Deciding to finish this collection, I read the last two stories back to back. If the title doesn’t give you enough of a clue, these stories are dark, gripping and unapologetic, making for a great set of novellas.
Fair Extension, the shortest of the four collected here, is a mean spirited tale of jealousy and hidden feelings. Suffering late stage cancer, Dan Streeter who seemingly is a morally upstanding husband and father meets a stranger on a quiet road at the edge of town. That man offers him a deal, an extension on his life. He thinks the man is insane, especially when it’s revealed that for the deal to be complete, Streeter must choose someone he hates to transfer his pain upon.
It’s this point that’s so important and so hard to swallow. Choosing his best friend against whom he’s harboured all manner of ill will since childhood, reveals something awful. That friend relied on Streeter to help him through school, stole Streeter’s girlfriend who he married and ended up coasting into a massively successful business. The deep seated resentment Streeter feels pours out, much to the strangers glee. Weeks later, the man’s cancer is gone but his friend’s life begins to deteriorate in truly terrible ways, classically narrated in King’s inimitable style.
Less complex than other stories it still retains that central kernel; a pivotal moment that changes everything and the consequences thereof. But, the darkness here is of much different quality and is more brutal for it.
The last story, A Good Marriage, is truly intense and deeply unsettling. An unassuming and pleasant girl, Darcy, meets a young man and together they build a life full of marriage’s little quirks and compromises but also joys and love. A nice house, two beautiful children – now grown – and a routine that includes Bob, her husband, going on frequent trips to trade for rare coins, his passion. An accountant, a little soft in the middle, he’s a man of careful routine.
It’s whilst he’s away on one of those trips that Darcy makes a discovery. A bondage magazine hidden amongst old catalogues in a box kept in the garage. A box that was left out. A box that Darcy tripped over looking for batteries. That first uncovering peels back the veneer on Darcy’s quiet but happy life. It’s the consequences, once again, that have such profound ramifications; the implications of which pierce through the story and make it so harsh. Realising her husband, the person she loves so deeply and has shared her whole adult life with, is something completely other is brutally portrayed.
A fascinating look into the notion that you never truly know another, that there’s always another side to the looking glass, A Good Marriage is a terrifying moral dilemma and a visceral tale. Yet, once again, like Big Driver, though the evil is vanquished the required action leaves it’s mark; another irrevocable change.
Dark, personal stories cleverly crafted and reaching into the depths of human psyches, Full Dark, No Stars is an immensely captivating collection.
My copy
Published by Hodder & Stoughton
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