You Like It Darker

You Like It Darker (2024) is the seventh collection of stories by American horror writer Stephen King. Celebrated for novels such as The Shining (1977) and It (1986), King is also well-known for his short-form works, collected in books like Night Shift (1978) and Skeleton Crew (1985). Some stories in You Like It Darker (including “Two Talented Bastids,” “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” “Rattlesnakes,” “The Dreamers,” and “The Answer Man”) first appeared in magazines such as Harper’s, McSweeney’s, and Esquire between 2018 and 2024. However, King began writing the book’s final story, “The Answer Man,” in 1977 when he was 30. As the title suggests, these stories delve into the darker side of the human experience, exploring human responses to cruelty, luck as a form of destiny, and the consequences of death.

This study guide refers to the First Hardcover Edition of the book, published by Scribner in 2024.

Content Warning: The book and this study guide depict or include references to alcohol addiction, death by suicide, child violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and police violence. The book also contains offensive language that is biased against gay people, Asians, unhoused people, and people with disabilities.

Plot Summaries

You Like It Darker comprises 12 short stories. While most of the collection uses speculative elements to explore its themes, stories like “The Fifth Step,” “Willie the Weirdo, “On Slide Inn Road,” and “Laurie” can be classified as realistic stories.

The first story, “Two Talented Bastids,” is told from the perspective of Mark Carmody, the son of a famous writer, Laird Carmody. Mark becomes curious about the origins of his father’s talent when journalist Ruth Crawford tries to develop a profile on him and his best friend, visual artist “Butch” LaVerdiere. Crawford notes that Laird and Butch simultaneously rose to fame in their forties and wonders what drove their sudden success. After Laird and Butch die, Mark learns that during a hunting trip they saved an alien’s life. In return, the aliens gave them a device that enabled them to access their primal thoughts, which was implicitly their key to success. Mark visits the hunting cabin to use the device, but it doesn’t work. He resigns himself to likely never matching his father’s talent.

In “The Fifth Step,” retired engineer Harold Jamieson meets a stranger on his favorite Central Park bench. The stranger, Jack, asks Jamieson to listen to his confession, completing the fifth step of the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program. Jack describes the relationship between his violent nature and alcohol addiction, which followed him from his youth to his marriage. Though Jack initially tells Jamieson that he walked away from violence, he ends their encounter by admitting that he killed his wife because he deeply enjoys violence.

“Willie the Weirdo” tells the story of a boy named Willie and his grandfather, James, both of whom their family ostracizes. Willie’s peers and his sister, Roxie, often bully him because he attends remedial classes to help with a learning disability. James is reserved around everyone in his family but Willie, who asks him questions about historical events. During the COVID-19 pandemic, James is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The family finds caring for James emotionally taxing, and only Willie keeps his grandfather company when he dies.

In “Danny Coughlin’s Bad Dream,” high school custodian Danny dreams that a woman is buried behind a gas station outside a neighboring town. When he finds that his dream is real, he anonymously reports the body’s location to the police. After the police trace the report back to him, he’s hounded by a relentless investigator, Frank Jalbert, and his initially loyal partner, Ella Davis. Jalbert insists that Danny is the killer despite evidence suggesting otherwise. Jalbert tries to incriminate Danny in various ways, like planting illegal drugs in his truck. Shortly after the murder victim’s brother tries to shoot Danny, the police apprehend the killer, clearing Danny. Unwilling to accept Danny’s innocence, Jalbert plots to kill him. Danny has a dream about Jalbert’s plans and warns Davis of her former partner’s intentions. When Davis confronts Jalbert, he dies by suicide.

“Finn” is about a boy who has unusually bad luck throughout his life. During his teen years, a gang kidnaps Finn, mistaking him for someone else. They torture Finn, urging him to reveal the location of a bomb factory. Believing their leader has gone too far, rogue gang members take pity on Finn and release him. He celebrates his freedom by dangerously climbing a slide, as he did as a child.

