"A Good Marriage" by Stephen King

[Anthony Fattore]

In his fourth novella of the Full Dark, No Stars series (2010), Stephen King continues to craft a page turning master-piece of never ending psychological thrills.

As a master of the horror genre, King gives the audience exactly what they want, as he skillfully plays with all the preconceived notions about horror writing, and turns them on their head, in a way that keeps the reader entertained throughout the entire novel. Inspired by the real life actions of the “BTK Killer”, A Good Marriage begs the question-who is your spouse, really? Who are the people we’ve known for years, decades even, and what are they capable of? When Darcy Anderson, a wife of over twenty years discovers her husband’s dark secret hidden away in a box, connecting this with the masochistic porn she finds among his other things, she becomes frantic and unsure what do about her husband potentially being both man and monster. King truly drives this suspense into the heart and minds of readers in such a way that they begin to suspect the comings and goings of their own friends and family members. Unlike the traditional King canon, the book falls in line with the rest of his Full Dark, No Stars series and centers around redemption. Stepping away from the gruesome murders of most of his novels, King delivers a breath halting story of retribution, in which Darcy must decide what to do with this terrible knowledge and in the process discover who she truly is as well as her husband. In a conversation akin to the one Norma Bates must have had with her son, Darcy is caught in her panicked state and forced to talk to the man she thought she knew, but things never unfold as expected in a King book, and Darcy faces a terrible decision that will change her forever. Despite perhaps an awkward conversation with his own wife, King creates a truly captivating, and psychologically entrancing piece of horror fiction.

Nobody thrills and terrifies audiences as consistently and meaningfully as Stephen king, and A Good Marriage does not disappoint in this regard.

[Skillian]

This sounds awesome. *added to the reading list* How does the book stand on its own? Or is it better to begin with the first novella of the series?

[wchrimes]

I'm sure the novel can stand on its own, but the other stories in Full Dark, No Stars are very much worth reading as well. Of course, you can see that Stephen King is my favorite author

[Anthony Fattore]

I agree with wchrimes, I just wanted to point out this book specifically because they are adapting it to either film or television.