the scariest I feel Stephen has ever written. My favorite is the Boogyman. Also children of the corn, trucks, and graveyard shift are garenteed to keep you up at night. and the cover is pretty cool to

I read this book more than 20 years ago and loved it. It took me an entire year to finish it because after reading 'I Am The Doorway' I threw it under the bed and was afraid to finish it! Great stories for anyone who loves great horror stories. Enjoy!

Ya know, I have thought of Stephen King (my favorite author) as being a Novel kinda guy, but until I got this book. Now I consider him one of the best horror writers ever. He can pack so much into just these short stories, it's amazing.

I'd read a Stephen King novel before this (Insomnia) and it was very good so i decided to check this one out of the library. The are many stories in here which were made into movies, and i recommend that you read the stories before you see the movies, it spoils them. If you read Salems' Lot, than there are two stories in here, "Jerusalems Lot" and "One for the Road" that you might like. My favorites were, "Gray Matter" "The Boogeyman" "I am the Doorway" "Battleground" "Strawberry Spring" "The Ledge" and "The Mangler"

This book is amazing. Every story is so well written. The boogyman and Quitters inc. are the best two stories in the book. The detail and well thought plots are great. This book is easily one of Steven KIngs best.

Not that SK cares about my review, he's writing abilities are supernatural. But personally I find his older short stories to be his best. TRUCKS the short tale included in this collection is both SciFi and Horror in the most perfect setting.

You can't go wrong with a Stephen King novel. He appears to be constitutionally incapable of writing anything that is not excellent. His short stories are compelling and remind me of a dark Roald Dahl (his stories for adults).

I am a big fan of Stephen King...but I must admit this is one of my favorite books. It's full of great short stories. It's the kind of book that has you looking around the room in the still of the night!!

I have read this book, and it was great. I am already a fan, but this is defineatly one of his best books. His stories are very well put together, and since they are short stories, a lot is left to the imagination. Take for example "The Lawnmower Man" there is all this weird stuff going on, but he just metions them in passing, and you decide what it is. Like in one part the guy talkes about Pan eho is running everything. Who is he? What does he want? You get to decide.

This was overall a pretty good book, I got it out of the library just to see his style of writing, and it really freaked my out! I wouldn't recommend reading any of these before bed. The Mangler and Jeruselem's Lot were pretty scary. (Although The Mangler left you hanging on a cliff.) I didn't get farther than "The Boogeyman", I got sick of the short stories and am now getting Carrie.

Night Shift is a collection that should definitely not be missed by true fans of Stephen King. It holds several classic King stories but adding a few other bizarro tales. While there were a couple stories I found to be completely ridiculous, the majority of the book was thoroughly entertaining. I def recommend reading it!

I loved this book it was very good. It was bone chilling to think that maybe these tales could happen to you someday! My favorite story out of that book was "Strawberry Spring" I don't know about everyone else but that was an interesting story... I was sort of weird at the end but it had a good meaning! I really loved this book you muststop reading this review right now and get this book because I know you will love it too.

I read this in the original paperback version, when I was in college. I irritated my roommates to no end, because as I finished each story, and each story was only about eleven or twelve pages long, I let out an audible gasp, groan, shriek, but mostly eeuuuwwws! Then as each read it in turn, I was subjected to their eeks, oohs, moans, etc. So stay up late, all alone, and read some truly creepy stories.

As a loyal fan of Stephen King I must say that I enjoy his collections of short stories most.He has always been able to make me believe in his characters,he has a real finness for building a tangible cast of participants in his chilling renditions of everyones worst nightmares.I will always read King for as long as I live.Hopefully someday he will create a tale from one of my dark dreams.

Stephen King is a renacious and impressive author. Night Shift is a series of short stories that all tie into one another. It's a ride for anybody who can handle the loops. I highly suggest this reading, although it is not directed toward the easily frightened reader. Unless of course, the reader can handle being frightened and ikes it!

Stephen King is indeed the master of horror. This book was descriptive and very interesting. Kings Idea of how to get under your skin and terrorize you ins breathtaking. Night Shift, was a book of many short stories that King has written over the years. I liked it very much and found it to be easy and fun reading

I am an avid reader of Stephen King, and I consider it one of his absolute best. "Boogeyman" is one of the scariest f'n story I've ever laid eyes on. I also liked "Gray Matter" and "Jerusalem's Lot." You could not ask for a scarier collection and a better buy. Not exactly a page turner, but good enough for five stars.

For anyone who enjoys King's short stories, this is the book for you! For anyone who liked 'Salem's Lot: read Jerusalem's Lot and One for the Road. Anyone who likes a good tear jerker, read the Last Rung on the Ladder. Anyone who likes weird, twisted stuff, read almost any story in this book! Night Shift is definitely King's best collection yet.

This is the perfect book of short stories for reading from time to time. There is a great mix of supernatural King(The Boogieman) and all-to-real horror stories(The Man Who Loved Flowers). Read "Strawberry Spring"; every word. Then build up your courage and read it again. Beautifully written and absolutely petrifying.

Though not as good as some of his novels, the short stories in Night Shift are fairly good. Some of the best are "Sometimes they Come Back", "The Mangler", and "Quitters, Inc." Also two stories dealing with Salem's Lot, one like a sequal the other a totally new aproach.

Night Shift was a great book i thought. I also thought though that many of the stories were boring and were not at all scary. Graveyard Shift, Lawnmower Man, Children Of The Corn, Jeruselum's Lot, and The BoogeyMan were the best. Defininatly a good read!

Wow! That word sums up this collection of truly excellent stories. There was only one that I didn't love, and I still liked it ("The Man Who Loved Flowers"). I have nothing else to say about this work. Read it!

This collection of short stories stinks. They are unrelentingly, depressing, mixed with macabre plots. With these stories, some people who like horror stories (and I am one IF they are well written) will focus on the horror aspect and overlook the underlying message of these stories: that everyone is helpless and cannot overcome adversity.
Grossness for the sake of grossness just doesn’t cut it with me. I’ll pass.
Another obstacle for me is that, hard as I try, I cannot swallow the idea that machines like trucks, or tables, can all of a sudden become possessed, intelligent and evil. Sorry. I can’t be that stupid. Besides, I know all about something being possessed by an intelligent, evil entity: I have an ex-wife.
Yet, I would not be fair if I didn’t also say that there was one story (The Ledge) where the protagonist is not crushed, and that I thoroughly enjoyed Battleground, wherein toy soldiers come to life to take out a hit man. In fact, Battleground was simply delightful.
The rest . . . blah.
And another thing: in town settings for children of the corn and Salem’s Lot, where they’ve become depopulated because of some evil that has been present for years, apparently the surrounding townspeople have never thought to call the governor, the media, the National Guard, the state police, the Pentagon. For a good horror, or science-fiction story or film, you can have the suspension of ONE element, not a bunch.

This is it. This is the book that made me give up Stephen King once and for all. This creepy, disgusting collection was just the last straw for me. Oh yes, he's good, but in the wrong way. His books give me nightmares for YEARS, not just days. They color the way I look at the world. This world is horrifying enough. Bye, Stevie.

Not that good. I thought that out of all his short story collections, this one was the worst. Stephen King is amazing, and I understand this was his first collection, and that they were wrote for money. That doesn't mean that Stephen King shouldn't expect a bad review.

I am a Stephen King fan. In fact, my most favorite book to date is his masterpiece, The Stand.
But the stories in this book are just pointless, uninteresting, uninspiring and downright awful.
I am simply dumbfounded at how this became a #1 best seller, or why it has such great reviews on this website. Rarely have been so utterly disappointed in a book.