Rating: 
Summary: Boring!
Review: I was so exited when I heard King was publishing his first new collection of short stories in over a decade. But every story reminded me of something I was forced to read in 11th grade English class. Can't figure out how so many people are gushing over this book...it pales in comparison to his previous collections. Disappointing and boring.
Rating: 
Summary: A Trip Down Surreality Lane!
Review: What can be said about the "master of horror" that hasn't been said a hundred times before in a hundred different ways? With "Everything's Eventual", Stephen King adds another masterpiece to his considerable repertoire. Like a long sought-after "B-sides" collection of music, these short stories shine with brilliance, each in their own way. While most have been available in other formats, "...Eventual" collects them all together between two covers for your trip down surreality lane. Since King has announced his imminent retirement in the writing world, "Everything's Eventual" would serve as a fitting epitaph for a fabulous career of scaring the pants off people. Add this one to that shelf you have that holds nothing but King novels...it's well worth it!
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I'm a big SK fan, but this just did not deliver. Very disappointing.
Rating: 
Summary: not so hot...
Review: I have always considered King to be one of the best living writers; I began reading his books and stories when I was about 11 years old, and have been fascinated ever since. Unfortunately, it seems that since his near-fatal accident a few years back, ol' Stevie just hasn't got the juice anymore. I purchased and read On Writing, his memoir about the craft of writing, and it was good...but it seems in a strange way that in this collection of stories he violates most of the fundamentals of writing for entertainment (don't let your own voice intrude on the story, etc.) that he espouses. I think this is a common thing for brilliant artists to go through (think Trey Anastasio); it seems like their own neuroses "eventually" catch up with them and drown their art...but let's hope I'm wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Everything's Awesome!
Review: In many ways, Stephen King is the Billy Joel of the literary world. He may not be very deep, but he's quite, quite broad. Nearly every King book approaches publishing from a different angle, whether that be novel, book of interconnected novellas, two simultaenously-published books with the same plot (one written by pseudonym), or book of short stories. This latest short story collection showcases King's talents at nearly every type of story, and nearly every one is excellent. The collection opens with a pair of homages. "Autopsy Room Four" is an update of an episode "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and it's a comic chiller. On the first page of this collection you're already introduced to a living protagonist wrapped in a body bag. A great start! The second homage, "The Man in the Black Suit", is more philosophical, derived from a Nathaniel Hawthorne story. I find this one less successful, if only because King's take on the Devil is his usual foul-mouthed villain, forced to utter lines such as "Biiig Fiiish!". Where's the subtlety? The next two stories are "mainstream", devoid of the supernatural. "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away" marries a collection of men's-room graffiti to the last hours of a traveling salesman. This one tries for pathos, and almost makes it. More affecting, I found, was "The Death of Jack Hamilton", a Depression-era period piece starring John Dillinger and narrated by a dim-witted sidekick. "In the Deathroom" is the first of three stories previously presented on the "Blood & Smoke" audio release. It's about an American journalist accused of espionage and tortured in South America. Perhaps coming so close after the murder of Daniel Pearl this story strikes a little too close to the wrong nerves, but the writing is first-rate. "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" is another comic nightmare, set in New York City's Upper East Side, pitting an insane maitre'd against the most acrimonious divorce of all time. Who wins? "1408" is the scariest story in the book, perhaps even an improvement on "The Shining". There's a great extended dialogue scene between a horror writer and a stodgy NYC innkeeper, and a horrific "Blair Witch"-style mental breakdown captured on audiotape. "The Little Sisters of Eluria" introduced me to the world of the Dark Tower, with which I wasn't familiar. I enjoyed the novella and went out and purchased "The Gunslinger" immediately after. I can't judge the story as an effective Dark Tower tale, but I liked the mix of Old West and dark fantasy (blue jeans and vampires), and the stilted dialogue of the hero that almost seems written for Kevin Costner. "Everything's Eventual" is both the title story and the gem of the collection, a brilliant narrative that takes at least two sharp unexpected turns between comedy and sci-fi horror. Well, well worth a couple of reads. "L.T.'s Theory of Pets" walks the same line, although I'm not sure if those without pets will see it the same way. "The Road Virus Heads North" is the weakest story in the collection, mainly due to a complete lack of logic as the story races to its conclusion. It's about a haunted painting which stalks a Stephen King-style writer up the Maine coast. Help yourself. The book ends with the previously-unread-on-e-book "Riding the Bullet", a good effort about a young man's choice between life and death while hitching a ride from a dead man, and then with King's version of a light palette-cleanser, "Luckey Quarter", a short-short that improves on the second and third readings. There's something for everyone in "Everything's Eventual", from mainstream to horror to slapstick comedy, to Stephen King's patented mix of all three. The stories are best read over a period of time -- I read them all in a row, and my night's sleep got progressively shorter by the end, most notably after "1408". And now, on to "The Gunslinger".
Rating:
Summary: Uneven but still good
Review: Not the best of King's anthologies but still easily worth the price of admission. Yes, I guess many of these stories have appeared in one form or another before, but I hadn't seen them (and I am an inveterate King fan). 1408 and Everything's Eventual were my favorites - classic King - and all in all I enjoyed this collection a lot more (perhaps because I expected less) than several of SK's recent novels.
Rating:
Summary: The title says it all
Review: Make no mistake, even when his material is weak, Stephen King is superior to his competition (which is why his fans are so willing to lower their standards). He is, put simply, a master storyteller. Unfortunately, with such talent comes high hopes. And King has been failing those hopes for years with books that are little more than old, rotting corpses. So after the disasters that were Black House and Dreamcatcher (as well as the overrated On Writing), King returns with his first anthology in many years. However, unlike his previous short-story collection's (back when he used to be a real horror writer), Everything's Eventual is cursed by shockingly dull tales. Most of these fourteen tales run their course without having taken any special detours along the way. They just sort of end in the smoking, rattling heap you knew they would. Very little inside this book has any resonance. Now, there are a couple of tales that hint at the King of old: "Autopsy Room Four" is something of a nail-biter. But in the end, Everything's Eventual is largely the kind of bland sophomore material we'd expect from some new writer, not Stephen King. We know what heights King has climbed, and that makes Everything's Eventual all the more disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: not very good
Review: I liked the story about the hotel room, but, all in all, it wasn't a collection that held my interest.
Rating:
Summary: I Couldn't Put it Down!!!
Review: I read this almost cover to cover in one sitting!! Of course King IS my favorite author so I may ne biased but I thought the short stories were terrific!!!
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King is still the master!
Review: Having been a big Stephen King fan since high school, I rarely found myself disappointed with his work. Last year's "Dreamcatcher" was my least favorite book of his by far. I was afraid "Everything's Eventual" might suffer the same problems I had with his last novel, but thankfully, I was overall very pleased with his newest short story collection. I prefer scary stories, but in this case, the variety of stories was the best way to go. There's a bit of everything here, from downright chillers like "The Road Virus Heads North" to the more comical "L.T.'s Theory of Pets". The title story, "Everything's Eventual", was scary in a totally different way as it described the ruined life of a gifted young man who has been given the job from hell. "The Road Virus Heads North" is my favorite of them all; I was practically shaking as I read it. My only complaint with the novel is the too long "The Little Sistes of Eluria". Having not read any of the Dark Tower series, getting through this story (longest in the book) was a chore and made me quit reading it for a few weeks until I struggled through it. I'd recommend this book to anyone, horror fan or not. There's enough variety here to please almost any reader. Fans who might be disheartened by "Dreamcatcher" should not pass this one up, it will restore your faith in the "Master of the Macabre".
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