I enjoyed The Sun Dog when I read it originally, and when i read it again later, I liked it even more. Castle Rock is one of my favorite places King writes about in his universe.
Anything better than Mike and Stephen King? And what a neat idea … reading the Castle Rock stories as a group. Perhaps leaving It to its own reading even though it’s my favorite King novel. Thanks Mike
Get used to it. If I had a nickel for every bad Mike take I'd be richer than Bezos. It's just nice to learn about books I would have never heard of otherwise.
Interestingly enough, I actually haven’t heard much criticism at all for THE SUN DOG, yet being half of the unadapted from the collection it’s likely one that casual compared to constant readers just never checked out. Your assessment of this being a NEEDFUL THINGS prequel of sorts is also spot on with the Merrill family presence and one that I’ve actually recommended to people who are about to read NEEDFUL THINGS as a Castle Rock preamble of sorts. Oddly enough, this is an El Rey tale that I always compare to similar stories like GOOSEBUMPS: SAY CHEESE AND DIE or his son’s SNAPSHOT from STRANGE WEATHER dealing with weird Polaroids that probably derived some inspiration from TSD. It is perhaps the weakest of the four here but still a fun afternoon read. Glad you finished this one up brotha and obviously long days and pleasant nights. 🌹🤘🔥
Good to see you, amigo! I was too old for Goosebumps once it blew up but this doesn't sound wrong. And I heard a lot of hate for this one when I was reading it with a lot of others. But I feel like your exposure on this one is more reaching than mine.
The Long Walk and Thinner are annual audiobook relistens for me. Read them when I was a kid. They're so good even if they're not as polished as his more recent stuff.
I read Sun Dog ages ago and was really creeped me out too. Recently I read The Mezzotint by MR James and I can see a possible inspiration for SK. Good stuff
I,m so glad your getting to the Bachman books, I recently read thinner and thought it was magnificent. It really is underrated, i also got the regulators and blazee at some local bookstores and am looking forward to reading them.
The Sun Dog is my second favorite novella in the book (The Langoliers has the top spot). The chapter where Kevin hears how his dad stopped smoking is one of my all-time favorite bits of King storytelling. I really like that father-son relationship.
I never realized sundog was disliked. all these years later it still has a place in my memories so I liked it and especially since I thought it was connected to Needful THings which is an incredibly under rated King book
James wan is the modern master of horror films as is king in books! I’m waiting on revival to be delivered today. Lighting looks good Mike 😊 please do more horror. If you’ve not read it I recommend hidden pictures by Jason rekulak that’s got some twists! Great content again 👍 those of us who grew up in the 80s love us some king!
Thank you for the review on Sun Dog. I love your Stephen King content. I can't agree with you about Different Seasons vs Four Past Midnight. Different Seasons is much stronger. I'm not a Langoliers fan. Different Seasons is his Novella collection that can't be beat.
I wish you could spend some more time analyzing details and favorite scenes. Yes, I know-spoilers, but you can announce that, right? I thought the characterization and setting in Sundog were top notch. The in depth analysis of the boy and his father’s relationship and the Pop Merrill charcterization/descriptions and all of pop’s Mad hatters were A+. That’s what makes the story, I agree. Also, agree about the Polaroid being creepy.. kind of wish what was coming out of the camera wasn’t a dog though. There is always a small feeling of liking dog creatures and therefore some pity and lack of fear. Maybe scarier if it was Frankenstein creature or an alien a clown (lol)? Anyway, just quibbling. Mr. Otto’s Truck and Mrs. Todd’s Short Cut are my favorite Castle Rock stories. Needful Things needed editing badly-way too much repetition with him tricking and people and getting them to harm themselves and others-got old, almost obsessive compulsive. Except the Elvis ladies, that’s classic. The only major Caste Rock Story I haven’t read is Dark Half.
Yesterday I finished reading Needful Things and today The Sun Dog. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with both. I would give Needful Things 3.5/5 and to The Sun Dog 3/5.
I really enjoyed the sun dog, It was the only story in four past midnight that genuinely scared me. And I liked Kevin's sister, there relationship was cute and sweet and she was a neat charecter who made the story more interesting despite not being involved in the main plot that much. Her wiping off his kiss in the beginning at his 15th birthday and then not wiping it off a year later was sweet and cute, and I wish they'd done more with their relationship. I do agree that it would have probably been better as a short story, the part about pop merril going around trying to sell the camera was dull AF IMO and the story would have been better without it. It just got in the way of the story that I cared about. It would've been better if the story cut that out to made it a short story or filled those pages with more about Kevin and his family dealing with the camera . This will be incredibly controversial but my least favourate story from four past midnight is The library policemen. I thought it was good but it didnt do anything special, the ending was I dont wanna say predictable but it didnt surprise me much and felt almost cliche. It was definitely the weakest of the four IMO.
His books vary greatly in tone, genre and theme. Some books will hit more than others. A lot of his stuff got better with age, so maybe try some of his mid-career or late-career stuff.
That's fair. He can be very hit and miss. For me, I find alot of his post-2000 work to be pretty mediocre whereas his early stuff, 70s to 90s, to be very enjoyable.
