If It Bleeds

If It Bleeds by Stephen King, published in 2020, is a collection of four novellas that blend horror, suspense, and the supernatural. The stories delve into eerie connections between life and death, cosmic mysteries, human ambition, and the darkness lurking beneath the mundane. The title novella features Holly Gibney, a character from The Outsider and The Bill Hodges Trilogy, as she investigates a sinister figure who thrives on disaster. Each tale showcases King’s signature ability to turn the ordinary into the unsettling.

Plot Summary

A package arrives at the Finders Keepers detective agency, addressed to Holly Gibney. Tucked inside is a flash drive containing a news report about a school bombing. The footage, captured by a local reporter named Chet Ondowsky, appears ordinary at first. But Holly senses something off about the journalist – his expression, his posture, the way he seems too calm amid the chaos. She rewatches the clip, her unease growing.

Holly begins to dig into Ondowsky’s past, tracing his career through decades of tragic events. A pattern emerges – he always arrives early, always gets the best footage, and always vanishes before questions can be asked. His face never changes, untouched by time. It isn’t aging that betrays him but its absence.

Determined to uncover the truth, Holly follows his trail, uncovering cases eerily similar to the school bombing. Train crashes, mass shootings, factory explosions – all disasters, all with Ondowsky at the scene. She realizes he is not just reporting the tragedies but feeding off them, drawing strength from human suffering. He isn’t a man at all but something ancient and predatory, surviving on grief and despair.

Her investigation leads her to a remote cabin, where she pieces together the scope of his existence. Ondowsky is not just one person but many, changing names and identities over the years, slipping through history like a shadow. He does not merely report on disasters – he creates them.

Armed with knowledge but outmatched by something beyond human, Holly devises a plan. She leaves a false trail, drawing him into a trap. When he comes for her, expecting to devour her fear, she meets him with something unexpected – not terror, but cold certainty. In the struggle, she wounds him, watching his true form flicker beneath his stolen skin. He retreats, weakened, but not dead.

Holly knows she has only delayed the inevitable. He will surface again under a different name, in another city, waiting for the next tragedy. But now, she is watching. And she is not afraid.

Mr. Harrigan’s Phone

Craig begins working for Mr. Harrigan, a reclusive billionaire who has retired to the small town of Harlow, Maine. The boy reads to him a few times a week, tends to his plants, and enjoys the quiet companionship of the old man. Though distant and pragmatic, Mr. Harrigan takes a liking to Craig, showing his affection in small but meaningful ways – including sending him lottery tickets inside greeting cards. One of these tickets wins Craig three thousand dollars, and with part of his winnings, he decides on a gift for Mr. Harrigan – an iPhone.

The old man is skeptical at first, dismissing the device as an unnecessary burden, but soon he grows attached to it. He marvels at its instant access to stock market reports and news, using it more than he ever expected. Craig teaches him how to text and call, and Mr. Harrigan embraces the convenience in his own reserved way. When he passes away, Craig tucks the phone into his coffin as a final farewell.

Grief lingers, and on a whim, Craig sends a message to the buried phone, not expecting anything in return. But then, strange things begin to happen. A reply arrives – brief, unsettling, impossible. At first, he dismisses it as a glitch, a delayed message bouncing back, but when a bully from school meets a sudden and mysterious end after Craig vents about him in another message to the grave, doubt turns to fear.

Years pass, and he tries to forget the past, but when his college mentor dies in a suspicious accident after Craig once again reaches out to the dead man’s phone, he understands what is happening. Mr. Harrigan is still listening. And he is still watching over him.

Terrified by the power he has awakened, Craig buries the old phone in a deep lake, hoping to sever the connection. But even as the device sinks into the darkness, he cannot shake the feeling that somewhere, beneath the ground or beyond the veil, Mr. Harrigan is waiting, still watching, still listening.

The Life of Chuck

The world is falling apart. The internet collapses, cities crumble, and the sky itself seems to be unraveling. Amid the chaos, digital billboards flash an eerie message – Charles Krantz, 39 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck! The name means nothing to most, yet his face appears everywhere, smiling like a departing celebrity.

Marty, a high school teacher caught in the disaster, notices the signs but cannot explain them. As the world grows quieter, as roads crack and buildings vanish, he begins to understand – reality itself is tied to this man, and as Chuck fades, so does everything else.

Time moves backward, peeling away the years. Chuck appears as a middle-aged banker, walking the halls of his office, feeling the first tug of an unknown sickness. Something inside him is failing, but he does not yet realize that his decline echoes far beyond his own body. Memories surface – childhood afternoons in his grandparents’ home, the scent of old books and warm dust, the laughter of a boy untouched by time.

