Video review : https://youtu.be/oAkUYcUj56M

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Red Screen is a short (like coffee break short) story from the grand old man of horror that’s available exclusively from Humble Bundle with all proceeds going to the American Civil Liberties Union. Readers can choose what they pay, although there is a minimum donation of 5 USD (or 3.61 GBP). That’s not exactly cheap for a short short story, but hey it’s all for a good cause and it’s the only way to read Red Screening, so if you’re a King completist it may be an easier decision.
As for the story itself, it’s good. Short, and hard to review without spoiling, but good. It takes of the form of a police detective interviewing a man accused of stabbing his wife to death; the interview taking an unexpected turn when it comes to the motive for the crime.
King’s short fiction is often (perhaps unsurprisingly) a lot leaner than his sometimes bloated novels. Red Screen is no exception, with the story quickly and effectively laid out. It very much has the feel of a Twilight Zone episode, right down to the fact that it’s mostly just two guys talking to each other in a plain room to keep production costs down. That feel extends to the cover, with it’s RKO Pictures vibe.
It’s intriguing, amusing and memorable, with the kind of ending that lingers. The prose it tight and the dialogue has a great crime fiction snappiness to it that helps bring the more mysterious elements of the story down to earth. Cynics might say that the author rattled it off in an afternoon to do his bit for the ACLU, but many authors say that writing good shorts is harder than writing novels. King is a master of the art, and this particular example of his bite sized fiction is up there with the better entries in his traditionally published collections. 5 bucks might be a lot, but you know you want to. ( )

Never read a Stephen King book before but figured I would buy this because it was only $5 for charity by a popular author, figured it would be a great way to see if I want to check more of their work out.

Plot and dialogue wise it was very well written but this was way too short and nowhere near worth the money, even for charity. Like I knew it was a short story but I still expected it to at least be like the length of 1 or 2 usual novel chapters (so 4000-8000 words), not only ~2,800. Still, it worked for my intentions, the writing was good enough to want to check out their normal works that wouldn't be anywhere near this short. ( )

Regardless what I think of it below, I appreciate Humble Bundle for offering this ebook as a fundraiser for the ACLU. And thanks to Goodreads friend Regina for the review that made me aware of it.

I get the impression this is supposed to be satirical, but it reads so straightforward that it comes off as misogynistic, an obvious and ham-fisted male fantasy to explain what's really up with women, menopause, and all that nagging about housework they do. It comes off as cover for men's shirking of the mental load in relationships and possibly a justification for domestic violence.

Again, I think it is satirical, but if the guys being satirized can fist-pump, whoop, and yell "Git 'er" at the finale twist, then I do believe it fails as such. ( )