I expect this story would make for great visuals, and it looks like there is a mini-series from 1995, though I haven’t seen it and I’m not sure a film that old (sorry) would do it the justice I imagine a more current adaptation would be capable of. The execution could have used a little work, but the concept is solid, the action scenes aren’t bad, and it’s fun to guess who will live or die. There are also too many main characters and the women, as usual, are characterized poorly (the two adult women seem to exist to provide assistance and romance for the men the younger girl seems present only to further the plot with a sixth sense). Classic King, indulging in the details to draw the story out longer than necessary at every point. But the pace slows down in the second half as the characters piece things together and take their sweet time explaining revelations to each other despite time being of the essence. For a few chapters I was on the edge of my seat, even saying “WHAT?” aloud a few times, completely hooked and wondering what would happen next. This story gets off to a great start as soon as the eventful flight is under way- there’s plenty of suspense and intriguing surprises as the waking passengers try to ascertain their situation. But things get weirder as our hero tries to communicate with the ground and navigate a safe landing- to fare better than their missing counterparts, they’ll have to do a bit more than touch back down.

While in the air, a few passengers fall quickly asleep, only to wake over the Rocky Mountains and realize that the majority of the people on the plane have vanished, including the pilot and copilot.

In this novella, a pilot lands after a white-knuckle flight only to be given the news that something has happened to his ex-wife he boards another plane, this time as a passenger, to make the journey from west coast US to east. Several (maybe all?) are available individually bound outside of this original collection.

As always, King’s writing has some issues, but we both really liked these plots! I’ll break it down here story by story, in the order they’re printed. I’m on a slow trek through Stephen King’s oeuvre, and have a friend who likes to buddy read the long volumes with me our latest adventure featured the novella collection Four Past Midnight, which rings in at over 930 pages (in the edition I read from, at least).

Half past midnight stephen king