The Mist - Stephen King

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⭐ 8.5/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

I'd been wanting to read a Stephen King book since going through his memoir/ writing guide, and this book was perfect. One of his more popular books, and only 200 pages!

It was published in 1980 (holy smokes, he's been doing this a long time) and it shows a bit. Definitely a bit of problematic stuff here, like some macho man glorification, and then making sure to describe most female characters by their appearance. In fairness, this book is written in first person, so I'm not actually sure what is Stephen King and what is David Drayton.

Either way, those issues aside, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. I can totally see why his books do so well. His writing is mostly very basic and won't win awards, but he does a great job of setting up these spooky atmospheric situations without being campy. There is something to be said about simply telling the reader what the room looks like and what is happening.

I read this book in a week of train rides, and honestly I was always looking forward to the commute. It's an easy read, but engrossing and fascinating. It's spooky without being too grim or dark. The characters don't have a ton of depth, but feel real and alive. This is also a one-location story and I always love those.

I'm not sure how much Stephen King I'll read, but this definitely gave me an idea of what he's like. I enjoyed it, and totally recommend this one as a quick, fun read.

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