If It Bleeds

ReviewI pretty much picked this up for the title story alone. For that reason I ended up borrowing it from the library rather than picking up a copy. I generally don't like short fiction much, but Stephen King has long shown himself to be a master of it (think [b:Different Seasons 39662 Different Seasons Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329662611l/39662.SY75.jpg 2248680]) despite being known best for his monster works best .I really love Holly Gibney. She's right up there with Roland Deschain and his ka-tet as among my favorite characters King has written. While not quite as good as [b:The Outsider 36124936 The Outsider Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1524596540l/36124936.SY75.jpg 57566471], I still really enjoyed that one best. I'd love to read more Holly Gibney stories in the future.I had mixed feelings about the other stories. I ended up really enjoying Mr. Harrington's phone as well, almost as much as the title story. I thought the idea was interesting, and it was kind of cool to go back to a time when smart phones hadn't taken over our lives completely.The start of Life of Chuck was really hard to read. This was written pre-covid, but the world ending and things falling apart was not something I really wanted to read. Thankfully that part was kind of brief and the rest of the story was better/more interesting.Rat on the other hand was not a great read for me at all. I didn't particularly like the main character so it was hard to enjoy the story. I did think the ending was decent, but it didn't save the story for me.Overall I'm glad I borrowed this book rather than buying it. I don't tend to re-read, but if I did I'd probably only re-read the title story.Audiobook:There were 3 narrators for this book. Will Patton, narrated Mr. Harrington's Phone and If it Bleeds. Danny Burstein narrated The Life of Chuck and Steven Weber narrated Rat. I've listened to Will Patton before, in particular for King's other books with Holly Gibney. I was glad to have him back for that story. He also seemed like a good for Mr. Harrington as well. It probably helped that those two were my favorite stories, but in general I liked his narration the best.I thought both of the other two narrators were fine. Neither jumped out at me as fantastic, but I was probably more focused on the stories, which can be a good thing as well.For me since I listened to the Bill Hodges books and the Outsider, I was glad to listen to this book as well, but otherwise it's probably not a must-listen for me.RatingsMr. Harrington's Phone - 4 starsThe Life of Chuck - 3 starsIf it Bleeds - 4 starsRat -2 stars