‘The Sun Dog’ – Stephen King (Hodder)

Page Count: 206 Pages

‘The Sun Dog’ can be found in the collection ‘Four Past Midnight’; it can also be found as an individual novella, part of the ‘Iconic Stories’ collection. I first read ‘The Sun Dog’ as part of ‘Four Past Midnight’ years ago, hiding in the school library so I didn’t have to go outside (a familiar tale). I came across it again… I can’t remember if I’m being honest. I’m sure there must have been a time when the ‘Iconic Story’ edition wasn’t on my shelf. All I know is that I came across it some time last month and figured it was way past time that I read it again.

So, that’s exactly what I did ;o)

It's mine - that was what he had thought when his finger had pushed the shutter-button for the first time. Now he found himself wondering if maybe he hadn't gotten that backward.

Kevin Delevan wants only one thing for his fifteenth birthday: a Polaroid Sun 660.

There's something wrong with his gift, though. No matter where Kevin aims the camera, it produces a photograph of an enormous, vicious dog. In each successive picture, the menacing creature draws nearer to the flat surface of the Polaroid film as if it intends to break through.

When old Pop Merrill, Castle Rock's sharpest trader, gets wind of this phenomenon, he devises a way to profit from it. But the Sun Dog, a beast that shouldn't exist at all, turns out to be a very dangerous investment.

It’s always worth revisiting a book every now and then. If nothing else, it serves to remind you why you left it so long since the last read. And for me, that was very much the case with ‘The Sun Dog’ which isn’t a bad read per se, just not a read that I can see myself revisiting any time soon.

I love the concept and it’s eventual execution but… It’s all a little ‘too eventual’ for me, if you know what I mean. ‘The Sun Dog’ would have made an excellent short story with everything stripped right back to a race against the inevitability of the Sun Dog. What we have though is an excellent short story nestled within a novella that may have a lot of good things to say (about Castle Rock and the relationship between a boy and his Dad to name but two) but still comes across as padding that you have to go through to get to the really good stuff.

The end result for me was an uneven read that felt like a lot more effort to read than it needed to be. Worth sticking with for the moments with the Sun Dog but it felt like an uphill journey all the way. I’ll see you back here in another thirty something years when I’ve forgotten about ‘The Sun Dog’ enough to pick it up again and give it another go. Maybe I’ll have changed my mind by then ;o)