4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Read., Feb 8 2006
I've read most of the stories in this book and can safely say that this is a very diverse collection of stories from King (with whom I am a fan). Each story has its own little something to bring to the table and each story has its good points. But by far the best story in this book would have to be The Mist. I really wish King had spent more time on that and turned it into a novel, it would've been a killer book.
The Mist creates the creepiest and most frightening atmospheres of all the stories in the book. I'll give you an idea of how creepy this story was. I was working overtime at my town's community centre where the local high school was having their prom. It was basically a babysitting job so I brought Skeleton Crew to read while the kids had their fun. I picked The Mist to read and finished it over the course of the evening. When I first arrived there, ahead of the kiddies, it was a clear day and sunny outside. By the time I left it was dark and a fog bank had rolled in (...creepy). I RAN to my car and locked the doors as soon as i got in. That's the level of creepiness this story has.
Some other good stories are Gramma; suspenseful and creepy but could've been longer, and The Raft; kind of a B-Movie type of horror.
Overall a really good book.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Few Low Points, But Mainly Great Stuff, Jun 2 2004
I guess there's something for everyone in "Skeleton Crew," - or at least for most people. The book contains a few tales where, as King himself puts it in one of his other short-story anthologies, "things happen just because they happen." In other words, impossible (or maybe just improbable) things become possible, and even frequent. Stories like this in "Skeleton Crew" include "The Mist," "Here There Be Tygers" and "The Raft."
Interestingly enough, these are three of my favourites. I was a bit disappointed by the end of "The Mist," with a proper ending and more detail in between, it could've been a standalone novella. As it is, the ending leaves a lot - too much, in my opinion - to the imagination. We want to know what happens in the end, but that's largely unexplained. Still, it's a great story. "The Raft" is simply King at his gruesome, unforgiving best.
Stories like "Here There Be Tygers" and "Cain Rose Up" held my interest, but at the end I found myself thinking "What's he trying to say with this?"
In my opinion, there are no outright stinkers in the bunch, although I would say my least favourite is the sci-fi attempt "Beachworld." Another that I liked less was "The Reach."
On the other hand, my favourite story of all is the other one with a sci-fi feel, called "The Jaunt." Some have called it a cautionary tale, I call it just plain brilliant. In my opinion, it's got some of the funnier moments of the whole book, but these are contrasted with some of the most frightening, which is what makes the story superior. Highly recommend it.
In fact I highly recommend the whole collection.
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