Further back, Chuck is a teenager, spinning on a rooftop, the sky swirling above him like a living thing. He dances with the reckless joy of youth, unaware that this moment will become a cornerstone of his existence, a beacon of light that will shine long after he is gone.

At the beginning – or perhaps the end – Chuck is a boy, watching his grandfather pour tea in a quiet kitchen. The house feels enormous, filled with a magic only children can perceive. Outside, the world stretches endless and bright, untouched by the shadows of age and time. His grandfather tells him that all things, even the greatest joys, must one day pass.

The world contracts, folding inward. The signs vanish. The streets dissolve. The sky dims to nothing. At last, only the house remains, and inside it, a little boy drinks his tea, unaware of the universe unraveling beyond the walls. The life of Chuck ends where it began – in a warm room, safe and small, before the darkness takes everything away.

Rat

Drew Larson has always wanted to write a great novel, but every attempt has ended in disaster – illness, self-doubt, stories collapsing under their own weight. Short fiction comes easy, but the big one remains out of reach. Then, an idea strikes like lightning, clear and perfect. A western, brutal and raw. This time, he knows he can finish it.

To avoid distraction, Drew heads to an old family cabin deep in the woods of Maine. Isolated, surrounded by the whisper of trees, he begins to write. The words flow, but so does a creeping sickness. A fever takes hold, burning through him, twisting his thoughts. Outside, a storm rages, winds howling against the cabin walls.

One night, delirious and trembling, he spots a rat in the cabin. It watches him with unsettling intelligence, its tiny eyes reflecting something deeper, something waiting. Then it speaks. In a voice smooth and knowing, it offers him a deal. The novel, finished and perfect, in exchange for a sacrifice. Someone Drew loves must die.

The fever makes the moment unreal, the storm outside a deafening roar. Half-dreaming, half-despairing, he accepts. He names an old friend, someone distant but once close. The rat nods. The storm breaks. By morning, the fever is gone, his mind clear. The writing comes effortlessly, the pages stacking up, his story alive in a way nothing he has written before ever was.

Back home, the news arrives. His old friend is dead, a sudden accident. The weight of the deal settles over Drew, cold and final. He tries to convince himself it was a coincidence, a trick of the fever, but the novel’s success tells him otherwise. Offers pour in, publishers eager, his name suddenly something more.

Guilt lingers, a shadow behind the praise. He tells himself he will never write another novel. He will never make another deal. But sometimes, in the silence of his study, he swears he hears tiny claws against the floor, a whisper in the dark, a voice waiting for him to want something more.

Main Characters

Holly Gibney (If It Bleeds) – A private investigator from The Outsider and The Bill Hodges Trilogy, drawn into a chilling mystery involving a malevolent entity.
Craig (Mr. Harrigan’s Phone) – A boy who befriends an aging tycoon and later discovers an unsettling connection with him through a smartphone, even after his death.
Mr. John Harrigan (Mr. Harrigan’s Phone) – A wealthy, reclusive businessman whose influence extends beyond the grave.
Chuck Krantz (The Life of Chuck) – A seemingly ordinary man whose existence holds cosmic significance, explored in reverse chronology.
Drew Larson (Rat) – A struggling writer who makes a supernatural bargain to ensure literary success, only to face disturbing consequences.

Theme

The Power of Evil and Fear – If It Bleeds follows a predator who feeds on human suffering, reinforcing the idea that darkness hides in plain sight.
The Uncanny Influence of Technology – Explored in Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, where a smartphone becomes a link between the living and the dead.
The Nature of Existence and Time – The Life of Chuck examines a man’s life in reverse, reflecting on personal and cosmic significance.
The Dangers of Ambition – Rat explores how unchecked ambition and desperation can lead to sinister pacts and unforeseen horror.

Writing Style and Tone

King’s writing in If It Bleeds is a mix of intimate storytelling and creeping horror, blending everyday realism with supernatural elements. His ability to develop rich, believable characters makes the uncanny elements even more chilling. He employs multiple narrative styles – from traditional first-person recollections to nonlinear structures – keeping each story fresh and immersive.

The tone varies across the novellas, shifting from nostalgic and bittersweet (The Life of Chuck) to eerie and suspenseful (Mr. Harrigan’s Phone and If It Bleeds). There’s a thread of existential reflection throughout, as King contemplates fate, mortality, and the unseen forces that shape human lives. Despite the horror, moments of warmth and dark humor add depth to the collection.

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