""Last night, I dreamt I went to Manderley again." That's the immortal opening sentence of Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier's 1938 masterpiece. How often have I been lured in to both the novel and the 1940 Hitchcock film of Rebecca by that sentence? Is it an incantation? A curse? A virus that infects the imagination? Whatever mojo du Maurier conjured up in that sentence, its potency lingers. Perhaps, just by hearing it, you, too, have become spellbound."
"Rebecca dominates du Maurier's legacy, but she wrote plenty of other macabre novels and short stories in her over 40-year-career. A new collection called After Midnight gathers together 13 of her stories, appropriately introduced by long-reigning Master of Horror, Stephen King. With so much to be nervous about in this world of ours, it may seem counterintuitive for me to recommend a collection that will only stir up more fear."
"Starting with the familiar may seem like a safer way to ease into the eerie world of du Maurier's short stories. Not so. You may think you're armored against the terror of "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now" if you've seen the classic films they inspired, but you'd be mistaken. Sure, some of us readers may already know what happens; but, it's the slow, sinister unwinding of the how that makes these stories freshly transfixing."
Rebecca's opening sentence exerts an enduring, almost supernatural pull. Rebecca remains the most famous work, yet many macabre novels and short stories span a forty-year career. A new collection, After Midnight, gathers thirteen stories introduced by Stephen King. The stories function as concentrated explorations of fear, useful for confronting existential dread in small, potent sips. Familiarity with film adaptations does not remove menace because the stories emphasize the slow, sinister unwinding of events. Settings frequently act as malevolent characters, exemplified by Venice's sinking, watery maze and Cornwall's ominous coastal landscape.
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