Night Shift by Stephen King is his first published short story collection. So far Stephen King has published 7 short story collections. I have read a lot of Stephen King but never read one of his short story collections before. His short stories are a big blind spot for me in Stephen King’s fandom. Even though I have never read Night Shift before, I was familiar with over half of the stories. This is because so many of his short stories have been turned into movies or TV episodes. The short stories that have been turned into movies are Children of the Corn, Sometimes They Come Back, Graveyard Shift, The Mangler, The Lawnmower Man, Quitters Inc., The Ledge, Trucks, and The Boogeyman. Battleground, Jerusalem’s Lot, and Grey Matter have been adapted for television. The collection has two stories from Salem’s Lot. Jerusalem’s Lot is a prequel set 150 years before Salem’s Lot. One For the Road takes place years after the events of Salem’s Lot. The story Night Surf is a story in the world of The Stand. The collection is primarily horror but there are some slice life stories that are full of life’s horrors. The stories flow very well and I only found a couple of stories with a bad pace to them. All of the stories have been published before. Most of the stories did appear in men’s magazines. So some of the stories are a little horny with sex and some violence. I like exploring young Stephen King’s works. Night Shift was published on January 1, 1978.

All 20 Night Shift stories ranked from favorite to least favorite:

5 Stars Stories:

The Mangler is about a laundry press that kills. The story sounds ridiculous, but it works so well. This is by far my favorite story. Stephen King worked for a laundry like this and knows it well. I did not know it came alive because of virgin blood. The story within a story about the refrigerator that kills was excellent. The story of a possessed item should not be this scary and creepy. The story feels like an X-Files investigation of the Mangler.

Sometimes They Come Back is a story about bullies from your past coming back. The bullies have killed before and they will again. It has been 16 years since bullies killed his brother. Now he’s a high school teacher and the bullies are new transfers to his school and they have not changed. I liked the theme of being haunted by your demons. The story flowed well and was an easy read. I liked the ending. I liked the ending twist where we get the title of the story. Sometimes They Come Back was made into a movie with the same title. I did think the movie was cheesy when I saw it last. But finally reading the story does make me want to revisit it. The movie also has two sequels. The story overall was good. It was just solid storytelling.

The Boogeyman is about man tells a story to a psychiatrist. He talks about the deaths of his three children at the hands of the Boogeyman. The pace of the story is great. The imagery got under my skin. This was a great story. I did have the ending spoiled and remembered someone telling me the twist, which was good.

Trucks is a story about trucks becoming alive and they want gas. They will kill to get gas. Trucks was adapted and directed by Stephen King with the title changed to Maximum Overdrive. The movie has exact scenes from this story. I love the film it has its flaws but is very watchable and has an ACDC soundtrack that rocks. The story is scary because you don’t know what is going on.

One For the Road is revisiting Salem’s Lot a couple of years after the events in the book. It is a snowy night and one patron is at the bar that should be closed. The owner is about to close it when a frantic man enters. He said he left his wife and kid to get help after their car got stuck in a snow bank. The car is stuck in front of Jerusalem’s Lot, which gives the men a pause. They have heard the rumors of vampires. The bar guys help. The story is very effective. The snowy scene works very well. The vampires are scary when they show up.

Quitters Inc. is a story about a man who can’t quit smoking. He runs into an old friend who looks great and has stopped smoking. The friend gives him a gift card to Quitters Inc. He is vague about what they do but it gets results. The story is pretty crazy with some twists along the way. Quitters Inc. was a story in the movie Cat’s Eye starring James Woods.

4 Stars Stories:

The Children of the Corn is a story about children who have taken over a town. They kill all the adults as sacrifices to God and corn. The story sounds ridiculous, but it is very foreboding and atmospheric. The children are terrifying. The build-up took a little too long, but that could be me knowing the movies so well. This was the first horror movie I remember seeing. I did not like that the ending remains unresolved.

Battleground is a story about a hitman who returns to his home to find a package. The package is full of army men who come alive and start shooting him. There is hardly any dialogue in the story. Battleground was made into a short film on TNT on the Nightmare and Dreamscapes. The episode was directed by Brian Henson, Jim Henson’s son, and started William Hurt. I felt the story ended too soon.

