The Man in the Black Suit

The Man in the Black Suit
by Stephen King
★★★★ 

I quickly realized that I’d read all four of these stories before. They are all included in King’s “Everything’s Eventual” collection. Though it had been 10 years since I read that, I remembered almost every detail of the title story. An old man recounts meeting the Devil while fishing as a young boy. The audio version was fantastic and brought the creepy characters to life beautifully.

For me, the weakest story of the four is “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away.” The piece is about a traveling salesman who is contemplating suicide. He also has a strange habit of collecting graffiti in a notebook. “The Death of Jack Hamilton” is about John Dillinger’s gang. One of the members tells us the stories about the days leading up to Dillinger’s dramatic death and the unexpectedly loss of their friend.

“That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French” offers readers a trippy case of Deja Vu with an ominous tone. After 25 years of marriage a couple decides to take a second honeymoon. The story gives us a glimpse of their ill-fated vacation.

BOTTOM LINE: Great collection, though I wish I’d known this was a republication of selections from another collection of short stories.

I read and reviewed this one to join in the King's March  event hosted by Fourth Street Review.