Rating: 
Summary: Classical King
Review: Stephen King once again writes another classic horror collection. Night Shift is a an anthology of short stories of about 5 to 40 pages long. I was a bit dissapointed because I enjoyed the poems in Skeleton Crew, another of his collections. Night Shift didn't have any poems, but still great terrifing stories.The first story, Jerusalems Lot, is kinda weird at first, it is in the form of only written letters, the kind in the mail, to and from the main characters. It is a version of the longer story, 'Salem's Lot. A couple after that you get to the Mangler, I though that one was good, and quite gory. It is about a laudry ironer and folder, that is cursed. The Boogyman is definately a must read, and maybe the scariest one in the collection. It will become a horror classic for sure. The lawnmower man is a chilling one that will get you thinking a lot, or at least it did for me. This one is about a man who needs to hire a someone to cut his lawn, and gets what he asked for, and a bit more. I liked the ones I told you about the best, but they are all good, and will give you sleepless nights. It is definately a true King book, not one of his weird ones. The Ledge, Graveyard Shift, Trucks, Sometimes They Come Back, and I Know What You Need were also very good.
Rating: 
Summary: THE SCARIEST BOOK EVER WRITTEN BY STEPHEN KING
Review: It is absolutely terrifying with all those short stories. I especially liked Graveyard Shift, The Mangler, The Boogeyman, and Children of the Corn. Each story has gotten me to be paranoid about certain things; for instance, thanks to the Boogeyman, I now am going to nail closed every closet I see. These stories really make you gasp aloud, and you may suffer from insomnia for a while after you finish sleeping. Oh, and one more thing: if you are ever working in a clothes mill, and you see a rat, QUIT IMMEDIATELY! You'll see what I mean if you read Graveyard Shift... Good night... HA-HA-HA-HA-HAHHHHhhhhh...
Rating:
Summary: The King that wrote The Shining, Carrie, and The Dead Zone
Review: The Summaries(of the popular ones):
Jerusalem's Lot: Man moves to a town called Preachers Corners. He lives in a haunted house. Him and his friend travel to Jerusalem's Lot and they find a church and also the Book of Worms. Man finds out of the mystery of Salem's Lot and the Boone familyline.
Graveyard Shift: Hall works the 'Graveyard Shift' while cleaning a basement full of rats. In a small trapdoor down in the cellars there is a secret not even humans can handle.
The Mangler: An iron presser goes crazy from a virgin's blood. It goes on bizzare killing spree. Do they beat it or not?
The Boogeyman: Man's 3 children die from The Boogeyman. Man tells story of the children's death in a hospital place. Ending is cool.
Gray Matter: Man drinks beer with Gray Matter. Man becomes Gray Matter himself
Battleground: Little plastic toy people come to life(this was my favorite one), and start attacking a man. I won't spoil the cool ending.
Trucks: Group of people get surrounded in a gas station buy killer trucks. Trucks demand fuel. Ending is pretty bad.
Sometimes They Come Back: Man sees demons from his past. He tries to eliminate them forever.
Strawberry Spring: Serial Killer is on loose in college campus.
The Ledge: Man makes deal with other guy to cross the ledge of a 43 story building.(this is probably my 2nd favorite one)
The Lawnmower Man: Killer Lawnmower Man(this one was very good and extremely funny)
Quitters Inc.: Man tries to quit smoking. He is in for the surprise of his life.
I know what you need: Girl befriends "psychic" friend and learns some terrible secret about him.
Children of the Corn: A couple go to Gatlin Nebraska and find demented Children. These Children are crazy!
The Last Rung on the Ladder: Kids are playing on ladder when it falls. Sister is hanging on last rung.
Writing:
Awesome collection, favorites are The Ledge, Battleground, The Lawnmower Man, Graveyard Shift, Children of the Corn, and Sometimes they come back.
Rating:
Summary: A great collection of horror short stories
Review: Night Shift was the first collection of short stories by Stephen King that I have read. I was immediately impressed with the diversity of horror ideas and his style of writing. From the first story to the twentieth, I was captivated and wanted to read more (so I am now reading Skeleton Crew, another short story collection). In my opinion, the best stories in Night Shift are "Jerusalem's Lot", "Sometimes They Come Back", and "Quitters, Inc." They are terrific examples of King's literature and how he can turn a simple idea into an interesting horror story. After I read "Jerusalem's Lot", the first story in Night Shift, I was hooked. On the other end of the spectrum, some of the stories were not very good. In particular, I found "Night Surf" and "The Woman In The Room" particularly boring and not up to par with the other short stories. Those two stories seemed to lack any real suspense and I quickly breezed through them. Although there are some good stories and some not-so-good stories in Night Shift, overall the good outnumber the bad. The collection was quite enjoyable and I hope his other short story collections (Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes) will be just as good, if not better. I will have to read them to find out. If you are interested in Night Shift, I recommend reading it -- you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: One of our best at his peak
Review: This is Stephen King in his best years. If you like his writing, you should definitely have this in your collection. You can always pick it up and read a 5 or 10 page story when you're in the mood for it. "Night Shift" contains some moments of brilliance (Children of the Corn, Quitters Inc., The Ledge) and some not so great ones (The Mangler comes to mind). Overall, though, even when dealing with some absurd plot lines - like The Mangler or The Lawnmower Man - the prose is fantastic, with the brilliant metaphors, characters and dialogue King is known for. Several films have come from stories in this collection, such as Graveyard Shift, Maximum Overdrive, Children of the Corn, and Sometimes They Come Back. There's even a continuation of Salem's Lot. This is a must for the Stephen King reader. It's a snapshot of one of our most brilliant writers doing his best work.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME!!! Written in King's prime!