“On Slide Inn Road” begins when the Brown family becomes lost driving when a “shortcut” that the grandfather, Donald, claims he used many years ago becomes a dead-end road. When they cross paths with two murderous robbers named Galen and Pete, Donald fights back, beating the robbers with his dying sister’s souvenir baseball bat. Donald’s son, Frank, resents his father for getting them on the shortcut in the first place, but Frank’s wife, Corinne, tells him to shut up.

In “Red Screen,” a detective named Wilson, who has a short-tempered wife, Sandi, questions a man named Leonard Crocker, who claims he killed his wife because an alien replaced her. He cites her short temper and his cell phone screen flashing red as evidence. At home, Sandi apologizes to Wilson, attributing her behavior to early menopause, and Wilson’s phone screen flashes red.

“The Turbulence Expert” follows Craig Dixon, whose employer instructs him to board a flight from Boston to Sarasota. The flight nearly crashes due to intense turbulence but miraculously recovers. Dixon tells a seatmate, Mary Worth, that he’s a professional “turbulence expert.” His fear of flying prevents air disasters. He recognizes the same fear in Mary and recruits her because he wishes to retire.

“Laurie” centers on Lloyd Sunderland, who recently lost his wife, Marian. Lloyd’s sister, Beth, gives him a puppy to distract him from his grief. He reluctantly adopts the puppy, naming her “Laurie.” As the months go by, Lloyd becomes increasingly attached to the dog, training her and taking her on walks. During one walk, they see a wild alligator consuming Lloyd’s neighbor, Don. Lloyd fights the alligator, saving himself and Laurie. Later, he feels grateful for Laurie’s presence in his life.

“Rattlesnakes” is a sequel to King’s novel Cujo, following the character Vic Trenton, a senior advertising executive who stays in Rattlesnake Key during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sojourn affords him solitude to grieve the passing of his wife, Donna, and the death of their son, Tad, years earlier. Vic meets his neighbor, Allie Bell, who pushes a pram that she believes carries her twin sons, Jacob and Joseph. In reality, rattlesnakes killed them nearly 40 years earlier, which led the community to purge much of the area’s snake population. Empathizing with her grief, Vic indulges Allie’s behavior and befriends her. When Allie dies, however, the Bell twins’ ghosts haunt Vic, wanting to attach themselves to him as a new parent. Calling for help from Tad’s ghost, Vic is inspired to throw the twins’ pram into a nearby whirlpool. Their ghosts disappear, and Vic leaves Rattlesnake Key, also letting go of his grief for his own dead family.

“The Dreamers,” set in 1971, follows William Davis, whose experiences in the Vietnam War dulled his emotions. He starts working as a stenographer for Elgin, a “gentleman scientist” seeking to use dreams to access a parallel universe. William worries about the experiments’ morality but stays out of curiosity. After black tendrils burst through a subject’s eyes, killing him, William hides the subject’s body, but the tendrils overtake Elgin. Though William destroys Elgin’s house and all evidence of their work, he’s haunted by the universe behind his dreams.

“The Answer Man” follows Phil Parker, a young lawyer struggling to decide where to settle and practice. He meets “The Answer Man,” who entices Phil to ask questions about his life. The Answer Man surprises him by accurately predicting Phil’s future. Guided by these predictions, Phil becomes a war hero, a father, and a successful lawyer. When Phil encounters the Answer Man again, his responses worry Phil. Phil’s world is subsequently rocked by the sudden deaths of his son, Jake, and his wife, Sally Ann. Phil demands to see the Answer Man again to seek closure. When the Answer Man fails to reappear, Phil pours his grief into a prolonged legal battle for one of his clients, which turns him into a respected member of his community. As a dying elderly man, Phil encounters the Answer Man one more time. He affirms Phil’s questions about life after death with a simple “yes.” Though it isn’t a definitive answer, Phil is at peace with the response.