Graveyard Shift follows a college guy who finds hard work in a mill. The job would not be bad, except for all the rats. The foreman denies the rats are a problem. Hall, the college boy, is given a chance. He works the graveyard shift to clear out the lower basement of the mill. The deeper they go the bigger the rats get. Despite worker’s protests the foreman keeps pushing them. I liked this story.

The Last Rung on the Ladder is a story about a brother saving his sister by thinking fast. The story is short and well paced. I don’t know if the ending line works. It is a good story about time being fleeting and checking on with the ones you love.

The Ledge is a story about a gangster finding out his wife is having an affair with a tennis pro. He offers the guy a deal at gunpoint. If the guy can walk around the building on the 5-inch ledge, he can live. He can take the wife and some money. The story moves very fast with a twist at the end. The Ledge was in the movie Cat’s Eye.

Grey Matter is a story about a man drinking a contaminated beer and starts turning into a creature. A good story with obvious connections to alcohol addiction. This story was made into an episode of Creepshow the TV show. The story and the show have a different ending. What I like about the story is we get the origin of the beer and how it corrupts.

I Know What You Need is a love story that turns horror. I have never heard of this story before. I liked some parts, but overall it was a bit too long. The ending turn was too sudden. I wanted to see the villain attempt to fix things before calling the victim a bitch. I did like the twist with how unordinary the guy truly was.

3 Stars Stories:

The Man Who Loves Flowers is a story about a young man buying flowers for someone he loves. Everyone who notices him gets euphoria because he is so in love. The story ends in a sinister twist. There’s not much to this story. I did not expect the ending. The story is okay.

The Lawnmower Man is a story about a man who hires a deity to mow the lawn. He doesn’t realize this and then freaks out when he does. The film with the same title has nothing to do with the short story other than a lawnmower and overalls. Stephen King sued to get his name off the poster and won. The story is unique but just okay. The story has a surprising gore scene. You can see this story popping up in a men’s magazine.

The Woman in the Room is about a son dealing with his 86-year-old mother. She has cancer that is killing her slowly. The son is debating giving her a pill that will kill her. There’s some good imagery and internal debate. The story is just okay.

Jerusalem’s Lot is a story of a man in the 1800s inheriting his family’s home. The house is full of squeaks and grinding in the walls. The man with his servant starts investigating the house and finds a secret panel behind a bookcase. Where the map describes the town of Jerusalem’s Lot. The town is abandoned but he starts to feel a presence. Is it madness or is it real? The story is told through letters and journal entries, which is not my favorite. It took a while for me to get a grasp on the story. The ending was done very well. The slow madness is a great build-up to full-blown crazy. This story ties into Salem’s Lot but is its own thing.

Night Surf is a story that takes place in the world of The Stand. Captain Tripps is mentioned as the cause of the disease, that kills everything around a group of kids. The story is about togetherness but also feeling alone. The story captures feeling invincible even though you are not. I thought the story was okay. I do find it interesting that this story was written before The Stand.

I Am the Doorway is a cosmic horror about an astronaut who brought something from space back to Earth. The classic cover with the handful of eyes comes from this story. This story did take me a second to figure out what was going on. I did like the last part as things got crazy.

2 Stars Stories:

Strawberry Spring is a killer that appears during a strawberry spring. It’s a time when it is Spring, but with a wintry mix and fog. The killer is called Springheel Jack. The story has some good imagery and a decent ending, but this story did not click for me. I found it boring and no one in the story to connect with. This has been my least favorite story so far.

Recommendation: Night Shift is a good mix of horror stories. Some of the stories are cosmic horror, some are creatures or objects, and some are the horrors of life. The originality of the stories is why so many in this collection have been adapted. If you are a current Stephen King reader, the stories might surprise you. They might seem juvenile in terms of the characters and the stories. Out of the 20 short stories I had 13 in the 4 and 5 stars range. I think this is a good collection and recommend my followers to check it out.

Rating: Night Shift by Stephen King is 4.2 out of 5.

I have read over 30 Stephen King novels but only read 15 for my blog. I will rank where Night Shift fits into the 15 I have read and fully reviewed. The ranking is from best to worst 1) The Shining, 2) Misery, 3) 11/22/63, 4) On Writing, 5) IT, 6) The Outsider, 7) Night Shift, 8) Fairy Tale, 9) Later, 10) If it Bleeds, 11) Elevation, 12) Joyland, 13) Mr. Mercedes, 14) Billy Summers, and 15) The Dead Zone.