This tale gives other wacky stories in this collection a run for their money, with a twisted recounting of someone’s murders, brought on by a convincing young Nona, who randomly turns into a rat halfway through. It is one of the few filler stories in this collection. This novella is somewhat bland and uninteresting, with a cursed death mirror, and an extremely predictable plot. Pretty boring, but points for originality after all, Cars came out several decades later.

Maybe he was the inspiration for Pixar’s iconic Cars franchise? Anyway, Uncle Otto’s Truck, as you might expect, features a truck out for revenge. As it is, it’s a free verse poem without much rhythm, and while King has proven adept at tackling other genres in the past, it’s clear from reading this that poetry is not one he is all that good at.įor some reason, Stephen King has a strange obsession with animated cars. King’s other exploration into poetry is fine enough, with some interesting imagery and good use of language, but you have to wonder why he didn’t just make this a regular story. The first one is notably better, because the plot is a lot simpler, but it’s a relatively minor advantage. Unfortunately, the unique form factor doesn’t help with these bland crime thriller wannabes. These narratives are quite short, linked together, and are only separated by a few other stories.

Morning Deliveries and Big Wheels: a Tale of the Laundry Game (Milkman No. I’ve always found his stories in this tone to be upsetting, especially considering King got his start as a high school teacher. King’s early obsession with school shootings comes to the forefront once again with this unfortunate story. However, it’s always nice to read Stephen’s sensitive side, and at only a page, it’s worth reading. It’s sweet, but doesn’t leave much of an impression. King includes two of his poems in Skeleton Crew, and this is obviously a poem intended to be read to his son, Owen. This is probably the Stephen King story least likely to get a film adaptation. It’s short, confusing and not very interesting, especially coming directly after The Mist. The tiger then kills his teacher, and then the story ends. We are placed into the world of a child who goes to the bathroom and sees a tiger. An almost perplexingly slight story, Here There Be Tygers is a brief journey into the mind of a child.

Best stories in skeleton crew