1922 by Stephen King

The chilling novella featured in Stephen King’s New York Times bestselling collection Full Dark, No Stars, 1922 is about a man who succumbs to the violence within—setting in motion a grisly train of murder and madness.

Wilfred James owns eighty acres of farmland in Nebraska that have been in his family for generations. His wife, Arlette, owns an adjoining one hundred acres. She wants to sell her land but if she does, Wilfred will be forced to sell as well. James will do anything to hold onto his farm, and he'll get his son to go along.

Betrayal, murder, madness, rats, 1922 is a breathtaking exploration into the dark side of human nature from the great American storyteller Stephen King.

If you know me, you probably know that I am a fan of Stephen King’s work. Honestly, about the only book of his that I have never quite been able to get into is Holly, and I think that is because it’s more or less part of a series that I haven’t actually read. But this review isn’t about that – it is about a novella/short story called 1922.

In 1922, we find a man named Wilfred James who is telling a story that might be unbelievable to some, but perhaps not for those of us familiar with Mr. King’s writing. We meet a small host of characters – Arlette James (Wilfred’s wife), Henry James (Wilfred’s son), Shannon Cotterie (love of Henry’s life), and a few others. We only really deal with Wilfred and Henry enough to form an opinion of them – to me, neither character is particularly engaging or noteworthy – but I often find that Stephen King’s characters aren’t the main attraction of his stories.

The story doesn’t take long to read, and is an engaging tale of confession, loss, grief, and madness. Obviously I’m not going to tell you what happens, but suffice it to say that the plot moves quickly enough to make reading the book quick and the plot is interesting enough to keep you wanting to read more.

I watched the movie on Netflix a few years ago, but oddly I don’t remember much about it. It might be time to revisit that now that I’ve read the novella.

I gave it 4 stars because while I didn’t connect with any of the characters, it had a fast-paced, interesting plot.