Starred Review.Eerie twists of fate drive the four longish stories in King's first collection since Just After Sunset (2008).

In "1922," a farmer murders his wife to retain the family land she hopes to sell, then watches his life unravel hideously as the consequences of the killing suggest a near-supernatural revenge."Big Driver" tells of an otherwise ordinary woman who discovers her extraordinary capacity for retribution after she is raped and left for dead."A Good Marriage" explores the aftermath of a wife's discovery of her milquetoast husband's sinister secret life, while "Fair Extension," the book's most disturbing story, follows the relationship between a man and the best friend on whom he preternaturally shifts all his bad luck and misfortune.

As in Different Seasons (1982), King takes a mostly nonfantastic approach to grim themes.Now, as then, these tales show how a skilled storyteller with a good tale to tell can make unsettling fiction compulsively readable.