If It Bleeds cover art

If It Bleeds

A riveting, dark story collection featuring 'The Life of Chuck'

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If It Bleeds

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Danny Burstein, Steven Weber, Will Patton
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News people have a saying: 'If it bleeds, it leads'. And a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School is guaranteed to lead any bulletin.

Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog - and on her own need to be more assertive - when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realises there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins 'If It Bleeds', a stand-alone sequel to the No. 1 bestselling THE OUTSIDER featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case - and also the riveting title story in Stephen King's brilliant new collection.

Dancing alongside are three more wonderful long stories from this 'formidably versatile author' (The Sunday Times) - 'Mr Harrigan's Phone', 'The Life of Chuck' and 'Rat'. All four display the richness of King's storytelling with grace, humour, horror and breathtaking suspense. A fascinating Author's Note gives us a wonderful insight into the origin of each story and the writer's unparalleled imagination.

(P)2020 Simon & Schuster Audio©2020 Stephen King Anthologies & Short Stories Crime Thrillers Psychological Short Stories Suspense Thriller & Suspense Fiction Scary Exciting Mystery
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Critic reviews

Full of vividly drawn characters and unsettling themes, If It Bleeds is another tour de force by a master storyteller
Such glimpses into King's own mind are riveting and satisfyingly terrifying. Read the book for this
The horror writer is at his familiar best with four suspenseful and sometimes surprisingly tender novellas... If It Bleeds brings together four new stories, all offering vintage King themes with their own particular twist... King, as always, is right on the money
The titular novella is...an impeccably judged whodunnit...the other three [are] readable, engaging studies of male lives at different stages
You may wonder if the great yarn spinner of the supernatural possesses psychic abilities of his own because this collection of short stories is so timely... Spine-chillingly brilliant
You'll fly through IF IT BLEEDS
You are drawn in immediately and kept guessing until the end
Four wonderful stories
full of vividly drawn characters ... another tour de force by a master storyteller
His achievements... are dazzling in scope... immensely enjoyable
The straightforward cadences of King's voice, paired with his signature sit-down-and-let-me-tell-you-a-story style, were immediately soothing. And the stories he was telling - about the seductions and corruptions of technology, the extremes of beauty and depravity in even the most ordinary life, the workings of a universe we can never entirely understand - were somehow exactly what I wanted to read right now... As sirens blare outside my Brooklyn window and the headlines grow more apocalyptic by the day, I might start working my way through King's backlist. He's good company in the dark
Four new, exceptionally compelling novellas that reaffirm his mastery of the form... stories that cover a surprising amount of emotional territory but can still be read in a sitting... King's affection for [Holly] is evident on every page... deeply empathetic and compulsively readable
The iconic author will keep you up late at night engrossed in four tales about our dreams and our frailties
King is rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest - and most inventive - storytellers of our time and The Institute is a dazzling achievement
A genuinely intriguing mystery, one that uses many of the tropes of both so-called "grip-lit" thrillers and more conventional forensics-driven crime fiction... The Outsider gives King fans exactly what they want
One of the greatest storytellers of the past century...If you read only one thriller this summer, make it this one
All stars
Most relevant
I have to admit first of all that it is a long time since I have read anything by Stephen King. I have watched a few of the film adaptations of some of his famous books though. Having a spare credit this month and seeing this new release I thought I would give it a go. And I am glad that I did as this is a collection of four shortish stories all of which are great. No spoilers but here is an overview of each

1, Mr. Harrigan’s Phone in which a young boy introduces an old man to the joys of an early edition iPhone resulting in mysterious events
2. The LIfe of Chuck which is set in the near future and reminds me of a Black Mirror episode
3. If it Bleeds which is, apparently, a sequel to an earlier work Outsiders and tells the story of links between certain mass casualties over a 60 year period
4. Rat, my favourite of all in which a struggling author is haunted by a talking rat (Norwegian Brown)

These are all unique and compelling and I will certainly go back and explore more of Stephen King's back catalogue on the strength of these stories.

Four great stories from Stephen King

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I'm a big Stephen King fan but I usually prefer his novels to the short story collections but this was simply perfect!
All for stories were excellent!

The Master!

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Really well narrated and most of the stories where good, but not sure if I would pick short stories again. I prefer picking a book up and staying with the characters till the end, not have to start to embrace new ones every few hrs of listening.

Short Stories

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Wasn't expecting multiple stories so I thoroughly enjoyed this.

All of the stories were so engaging. I've been listening while exercising and it was so motivating for me to go running or cycling.

I can't get enough of Holly Gibney and I was delighted she was mentioned in the author's note. I hope this means we'll have more from her.

Fabulous Stories - yes Stories

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A great book, loved all the stories, the characters are so engaging, but have gotten used to that with THE KING 🤴.

If it bleeds... awesome King!

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