In The Tall Grass by Stephen King and Joe Hill - Book Review

In the Tall Grass by father and son duo; Stephen King and Joe Hill is old school horror. The kind of short story that is a visceral slash to the jungular. There is no wasting time and words on explaining all the reasons you should be scared, they just do it.

"...If we had shadows, they'd be getting long and we might use them to move in the same direction, at least, he thought, but they had no shadows. Not in the tall grass. He looked at his watch and wasn't surprised to see it had stopped even though it was a self-winder. The grass had stopped it. He felt sure of it. Some malignant vibe in the grass; some paranormal Fringe shit..."

Brother and sister, Becky and Cal are traveling across the country to leave Becky with her uncle and aunt. Pregnant and soon to be a single mother, Becky is moving in with her aunt and uncle to have the baby and then decide what to do after that. Cal, her devoted brother, is helping her. As they pass a field of tall grass they hear the cries of a child. They pull over and listen to the screams of the lost child and the maddenning screams of its mother to quiet down. Becky and Cal step out of their vehicle to go in search of the child. And it is here, when they step into the field of tall grass that all goes wrong.
The mother and child, are hiding in the grass from the child's father. The father; Ross Humbolt, knows the secrets of the grass. Becky and Cal search for the child but distance and time change in the tall grass and soon they too are lost. Becky is found by Ross Humbolt soon after the cries of the child and mother have gone silent.

"...There was blood splashed on the grass beyond the swatches he was holding open and Becky wanted to stop but her feet carried her forward and he even stepped aside a little like in one of those other old movies where the suave guy says After you doll and they enter the swanky nightclub where the jazz combo's playing only this was no swanky nightclub this was a beaten-down swatch of grass where the woman Natalie Humbolt if that was her name was lying all twisted with her eyes bulging and her dress pushed up to show great big divots in her thighs and Becky guessed she knew now why Ross Humbolt of Poughkeepsie had such red lips and one of Natalie's arms was torn off at the shoulder and lying ten feet beyond her in crushed grass already springing back up and there were more great big red divots in the arm and the read was still wet because...because..."

There is a stone in the tall grass. A great stone that has been there for a long time. This stone tells the secrets of the tall grass and it is only this stone that lets you survive. Only what will you do to survive in the tall grass.

This is not some story about choices. There is no morality tale here. This is horror, rated R Twilight Zone, with the curtains drawn back and Rod Serling a lot darker that sixties television would ever let him be.

A great short tale.