Full Dark, No Stars

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, four “disturbing, fascinating” (The Washington Post) novellas—including the story “1922,” a Netflix original film—that explore the dark side of human nature.“The pages practically turn themselves” (USA TODAY) in Full Dark, No Stars, an unforgettable collection centered around the theme of retribution. In “1922,” a violence awakens inside a man when his wife proposes selling off the family homestead, setting in motion a grisly train of murder and madness. In “Big Driver”, a mystery writer is brutally assaulted by a stranger along a Massachusetts back road and plots a revenge that will bring her face-to-face with another stranger: the one inside herself. In “Fair Extension,” making a deal with the devil not only saves a man from terminal illness but also provides rich recompense for a lifetime of resentment. In “A Good Marriage,” the trust forged by more than twenty years of matrimony is irrevocably shattered when a woman makes a chance discovery leading to the horrifying implications of just who her husband really is. Like Different Seasons and Four Past Midnight, which generated such enduring hit films as The Shawshank Redemption and Stand by Me, King’s Full Dark, No Stars is a “page-turner” (The New York Times) “as gripping as his epic novels” (St. Louis Post-Dispatch), and “an extraordinary collection, thrillingly merciless, and a career high point” (The Telegraph, UK).

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. King leaves the supernatural behind to find the macabre in stories of ordinary misfortune. In each, ordinary people discover how their choices define who they are and what they can become. As usual, King's characters are multidimensional and colorful, if not necessarily sympathetic. Craig Wasson takes on two of the stories, and his raspy voice is a pleasure to listen to. The main characters in "1922" and "Fair Exchange" are not young men, and his mature gruffness and easy delivery are perfect. And while Jessica Hecht's reading of both "Big Driver" and "A Good Marriage" is pleasant and steady, her characterizations through dialogue are not very broad, and sometimes sound timid and whiny. Still, the strength of the stories keeps the listener enthralled. A Scribner hardcover. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

"The Telegraph" (UK)

“"Full Dark, No Stars" is an extraordinary collection, thrillingly merciless, and a career high point.”

Janet Maslin, "New York Times"

“A page turner.… King … seems able to write compact tales or gargantuan ones with equal ease.”

"St. Louis Post-Dispatch"""

“Just as gripping as his epic novels.”

Carol Memmott, "USA Today"

“King [is] the most wonderfully gruesome man on the planet… The pages practically turn themselves.”

"Columbus Dispatch"

“Might yield another classic… Solid psychological chillers.”

From AudioFile

Craig Wasson narrates two of the four frighteningly intimate horror tales in this collection, both of which have a male protagonist who commits a horrible act for gain and (perhaps) has a brush with the supernatural. Jessica Hecht handles the other, more bleakly mundane set, each featuring a woman who is driven to rid the world of a monster who has ruined her life and will destroy others if not stopped. Wasson has an earnest, intelligent everyman quality that appears to reflect the character's inner nature at first but eventually serves as an effective contrast. Hecht's warm, sweet voice perfectly fits that of a woman from a nicely settled life who is now brutally jolted from her comfort zone and making ruthless choices to restore a semblance of peace. A.B.G. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch (May 2025), the short story collection You Like It Darker (a New York Times Book Review top ten horror book of 2024), Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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