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Book Reviews of Four Past Midnight

Four Past Midnight
Four Past Midnight
Author: Stephen King
ISBN-13: 9780670835386
ISBN-10: 0670835382
Publication Date: 9/1/1990
Pages: 804
Rating:
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 206

3.9 stars, based on 206 ratings
Publisher: Viking Books
Book Type: Hardcover
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

43 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 10 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Four Novellas by, in my eyes, the greatest story-teller ever. At least two of these have been made into movies: The Langoliers and Secret Window, Secret Garden. Once again, great stories by Stephen King.
TakingTime avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 1072 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Four very good novella by King. Definately some of the "good" King stories... edgy, scary, the old King shows thru.....
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 18 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
4 stories, as King puts it in the introduction, "too long to be short stories, too short to be novels." This is right before he came out with Needful Things. I really think that the story "The Library Policeman" is the best. If you like King, it's a good one to read.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on
Helpful Score: 1
I was really impressed with this book. I love Stephen King, and his short stories ESPECIALLY. This are more of a hybrid between short novels and short stories. My favorite was The Langoliers. It brought back childhood memories of sitting on the couch with my mom and dad watching the movie with a pillow held tightly. Never a dull moment with King :)
reviewed Four Past Midnight on
Helpful Score: 1
A must read for the S.King fan.I was up all night with this one.
gillkat avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 13 more book reviews
Stephen King at his best. Also has the novella SECRET WINDOW
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 7 more book reviews
good collection of short stories
tracymckibben avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 11 more book reviews
Not one of my favorite Stephen King books, although it does contain two of my favorite stories, "The Langoliers" and "Secret Window, Secret Garden". The other two stories in the book, "The Library Policeman" and "The Sun Dog" were tough to get through.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 9 more book reviews
Any thing Stephen King is worth reading
reviewed Four Past Midnight on
Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. Included are 4 of his novellas: The Langoliers, Secret Window, The Library Policeman, The Sun Dog.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 3 more book reviews
Excellent writing by Stephen King. I read these stories over and over. After 6 years I finally decided I'd read them enough and should trade the book in for another ;) Like most of his writing, a few of the stories are slow to start but very rewarding by the end.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 204 more book reviews
I enjoyed this book because the way King gives you so much detail about the character that you can make it real in your mind seeing everything that is happening.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 209 more book reviews
Four stories to take you to dreamland (not). This is the book to while away those sleepless nights.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 69 more book reviews
Pretty good. Includes for novellas: "The Langoliers", "Secret Garden, Secrect Window", "The Library Policeman" and "The Sun Dog". Secret Garden, Secret Window was the best, in the way that it started strong and stayed strong. The Langoliers and The Library Policeman started off intriguing and then just dragged on. During the Sun Dog I was on the edge of my seat the whole time but got annoying at the end.
All the stories were great. I just hate long drawn out endings where you know whats going to happen but you have to get through pages and pages of stuff to get to it.

FROM THE JACKET:
Past midnight, something happens to time, that fragile concept we employ to order our sense of reality. It bends, stretches, turns bac, or snaps, and sometimes reality snaps with it. And what happens to the wide-eyed observer when the window between reality and unreality shatters, and the glass begins to fly? These four chilling novellas, a feast fit for King fans old and new, provide some shocking answers.
After all, past midnight is Stephen King's favorite time of day...
One Past Midnight: "The Langoliers" takes a red-eye flight from L.A. to Boston into a most unfriendly sky. Only eleven passengers survive, but landing in an eerily empty world makes them wish they hadn't. Something's waiting for them, you see...
Two Past Midnight: "Secret Window, Secret Garden" enters the suddenly strange life of writer Mort Rainey, recently divorced, depressed, and alone on the shore of Tashmore Lake. Alone. that is, until a figure named John Shooter arrives, pointing an accusing finger.
Three Past Midnight: "The Library Policeman" is set in Junction City, Iowa, an unlikely place for evil to be hiding. But for small businessman Sam Peebles, who thinks he may be losing his mind, another enemy is hiding there as well--the truth. If he can find it in time, he might stand a chance.
Four Past Midnight: The flat surface of a Polaroid photograph becomes for the fifteen-year-old Kevin Delevan an invitation to the supernatural. Old Pop Merrill, Castle Rock's sharpest trader, wants to crash the party for profit, but "The Sun Dog", a creature that shouldn't exist at all, is a very dangerous investment.
With an introduction and prefatory notes to each of the tales, Stephen King discusses how these stories arose in what is the world's most fearsome imagination. But it is the stories themselves that will keep the reader awake long after bedtime, into those dark, timeless hours past midnight.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 118 more book reviews
You are strapped in an airline seat on a flight beyond hell. You are forced to hunt for the most horrifying secret a small town ever hid. You are trapped in the demonic depths of a writer's worst nightmare. You are focusing in on a beast bent on shredding your sanity. You are in the hands of Stephen King at his mind-blowing best with an extraordinary quartet of full-length novellas guaranteed to set your heart stow-watch at 4 past midnight. The Langoliers, Secret Window - Secret Garden, The Library Policeman, and The Sun Dog.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 29 more book reviews
Jet passengers are stuck in a time-slip, a psychopath accuses a writer of plagiarism, a man with an overdue book encounters a demonic librarian and a boy's camera snaps photos of a huge and nasty dog in these four horror novellas. According to PW , "None is wildly scary, and only "The Library Policeman" offers King's typical, colloquial, hard-driving conversational style with its compulsive readability."
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 7 more book reviews
The Sun Dog is the only story that I really enjoyed. The others had such a fierce concept, I should have enjoyed them, but I didnt and dont know why. Perhaps it was because Secret Window had an unsatisfying ending, and the Langoliers was hard to relate to.

