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Stephen King

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Mile 81 (Kindle Single) Kindle Edition

by Stephen King (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.0 7,165 ratings

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With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen King unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs...

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop on a highway in Maine. It's a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It's the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who's supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play "paratroopers over the side." Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn't been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says "closed, no services." The driver's door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls "the ultimate insurance manual," but it isn't going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.

Ten minutes later, Julianne Vernon, pulling a horse trailer, spots the Prius and the wagon, and pulls over. Julianne finds Doug Clayton's cracked cell phone near the wagon door — and gets too close herself. By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are a half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. Two kids — Rachel and Blake Lussier — and one horse named Deedee are the only living left. Unless you maybe count the wagon.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Stephen King has said it himself: the short story is ailing in America. But with a new story that is part coming-of-age, part paranormal tale, he has helped give the form a boost--and us a reminder of how skillfully he works in a small space. In King’s worlds, peril and disaster often hide in the most ordinary things and places, and in Mile 81, danger lurks at an abandoned rest stop in the author's standard Maine setting. With expert pacing, King allows a short but life-changing journey to unfold for his young protagonist, and the most pedestrian details of the rest stop take on eerie significance with each quickly-turned page: a cut-up chain-link fence surrounding the place, a hollowed-out Burger King left fallow, a door of a filthy car hanging silently “open like an invitation.” Fans will recognize nods to Christine and From a Buick 8, but the destructive force in Mile 81 is even more savage, the horror more faceless and primal. And as one would expect, it’s not just a scary story--it reads, in ways, as parable, his characters at once archetypal and uniquely crafted. Although set in present day, Mile 81 feels timeless---it's a story about good people encountering the terror of the unknowable, and about the courage that innocents must summon in the face of it, when there is no one left to protect them. --Simone Gorrindo

About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Never Flinch, the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B005COO1X6
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Scribner (September 1, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 1, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 6012 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Print length ‏ : ‎ 80 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #145,299 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #98 in Kindle Singles: Literature & Fiction
- #371 in Two-Hour Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Short Reads
- #649 in Horror Suspense

Customer Reviews:
4.0 7,165 ratings

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Stephen King

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Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection YOU LIKE IT DARKER, HOLLY (a New York Times Notable Book of 2023), FAIRY TALE, BILLY SUMMERS, IF IT BLEEDS, THE INSTITUTE, ELEVATION, THE OUTSIDER, SLEEPING BEAUTIES (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: END OF WATCH, FINDERS KEEPERS, and MR. MERCEDES (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works THE DARK TOWER, IT, PET SEMATARY, DOCTOR SLEEP, and FIRESTARTER are the basis for major motion pictures, with IT now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and enjoyable. They appreciate the vivid character development and characterization that rings true. Opinions differ on the ending, length, and imagination - some find it suspenseful and creepy, while others feel it's too rushed.

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Short story Readability Character development Ending Shortness Imagination Scariness level Value for money

632 customers mention "Short story"612 positive20 negative

Customers enjoy the short story. They find it well-written and satisfying. The characters are well-developed and believable. The prose is tight and perfect, giving the story an engaging feel. Overall, readers describe it as a quick and fun read that delivers just enough bite for the price.

"Another beautifully written tale from the master story teller. All the pieces connect… finally, and they weave together perfectly! Fast, fun read!" Read more

"...The whole set up was a waste of time, though well written and easy to get into, it didn't really have much to do with the story as it unfolded...." Read more

"...The characters are fully sketched out and are very believable and you are made to care about them and hence to fear for their lives in typical King..." Read more

"...story as a whole WAS written in classic King, which means it's a pleasure to read and compells the reader to keep going until the end...." Read more

599 customers mention "Readability"455 positive144 negative

Customers enjoy the book's readability. They find it interesting with a unique plot that keeps them interested from start to finish. The story has a certain silly appeal that keeps them reading. Readers appreciate the author's wonderful ideas and the way young children are not portrayed as stupid.

