I've been reading some pretty weird stuff lately, and this is no exception! I got through another King novel recently, which was decidedly longer than this, and I just came across this in passing. It was made into one of the cheesiest (but rather delightful!) movies with some of the worst special effects of all time, called Silver Bullet, in the mid 80s, so I thought I would read the short story version, and, by short, I mean short. I think it needed so many pages of illustrations just to make it long enough to justify creating a volume of its own, as it was clearly just one of his short stories, probably originally in an anthology (forgive my ignorance if this isn't the case).
Silver bullets do finally do the trick, but I think a more proper title would be A Werewolf Almanac, actually. The story takes place over the course of a year, in a small town in Maine, where a series of odd killings set the sleepy town on edge, as new victims appear every full moon. It's not until a handicapped ten-year-old comes face to face with The Beast that their worst fears are realized: what has been preying on them is, in fact, a monster. I don't want to compare the short story with the movie, but it is quite different. The short story is essentially a series of vignettes consisting of short descriptions of encounters with the monster, which almost always end badly, of course, whereas the movie is much more a narrative, focusing on the character of Marty, who avoids being torn limb from limb by foiling the monster with a string of firecrackers (!). I actually would have liked much more detail in the story, but it was a short, fun read that took all of 30 minutes. Despite its length, however, a word of warning: it definitely is NOT a children's book!
Silver bullets do finally do the trick, but I think a more proper title would be A Werewolf Almanac, actually. The story takes place over the course of a year, in a small town in Maine, where a series of odd killings set the sleepy town on edge, as new victims appear every full moon. It's not until a handicapped ten-year-old comes face to face with The Beast that their worst fears are realized: what has been preying on them is, in fact, a monster. I don't want to compare the short story with the movie, but it is quite different. The short story is essentially a series of vignettes consisting of short descriptions of encounters with the monster, which almost always end badly, of course, whereas the movie is much more a narrative, focusing on the character of Marty, who avoids being torn limb from limb by foiling the monster with a string of firecrackers (!). I actually would have liked much more detail in the story, but it was a short, fun read that took all of 30 minutes. Despite its length, however, a word of warning: it definitely is NOT a children's book!
Back to all reviews by this member
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
Back to all reviews of this book
Back to Book Reviews
Back to Book Details
