YOU LIKE IT DARKER
He writes it shorter
★★★★
RELEASED 21 MAY 496 pages | Hardback/ebook/audiobook
Author Stephen King
Publisher Hodder & Stoughton
The title of this short story collection is a little misleading, unless you get the reference. And since the reference is to a relatively obscure Leonard Cohen song of the same name, chances are many people won’t. In which case you’d be forgiven for thinking that You Like It Darker is a promise of Stephen King delving further into grisly horror than ever before.
Well, no. Okay, there are a couple of deliciously gruesome moments, but this collection is far from a mere scarefest, and that Cohen reference is the clue. The song’s lyrics – framed as a dialogue with God – deal with the songwriter’s acceptance of his own mortality upon turning 82.