If It Bleeds

*#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* Featuring the novella “The Life of Chuck,” now a feature film adapted for the screen and directed by Mike Flanagan (The Fall of the House of UsherDoctor Sleep) and starring Tom HiddlestonMark HamillChiwetel Ejioforand Karen Gillan—a Toronto International Film Festival People’s Choice Award winner! From the legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary collection of four new “exceptionally compelling novellas that reaffirm [King’s] mastery of the form” (The Washington Post). Readers adore Stephen King’s novelsand his novellas are their own dark treatbriefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. Many of his novellas have been made into iconic filmsincluding “The Body” (Stand by Me) and “Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption” (Shawshank Redemption). The four brilliant tales in If It Bleeds prove as iconic as their predecessors. In the title storyreader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider) must face her fearsand possibly another outsider—this time on her own. In “Mr. Harrigan’s Phone” an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. “The Life of Chuck” exploresbeautifullyhow each of us contains multitudes. And in “Rat” a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition. If these novellas show King’s rangethey also prove that certain themes endure. One of King’s great concerns is eviland in If It Bleedsthere’s plenty of it. There is also evil’s oppositewhich in King’s fiction often manifests as friendship. Holly is reminded that friendship is not only life-affirming but can be life-saving. Young Craig befriends Mr. Harriganand the sweetness of this late-in-life connection is its own reward. “An adroit vehicle to showcase the…nature of evil” (The Boston Globe)If It Bleeds is “exactly what I wanted to read right now” says Ruth Franklin in The New York Times Book Review.