Night Shift brings together twenty early Stephen King stories that find horror lurking in factories, homes, schools, lonely roads, small towns, and other seemingly ordinary places.
In “Children of the Corn,” a couple travelling through Nebraska encounters a town where the children follow a deadly religious belief. “Graveyard Shift” sends a group of workers into the basement of an old mill overrun by rats, while “The Mangler” turns an industrial laundry machine into the source of a series of gruesome incidents.
Other stories include “The Boogeyman,” about a father convinced that something horrifying is responsible for the deaths of his children, and “Trucks,” where machines begin turning against the people who depend on them.
The collection also returns to the world of ‘Salem’s Lot through “Jerusalem’s Lot” and “One for the Road,” expanding the history and horror surrounding King’s vampire-infested Maine town.
From monsters and supernatural forces to human cruelty and inexplicable events, Night Shift helped establish many of the themes and settings that would continue to appear throughout King’s work.