Different Seasons by Stephen King

Four "normal" stories from the master of terror. Different Seasons could well be subtitled "The Movie Book". Of the four stories contained, three (The Body, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, and Apt Pupil) have been translated into fantastic movies. The fourth story - The Breathing Method would also work well in the hands of the right director.

Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption - Andy Dufresne is serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife. He claims innocence - a fact that Red, the prison's man-in-the-know, believes. Red chronicles Andy's stay at Shawshank, and his unlikely exit. The story is not a prison break caper, but focuses more on the emotional and spiritual impact life in prison can have on a man.

Apt Pupil - Todd Bowden, the All-American boy, has been stalking an old man in his neighborhood. The man, Kurt Dussander, is a Nazi war criminal in hiding. Todd begins a cruel game, blackmailing Dussander for information about his past misdeeds. Dussander responds in kind, locking Todd into a relationship of mutual paranoia and destruction. This is a tale of two monsters, one coming into being, and one at the end of his days.

The Body - Four kids go off on an adventure to see a dead body by the railroad tracks. What follows is a Northern Woods Tolkeinesque journey of discovery, where the boys become as close as they'll ever be. Lives are changed forever, not by the goal, but of course, by the walk.

The Breathing Method - David joins an old-fashioned men's club, of sorts. It's room after room of comfortable leather chairs, roaring fireplaces, polished wood, fine liquor, and billiards. But on certain nights, it becomes something else, a cavernous labyrinth too big to be contained in the building where it stands. Some nights, men are selected to tell stories, confessionals, to feed the beast the lurks somewhere inside. Guests are welcome to come by unannounced at any time. At the end of the night, the lucky ones get to return home.

King weaves these tales together as a sort of life cycle. Andy Dufresne is reborn into the world, Todd Bowden moves out of childhood into a dark adolescence. The boys in The Body become men on their journeys. And David, the narrator of The Breathing Method faces the end of his days along with the other old codgers of the club.

Like most of King's work, the pacing is quick, the creep factor is high, but the reward is well worth the journey.