The Mist Paperback – June 5, 2018

This is my first time reading Stephen King and it surely won’t be my last. His writing is immaculate and the story is extremely thoughtful. The book has one of the best endings I have read, it doesn’t necessarily end the story but it is not sloppy or lazy either. This book is a fairly soft introduction to horror, if you haven’t read much horror before I would recommend it. There are dramatic, violent scenes but considering how notorious Stephen King is this would be a good start. The book is also a fairly quick read. I rarely would give a book five stars but I believe this one deserves it.

There was a lot going for this story. Plenty of monsters, both man-eating and human. A father working diligently to keep his son safe. Claustrophobic setting. What keeps this story from five stars is actually the ending. King even writes that the narrator’s father would say it is a bad ending. Is that supposed to be like an acknowledgment that not everyone will find the conclusion satisfying? Possibly. That doesn’t make the ending any better, though. I think the fact that this is a novella rather than one of King’s novels makes it a little more forgivable, but it almost feels like he ran out of imagination for what might happen next.Having watched the film ahead of time, I must say that it has a better ending, though not one I would have wanted to read either.

I got back into reading thanks to Stephen King, having stopped reading after graduating high school.After working through some of his works, 'The Shining' being the novel that truly wet my mouth for more, I ventured off to taste the work of other authors. I was safe with the King but that couldn't be what reading was about for me, or eventually I'd find myself without anything else to read, thus giving up reading for a second and possibly final time.So it has been a few months since my last King book, and reading 'The Mist' reminded me how potent good writing can be.I LOVE 'The Mist'. I saw the movie first, years ago, and was dumbstruck. This novel only solidifies my gawking at his horror.This book doesn't just present you with evil monsters outside in the mist. In fact, King reveals the monsters INSIDE the store, and the psychology of fear and anger and the deadly combination of the two.Mob mentality is truly something to witness, and King brings us as close as he can while tempers rose and fear swallows them up resulting in death and more death.Being as I just finished, I could ramble on forever honestly.This is a quick, gripping novella that shows Kings teeth are as sharp regardless of his story's length.If you haven't read any King before (how can that be?!) then this is a great story to start with. If you have experience with King but haven't experienced 'The Mist', do something nice for yourself and dive in!

I had this one in the long ago and loaned it to someone who has faded from memory. I devoured it while waiting to be seen at a doctors office.It is a snack of a story and well worth the re-read!

At the end, I felt cheated in two ways.The first is that, in the words of King's own first-person narrator: "But you mustn’t expect some neat conclusion. There is no 'And they escaped from the mist into the good sunshine of a new day; or 'When we awoke the National Guard had finally arrived;' or even that great old standby: 'It was all a dream.' It is, I suppose, what my father always frowningly called “an Alfred Hitchcock ending,” by which he meant a conclusion in ambiguity that allowed the reader or viewer to make up his own mind about how things ended. My father had nothing but contempt for such stories, saying they were 'cheap shots.'"Well, yeah, his father was right. This is unprofessional storytelling. He started to write a story and couldn't figure out how to end it, but because he's Stephen King, and because lots of people would rather read a lousy Stephen King book than no Stephen King book, he gets away with it.You can enjoy the flow of storytelling and his evocation of horrible events--like the sounds approaching monsters make in the dark. It keeps you reading to find out what happens next. But nothing makes sense and everything is left hanging.The second reason is that when "The Mist" ends, you're less than halfway through the Kindle book. You have paid full price for half a book. The rest of the book is a partial sample of a book entitled "You Like It Darker." Sample chapters are annoying. But when the sample preview is half the book, that's not annoying, that's dishonest.So, 1) the preview is unsatisfying, because is an unfinished book, but we all know that going in. 2) "The Mist" is unsatisfying, because it may be all he wrote, but it's an unfinished story. And he says so himself. But we don't know it in advance, he springs it on us at the end.

I loved the movie hopefully the book will be just as good wll update when I read it

Mist is ok but too long. this is not vintage King, or master of the genre King. It is ho hum 3* King.But... But...As is fairly common there is a preview of a new book at the end of Mist. Danny Coughlin's Bad Dream is a complete story from his book to be released May 22, 2024. This story is King at his best, telling a story of a psychic dream that Danny has that forces him to try and do the right thing as a result. It is a modern retelling of the theme from Les Miserable and so satisfying. I am looking forward to the rest of you Like It Darker.

This captured the essence of horror. Also, this takes me back to many, many of King's early works, of which I have read everything publishable.