by Stephen King
Night Shift (1979)
* * * * (Great) Supernatural
After a horrific accident at an industrial wash facility, suspecting the Hadley-Watson Model-6 Speed Ironer and Folder to be possessed, the local police officer races to exorcise the blood-hungry demon before it kills again.
This story is an excellent example of pacing. The story builds from the first slow and apprehensive paragraph through to the tense, terrifying, and quick final moments. There are no extraneous details or wasted words. Even the quick aside about a killer refrigerator (was this mentioned in ’Salem’s Lot as well?) fits in with the overall flow of the story. I’m sure it’s not unusual with prolific authors writing for decades, but I can tell the time period in which the story was written; it mirrors the tone and style of King’s other works of the same time. It’s an interesting thing to watch – style – as it evolves over time.
As a random note: this is the second story this year with an obscure, possessed machine. First was Brown’s evil Linotype machine, and now the Mangler. I’m sure there is an entire sub-genre of supernatural machine literature I don’t even know exists. Weird.
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