"...Fast, fun read!" Read more

"...But, damn, most of his stuff is amazing. Under the Dome, Doctor Sleep, etc. are incredible!Then there's Mile 81...." Read more

"...Anyway, "Mile 81" is fun, cheap, includes a meaty glimpse of a possibly great novel, and is only a click away on your Kindle. What's stopping you?" Read more

"...When I step back from this, I can say that this is not his best work, not by a long shot, and not even his best short story involving a child..." Read more

99 customers mention "Character development"71 positive28 negative

Customers find the characters interesting and well-developed. They describe them as vivid, normal people who aren't portrayed as stupid. The characters are written with voice and heart, inspiring genuine fear as they approach.

"...The characters are fully sketched out and are very believable and you are made to care about them and hence to fear for their lives in typical King..." Read more

"...The characters are quickly conjured by King and immediately developed in the reader's mind - it's that good...." Read more

"Not as much character development as I am used to with Stephen King. However it is a really good quick read." Read more

"...King’s characters ring true, and, as his characters so often do, they say and do the things that you don’t find in most writing — the everyday talk..." Read more

452 customers mention "Ending"206 positive246 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the ending. Some find it suspenseful, creepy, and exciting. Others feel the story is too rushed and lacks pay-off.

"...I was VERY disappointed with the ending.Normally I would never give Stephen King such a low review. His work is exillerating and twisted...." Read more

"...any stretch of the imagination (pun intended), at least was a good read with an ending, though not a particularly satisfying one...." Read more

"...It feels dumb to say the ending was hard to believe, since the entire basis for the story asks the reader to accept that a car can eat people, but..." Read more

"...novel that just might be- judging by the subtle, intriguing, and nuanced excerpt seen here- right up there with "The Stand" in its creativity and..." Read more

203 customers mention "Shortness"82 positive121 negative

Customers have different views on the book's length. Some find it short enough to read in one day, while others feel it drags at times.

"Too short. I did not realize that this was a short story...." Read more

"...Then, there is his tallent for taking something totally ordinary - say a muddy station wagon, for example - and making it extrodinarily scary...." Read more

"...much a typical King short story, though this one was perhaps a little too short and could have benefited from some additional time to percolate...." Read more

"...This story, though short, was great! MILE 81 grabbed my attention and kept it the whole time...." Read more

119 customers mention "Imagination"58 positive61 negative

Customers have different views on the imagination in the book. Some find it creative and memorable, with a neat characterization and ability to step inside the mind of a child. Others feel the premise is ridiculous and not as scary as it could be. The ending seems abrupt and seems quite implausible. Overall, opinions are mixed on the imagination level.

"...excerpt seen here- right up there with "The Stand" in its creativity and memorability...." Read more

"...hurry, and the ending will do nothing but disappoint, with no resolution of the questions I posed in the previous paragraph.... I have never wanted..." Read more

"...The characters are quickly conjured by King and immediately developed in the reader's mind - it's that good...." Read more

"...The plot may be predictable, especially because King plants hints at the beginning of the story, but that doesn’t matter...." Read more

90 customers mention "Scariness level"43 positive47 negative

Customers have mixed views on the book's scariness level. Some find it creepy and suspenseful, with a great mix of gruesomeness, nostalgia, and humor. Others feel it's not scary or interesting.

"...And it worked. My only complaint was that it worked a little too well...." Read more

"...There are some great scenes here (one involving a tire is delightfully creepy, and the death scenes are pretty clever)..." Read more

"...As for the car itself - yes it is a bit creepy but it is also King's take (as only King could do) on the perils of stopping to help a stranger who..." Read more

"...Like I have already mentioned, it is gruesome, chilling and only a little violent...." Read more

72 customers mention "Value for money"45 positive27 negative

Customers have different views on the book's value for money. Some find it enjoyable and a great purchase, while others think the price is high for its length.

