The Man in the Black Suit: 4 Dark Tales

Stephen King

Nov 2002 · Simon and Schuster · Narrated by John Cullum, Peter Gerety, and Becky Ann Baker

About this audiobook

Set in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine

An intense, eerie, and instantly compelling collection of unabridged stories from Stephen King!

"The face of the man in the black suit grows ever clearer, ever closer, and I remember every word he said. I don't want to think of him, but I can't help it, and sometimes at night my old heart beats so hard and so fast I think it will tear itself right clear of my chest."

A haunting recollection of a mysterious boyhood event, The Man in Black Suit read by John Cullum, leads off this masterful collection from Stephen King.

Other dark tales include: All That You Love Will Be Carried Away read by Peter Gerety, in which a man checks into a Lincoln, Nebraska Motel 6 to find meaning in his life; That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French read by Becky Ann Baker presents the ultimate case of déjà vu; and The Death of Jack Hamilton read by Arliss Howard—a blistering tale of Depression-era outlaws on the run.

Whether about encounters with the dead, the near dead, or about the mundane drudgery of life—Stephen King's The Man In The Black Suit: Four Dark Tales is not to be missed.

Ratings and reviews

The Man in the Black Suit written by Stephen king is an emotional and detailed story of a horrific experience that Stephen King had in his younger years.  This short story really enlights and educates readers on Kings familiarity with struggles in adolescent years. Through reading Kings biography online, I realized that almost all of kings stories are fear themed and that's more so his genre. In this detailed short story King shows his strong emotions and experience throughout the piece. King uses strong verbiage and diction in order to get his feeling through the pen and onto the paper for his readers to understand what he went through. In order to get his emotions across, He continued to describe this day and how traumatized he was by this experience which, he doesn't even know if it’s real. He also gives grave details about the monster he encountered. He remembers small and minute details as well as he did as a young boy. As he continues to tell the story, the reader gets more and more involved in his experience. Stephen King has several themes throughout and one of the biggest themes incorporated is the theme of evil and horror. This theme is very present and starts from the very beginning. King immediately shows that this other person with him is not of good energy and does not speak about him in any positive way. The reader is aware right away because in the beginning, he says “that terrifying face grows clearer and clearer in my mind’s eye” and he is talking about the present when he wrote the story which was several years ago. Overall king wrote a very detailed and remarkable short story that many people consider so memorable. King uses such detail so the readers are nearly there with Gary on this horrifying experience. King makes sure to hit all the deep fears that most people have. This is one of king’s top stories ever written and will continue to find itself highly read due to such a remarkable feeling he's left on his readers afterwards.

Excellent!!!!

About the author

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.