*#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* From the legendary storyteller and master of short fiction Stephen King comes an extraordinary collection of four new "exceptionally compelling novellas that reaffirm [King's] mastery of the form" ( The Washington Post ). Readers adore Stephen King's novels, and his novellas are their own dark treat, briefer but just as impactful and enduring as his longer fiction. Many of his novellas have been made into iconic films, including "The Body" ( Stand By Me ) and "Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption" ( Shawshank Redemption ). Four brilliant new tales in If It Bleeds are sure to prove as iconic as their predecessors. Once again, King's remarkable range is on full display. In the title story, reader favorite Holly Gibney (from the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and The Outsider ) must face her fears, and possibly another outsider--this time on her own. In "Mr. Harrigan's Phone" an intergenerational friendship has a disturbing afterlife. "The Life of Chuck" explores, beautifully, how each of us contains multitudes. And in "Rat," a struggling writer must contend with the darker side of ambition. If these novellas show King's range, they also prove that certain themes endure. One of King's great concerns is evil, and in If It Bleeds , there's plenty of it. There is also evil's opposite, which in King's fiction often manifests as friendship. Holly is reminded that friendship is not only life-affirming but can be life-saving. Young Craig befriends Mr. Harrigan, and the sweetness of this late-in-life connection is its own reward. "Exactly what I wanted to read right now," said Ruth Franklin in a rave on the cover of The New York Times Book Review . "Phenomenal, said Brian Truitt in USA TODAY . "King still owns the fright business like none other." "As classic as [King's] novels are, his shorter fiction has been just as gripping over the years...The true highlight of the collection is the phenomenal 'The Life of Chuck'...Just when you think things are getting really weird, it all snaps together like an epiphany and you get to the gorgeous meat of the matter...Sure, King still owns the fright business like none other, but the iconic author will keep you up late at night engrossed in four tales about our dreams and our frailties." --Brian Truitt, USA Today "IF IT BLEEDS contains four new, exceptionally compelling novellas that reaffirm [King's] mastery of the form ...the mid-length narrative suits his talents particularly well, permitting a degree of expansiveness while maintaining a controlled, disciplined approach to the material at hand. The results are stories that cover a surprising amount of emotional territory but can still be read in a sitting...a collection filled with startling, sometimes unsettling pleasures. In IF IT BLEEDS, King continues to draw from a rich and varied reservoir of stories. At its best, his work remains deeply empathetic and compulsively readable. May the reservoir never run dry. " --William Sheehan, The Washington Post "[These stories] -- about the seductions and corruptions of technology, the extremes of beauty and depravity in even the most ordinary life, the workings of a universe we can never entirely understand -- were somehow exactly what I wanted to read right now... 'The Life of Chuck' is one of the oddest, most affecting stories I have read in a very long time...As sirens blare outside my Brooklyn window and the headlines grow more apocalyptic by the day, I might start working my way through King's backlist. He's good company in the dark." --Ruth Franklin, The New York Times Book Review "While this story collection had been percolating inside of Mr. King for years prior to its release, it is striking -- sometimes eerily so -- how necessary these stories feel today. 'If It Bleeds' continues the increasingly optimistic bent the author has displayed over the past decade, while still bearing those nightmarish touches at which he excels. When so much is uncertain, there's no small amount of comfort to be found in these tales -- and right now, comfort, in whatever form we can find it, is what we all need." --Wendeline O. Wright, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "There's an oddly meta quality to reading Stephen King's new collection, IF IT BLEEDS, in the era of COVID-19. In addition to the expected supernatural horror themes, the four novellas are undergirded, to great effect, with more earthbound fears: the uncertainty of old age and approaching death; the vampiric nature of the 24-hour news cycle feeding the public's appetite for pain and disaster; the claustrophobia of being alone and ill during isolating weather; signs of the end times that would be disturbingly recognizable to even the most committed optimist...The jewel in the crown of IF IT BLEEDS, however, is the titular novella...King's choice to have an Outsider masquerading as a television reporter makes for an adroit vehicle to showcase the trite nature of