13 Best Stephen King Short Stories Of All Time

12. Sometimes They Come Back

First appearing in men€™s magazine Cavalier back in 1974, and just one of the great yarns that comprise King€™s first and best collection, Night Shift, Sometimes They Come back is a tale of murder and revenge with a gleefully mean twist. The story takes place in the above decade, as King€™s school teacher protagonist, Jim Norman, becomes steadily unnerved when his students start to mysteriously die, only to be replaced by members of the same slippery greasers that killed his baby brother some twenty years earlier. But here€™s the kicker, said rebels also died in an electrifying car wreck not long after committing their crime. The setup is another prime exercises in unfolding supernatural drama, with those 1950s contrasts that were so vividly employed in King€™s later novel, IT, being flexed here and a Dennis Wheatley esque finale hurled at readers for good measure. The story was enduring enough to spawn a 1991 film adaptation and a troupe of straight-to-video sequels of diminishing returns.
 
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Shaun is a former contributor for a number of Future Publishing titles and more recently worked as a staffer at Imagine Publishing. He can now be found banking in the daytime and writing a variety of articles for What Culture, namely around his favourite topics of film, retro gaming, music, TV and, when he's feeling clever, literature.