Monsters in the Archives

Like a lot of people - including Caroline Bicks, author of Monsters in the Archives, I have been reading Stephen King since I was 11 or 12 years old, and I loved reading about her time studying his archives and the connections she draws between not only his work and Shakespeare but also his work and her own life, especially some childhood fears. 

Though personal, this work is serious research (need proof? Nearly 1/5 of it is footnotes and bibliography), but it reads like a conversation with your friend who’s excited to tell you about their favorite subject. 

As a reader, I loved the way she talks about King’s attention to the language not only for its meaning but for its sounds. It took a long time for me to realize that one of the things that made me love reading in general and writers like Stephen King specifically was as much the language as it was about the plot and characters. 

As a writer, I loved how she followed a few of his early works through the drafts, examining the changes from first to published draft, and, through the lens of what the author knows about King’s life and methods, tried to understand and explain what drove the changes. 

If you’re a Stephen King fan, I definitely recommend reading Monsters in the Archives: My Year of Fear with Stephen King by Caroline Bicks. And if you’re not a fan, you probably have a friend who is or will meet someone who is at some point, so why not learn some smart stuff to talk about to them?

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the advance copy for my honest review.