Review: I'd like to give this book more than 5 stars if possible. King is one of my absolute favorite writers (I've read most of his books at least twice) and this is one of his best. It is a collection of short stories that range from very good to great. This includes some stories that were made into movies, "The Ledge", "Children of the Corn", "Trucks" as well as a few offshoots from his novels "Salem's Lot" and "The Stand". One of my favorite stories here is not a horror story, per se, but instead a very believable tragedy of someone who commits the mercy killing of his cancer-ridden mother, "The Woman in the Room". The way this story is written is unreal; I mean you can totally understand what the narrator is feeling (confusion, guilt, the desire to pull out at the last minute). The discussions he has with his brother, the memories of his Mom when she was healthy, and the conversations he has with her in the hospital are so realistic that the story hits you with a wallop. It may not seem so groundbreaking now, but imagine reading it when it was first published, before the idea of using suicide as a way of ending terminal illness became (partially) socially acceptable. Another great story is "Last Rung on the Ladder" which my girlfriend said almost made her cry; it's more of a family drama than anything else. The pure horror stories are great, though, and are vintage King. If you're new to his work here's a great one to start off with!!
Rating:
Summary: Varied, effective and hard to forget
Review: Stephen King's first short story collection shows a writer honing his craft and combining two strands: one that is very urban and socially conscious, concerned with the limits of science and technology, whose tone is usually cynical, sarcastic, disillusioned; while another, more romantic and individualistic, taps into esotericism, religion, symbols and allegory. This fruitful encounter gives birth to stories which are varied and more complex than they initially appear, and the best of them are usually those that go the farthest in blending the two approaches. All the tales are worth reading, but here are a few notes on some of my favourites: 'Graveyard Shift', a taut descensus ad infernos that features numerous symbols of initiation; 'Night Surf', one of the most silently effective of end-of-the-world stories; 'I am the Doorway', a subtle and memorable tale that works both as a criticism of technology and as an allegory of possession; 'Quitters Inc.' and 'The Ledge', two urban nightmares in the purest sense of the term; 'Children of the Corn', a somber meditation on religion, violence and a lot more; 'The Man Who Loved Flowers', a brief and troubling veil-removing story; besides, the reader won't soon forget the drama of 'The Last Rung on the Ladder' and 'Strawberry Spring', the powerful strangeness of 'The Mangler' and 'The Bogeyman'. In order to get the most out of Night Shift's stories, one should read them more than once.
Rating:
Summary: King's best
Review: If you want to read some scary stories, I would advise you to read this book before any others. I have read almost all of King's books, and the majority of them were somewhat frightening, but it wasn't often that I would be truly terrified by what I was reading. Then I read this collection of short stories and it blew me away. I'm twenty years old, and these stories still keep me up at night when I read them. I don't want to spoil anything, but I thought that the scariest stories in this series were Jerusalem's Lot, One for the Road, The Mangler, and Children of the Corn. Some other stories that weren't particularly scary but were excellent nonetheless include Quitters Inc, The Ledge, Trucks, I Am the Doorway, and The Lawnmower Man (which is nothing like the awful movie, so don't be fooled). The only reason this collection lost a star was due to several stories that really failed to scare or entertain me. If you're looking for a good scare or an intersting read, I would strongly recommend avoiding The Last Rung on the Ladder, The Woman in the Room, Night Surf, and Strawberry Spring. Despite a few bad apples, the rest of the stories in this collection are pure gold and they do well to remind us why King is one of the most bestselling authors in the world today.
Rating:
Summary: Vintage King
Review: King truly hit his stride with "Night Shift," a collection of twenty or so short stories collected in the early seventies, when Stephen King was still a horrer writer. Truth be told, you can't find his more mature works in this collection (Those are in abundant supply in his three later- and much more tedious- collections, "Skeleton Crew," "Nightmares and Dreamscapes," and "Everything's Eventual."). Insted, we see something much better- a more raw, primal King, when he was still writing horrer stories, twenty page fright-fests about topics like Campus Serial Killers, Vampires, Homicidal Trucks, Vicious Rats, Machines Possesed By Evil Spirits, Monsters Hiding In Your Closet,and of course, lots of Ghosts.
The stories are short, much shorter than his later works (The longest one in "Night Shift" is Jerusalem's Lot, weighing in at 34 pages in the paperback edition.), which is a treat unto itself. This means no long, drawn-out introductions to characters who are perfectly represented by their actions rather than ten pages of back story. Of course, this does not mean that King's writing style suffers. In fact, Stephen's talents as a creative writer shine with full force here, spinning the prose in brilliant, well-crafted sentances that seem to be designed to keep you reading, all the while telling you a fascinating story that stays in your head long after you've finnished reading it. The imigary is spectaculr, the characters are original and convincing, and most importantly, the stories are superb, all of them horrifying, addictive, and extremely entertaining. What more could you ask for?
Rating:
Summary: Pure Brilliance
Review: This is the stuff Stephen King is made of, I feel some of his best writings are contained in this book. It is a must read, for anyone, ESPECIALLY King die-hard fans.
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