, a collection of 14 stories or, as the cover proclaims, 14 dark tales, joins the roster of King’s other collections such as Skeleton Crew and Nightmares & Dreamscapes.
This collection of 14 tales includes Stephen King’s originally web published work, Riding the Bullet, as well as 1408, Lunch at the Gotham Café and In the Death Room which have all been included on King’s audio collection, Blood & Smoke.
The remaining stories within contain exactly what a reader would expect from a collection of King’s works: horror, desperation and little in the way of hope. Fans of King’s short fiction will truly enjoy this collection as it harkens back to the amusing concepts portrayed in his earlier work.
The collection’s namesake story, Everything’s Eventual, involves a character by the name of Dinky Earnshaw who later makes an appearance in King’s Dark Tower series. Dinky’s been given a new job based on his ability to drive people to suicide merely by drawing. It’s a gift that Dinky’s really not fond of, but someone really likes the idea and wants to use it for themselves. Dinky’s really not sure who this person is or what they plan to do with the gift. All he knows is that he’s living in the lap of luxury with a house, car, and cash among other things all provided to him, no questions asked. As in King’s Needful Things, we realize that there’s always a price to pay for such luxuries, especially when they are given so freely. A sense of foreboding strikes the reader as they peer into Dinky’s new life just as the reader feels a sense of foreboding when Brian Rusk steps into Needful Things to purchase an autographed Mickey Mantle card.
The stories within have a gift for turning the mundane, everyday occurrences within the average life and turning them upside down such as in L.T.’s Theory of Pets, which explores the idea of giving pets as a gift, an event that leaves the characters within the story in a dire predicament.
is classic King and provides readers with yet another bridge to some of King’s other works. The tales within Everything’s Eventual are indeed dark. They are also entirely entertaining and will keep you up at night turning the pages until the very last story is expelled from the collection.