"...Lynn: I have to agree here. The story was good and well worth the money, but the writing style appeared to be a little forced, especially the..." Read more

"...I'd give 4.5 out 5 stars. I'm taking off .5 because the price is high for that length.Of course, it is obvious this was a trick...." Read more

"...Anyway, "Mile 81" is fun, cheap, includes a meaty glimpse of a possibly great novel, and is only a click away on your Kindle. What's stopping you?" Read more

"...Highly recommended and well worth the money." Read more

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Joseph P. Menta, Jr.
The master mines scares from a junky old car and a dirty rest stop
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2011
Verified Purchase
For a longish short story, "Mile 81" manages to cram in some decent characterizations (even among the several victims who are only briefly seen) and many scares. The scares, not so incidentally, are generated by a pretty well-crafted piece of imagination: essentially a monster from space who (at least currently) is shaped like a mud-spattered station wagon that's sitting alongside an abandoned rest stop like a Venus Fly Trap, just waiting for curiosity seekers to check it out.

The story reminded me of those small gems that the author routinely included in his periodic telephone book-sized anthologies of decades past: an efficient little story that gets the job done quickly but not by cheaping out on the richness or drama or that all-important creepiness. In this case, you'll never look at a moldy old station wagon again.

A cool bonus (and possibly the main reason this "Kindle Single" exists in the first place) is also included with one's purchase: a meaty little promotional excerpt from "11/22/63", Mr. King's novel about the JFK assassination and the time traveler who tries to prevent it. As rich and imaginative as Mr. King's short stories can be, it's his long, ambitious novels where those qualities will most often really shine. And from this excerpt, "11/22/63" doesn't look to be an exception to the rule.

So, if you're at all a fan of Stephen King, you can do worse than spend a couple of bucks and change for an early look at both a polished little short story (that will undoubtedly be a highlight of a future King anthology) and a late-career novel that just might be- judging by the subtle, intriguing, and nuanced excerpt seen here- right up there with "The Stand" in its creativity and memorability. Heck, I'll be more than satisfied if "11/22/63" is as least as good as the decent, perfectly satisfying "Under the Dome" of a couple of years past.

Anyway, "Mile 81" is fun, cheap, includes a meaty glimpse of a possibly great novel, and is only a click away on your Kindle. What's stopping you?

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Michelle R.
From Red Adept Reviews: Mile 81
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2011
Verified Purchase
(Note: This is a joint review with Lynn O'Dell of RAR)
Michelle: I've heard good things about this writer and thought I might give him a shot. (Kidding.) I'd preordered it and had it delivered to my Kindle right when it was released.

Lynn: I've been a fan of Stephen King since I was a kid. I couldn't pass up this short story. I, too, preordered it.

Description:

Michelle: Since the Amazon description is longer than the story and gives away pretty much everything, let me try. Pete Simmons, a ten-year-old boy, sneaks into an abandoned rest stop, while unbeknownst to him, all hell is breaking loose outside, due to a seemingly sentient muddy station wagon. The moral: Almost no good deed goes unpunished, unless you're pre-pubescent.

Overall: Michelle: 4 ¼ Stars

Lynn: 4 Stars

Plot/Storyline: Michelle: 4 ½ stars

Lynn: 4 Stars

Michelle: You can't say that Stephen King doesn't cop to the resemblance this story has to earlier works. To quote: "Jim Golding hadn't believed in monster cars since he saw that movie Christine as a kid, but he believed that sometimes monsters could lurk in cars."

Stephen King has gone back to the scary-car well for, I believe, the third time. (This is not to be confused with the scary well well.) For the most part, it works. All I know is I spent most of the story wishing I could make various characters stop approaching the car, not to mention be able to translate the warning of a six-year-old girl. When she says, "It's sticky," she means it.

I have to give credit for the abandoned rest stop setting that allowed so much to go so wrong within close proximity of passing cars. Rather than this providing help, it seems to only serve to draw in fresh victims. The death count... is not exactly low.