I would say that these are typical SK, if there is such a thing, so if you have enjoyed other books of his, try it.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 255 more book reviews
Four novellas: The Langoliers, Secret Window, The Library Policeman and The Sun Dog.
sarah5775 avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 386 more book reviews
Definitely worth reading.
tattugurl avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 4 more book reviews
Inludes 4 stories that are very entertaining, but IMO, the most entertaining being 'Secret Window, Secret Garden' (made into the film starring Johnny Depp & John Turturro). 'The Sun Dog' is also a great story.

So, to sum it up, this a great book. This may not be the best King book out there (IMO Skeleton Crew is a great book of short stories), it is a good one. It is worth reading.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 55 more book reviews
WHO LOVES STEPHEN KING? THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU!
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 9 more book reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Jet passengers are stuck in a time-slip, a psychopath accuses a writer of plagiarism, a man with an overdue book encounters a demonic librarian and a boy's camera snaps photos of a huge and nasty dog in these four horror novellas. According to PW , "None is wildly scary, and only "The Library Policeman" offers King's typical, colloquial, hard-driving conversational style with its compulsive readability."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 31 more book reviews
Four Stephen King short stories. The Langoliers, Secret Window.. Secret Garden, The Library Police Man, The Sun Dog
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 14 more book reviews
A great collection of four of Stephen King's novels - The Langoliers, Secret Window, Secret Garden (which was made into a recent movie with Johnny Depp), The Library Policeman, and The Sun Dog. Just like all of King's work - chilling and unforgettable!
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 52 more book reviews
Very good book I loved it. Of course I'm a huge Stephen King fan
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 7 more book reviews
A quartet of short(ish) novels by Stephen King. One of my favorite King works; recommended.
earlsgirl avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 188 more book reviews
Four stories by Stephen King. Secret Window, Secret Garden was made into the movie starring Johnny Depp. If you like Stephen King, then this book is for you. 744 scary pages.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 55 more book reviews
You are strapped in an airline seat on a flight beyond hell. You are forced to hunt for the most horrifying secret a small town ever hid. You are trapped in the demonic depths of a writer's worst nightmare. You are focusing in on a beast bent on shredding your sanity. You are in the hands of Stephen King at his mind-blowing best with an extraordinary quartet of full-length novellas guaranteed to set your heart stow-watch at 4 past midnight. The Langoliers, Secret Window - Secret Garden, The Library Policeman, and The Sun Dog.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 391 more book reviews
Four horrifying tales-each more gripping than the next.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 14 more book reviews
This book was supprisingly scary...Kept me up at night.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 87 more book reviews
very enjoyable collection of four steven kings shorter stories.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 132 more book reviews
this is a book of 4 of Stephen Kings in paperback
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 533 more book reviews
Jet passengers are stuck in a time-slip, a psychopath accuses a writer of plagiarism, a man with an overdue book encounters a demonic librarian and a boy's camera snaps photos of a huge and nasty dog in these four horror novellas. According to PW , "None is wildly scary, and only "The Library Policeman" offers King's typical, colloquial, hard-driving conversational style with its compulsive readability."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 46 more book reviews
Four stories in one book: great read.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 12 more book reviews
This is a great collection of 4 short stories by King
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 23 more book reviews
Four short stories as told by Stephen King (featuring SECRET WINDOW starring Johnny Depp).
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 506 more book reviews
a 4-course feast of chilling horror-Milwaukee Journal
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 175 more book reviews
Four King stories, including The Langoliers; Secret Window, Secret Garden; The Library Policeman; The Sun Dog.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on
It was a good book and again it was another one of Stephen Kings thrillers as always.
MeadowbrookManor avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 28 more book reviews
Features "Secret Window"
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 242 more book reviews
Four of Stephen King's best novellas. Includes "The Langoliers",
"Secret Window, Secret Garden", "The Library Policeman" and "The Sun Dog".
ceejayee avatar reviewed Four Past Midnight on
I love Stephen King's books & have lots ;) but I don't need doubles ;) I have this in HC again, so I'll send off my PB. My cover is the black one with yellowish-gold clock numerals.
reviewed Four Past Midnight on + 19 more book reviews
Four Stephen King stories in one book:
The Langoliers
Secret Window, Secret Garden
The Library Policeman
The Sun Dog