A child who receives a strange text, the life of a man told by the end, a disturbing journalist and a writer in need of inspiration ... Stephen King, the very prolific master of horror, publishes "If it bleeds "in partnership with Europe 1, a collection of four short stories whose rights have already been purchased with a view to adaptations.
If it bleeds
, the last opus of Stephen King, the American author with 400 million books sold in the world, leaves Wednesday in France in partnership with Europe 1, almost a year after its release across the Atlantic.
And the fans will have something to shudder, since
If it bleeds
is not a novel, but a collection of four big short stories, each more distressing than the other.
By his own admission, Stephen King is a graphomaniac.
He writes until he is exhausted because, he says, he has too many stories to tell.
The first short story in the collection tells the story of an old man buried with his cell phone.
One day, Craig, a young boy who had befriended him, tries to call and he receives a text in response.
The second text is a model of literary virtuosity: the life of a man is told backwards.
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A writer and a rat
The third story gives its name to the collection.
"If it bleeds, news sells": this is the mantra of some journalists, always in the right place, at the right time to cover a disaster.
One day, Holly Gibney, a detective, has a hunch while watching TV: something is wrong with the field reporter.
Finally, the latest story tells of the improbable pact between a writer lacking inspiration and ... a rat.
Everything works perfectly.
Moreover, the rights to the four short stories have already been purchased for adaptations.
This is pure Stephen King, although, as he writes in his afterword, these stories escape him: they go where they want.