Lynn: Stephen King generally delivers some great horror. I have to admit that when it came to his depicting another scary car, I was concerned that it would end up as another From a Buick 8, the only novel of his that I will never reread and would rate with two stars. Fortunately, this one, while not reaching the level of Christine by any stretch of the imagination (pun intended), at least was a good read with an ending, though not a particularly satisfying one.

I had a couple of small issues with the book. I won't go into detail on either to avoid spoilers. First, though I'm not personally familiar with the back of a police car, I'm pretty sure the rear doors don't open from the inside. Second, if something can roll somewhere, I would assume it could roll again.

My larger issue was with the ending, which bordered on the ridiculous. However, I took it much in the same way I withstood the ending of It, the part with the asthma inhaler.

Michelle: You make some good points. I didn't even think of the police car door thing. You're right that King was reaching on that ending. The difference is that in IT there was a clearly established theme of childhood belief being magic/magical and even the adult characters needed to revert back in order to battle Pennywise. King does this a fair amount. Here though, he didn't quite make that link. He directly stated that the saving grace for Pete was his youth -- and by extension his ability to still believe the unbelievable. This saved him from making the same mistakes the adults made. That's different though from his "solution," which seemed to be not so much about childhood magic as it was, well, science applied to science fiction.

Characters: Michelle: 4 ¼ Stars
Lynn: 4 ½ Stars

Michelle: King has always had a knack for introducing a lot of characters and giving us nice little snapshots into their lives so that we understand perfectly who they are and what they fear. This is a short story where he had to do this over half a dozen times. There were moments where the kids seemed almost too precocious, and Pete perhaps seems like he belonged to an earlier generation, but these are small complaints.

Lynn: I loved the horse woman. She was vintage King. The other characters weren't as imaginative as I'm used to from him, but they weren't bad, either. My only character problem was with the six year old immediately knowing a ten-year-old was worried about alcohol on his breath.

Michelle: I loved the horsewoman, too! I think Rachel figuring out Pete's concern was supposed to be surprising. Precocity by design, as opposed to an error in characterization. That moment didn't bother me as much as the rest, where I was simply expected to believe she was just old for her age. It reminded me a little of our recent discussion of the Koontz book (What The Night Knows) where all the kids were embarrassingly perfect little forty year olds who discussed art and literature at the dinner table. King wasn't quite that bad.

Writing style: Michelle: 4 ¼ Stars
Lynn: 3 ¾ Stars

Michelle: It feels weird to judge the style of the author I've read since I was a kid in the late seventies. Ha, imagine being his editor. His style was, to be expected, quite good. If I'm being honest though, there were moments when it all felt a little rote.

Reading King is like catching up with a friend, reconnecting with someone who has been part of my life since I was too young to understand the shower scene in Carrie. When I step back from this, I can say that this is not his best work, not by a long shot, and not even his best short story involving a child protagonist. (For that, I'd suggest The Man in the Black Suit.) Still, this was time well spent, and the price was right.

Lynn: I have to agree here. The story was good and well worth the money, but the writing style appeared to be a little forced, especially the parenthetical interjections.

My other problem came with the severe head hopping. I'm used to King telling his stories from different viewpoints. That's actually something I really enjoy about his work. However, in this story, he not only hopped around, he didn't do it very smoothly. He even had one flashback where the character who had the memory knew something he couldn't have known, making it seem as though the story were some kind of weird cross between omniscient and third person.

Michelle: I missed that moment. I prefer that an author avoids head hopping, but beyond that, I think it simply works better for the more experienced writer. If King can screw it up, anyone can -- and most people do.

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Sean A. Lusher
Good read, abrupt ending.
Reviewed in the United States on September 9, 2011
Verified Purchase
I'm not a die hard SK fan. Before last year, my experiences with him had been scarce. I'd read The Stand when I was too young to fully appreciate it and I got through most of Insomnia.

I recently decided to give King a shot. I wanted to know if he was famous because he was actually good, or if he was only so famous because he was already so famous.

To his credit, King is great at what he does. Duma Key is one of the best novels I've ever read and Full Dark, No Stars was fantastic. I'm looking forward to reading The Dark Tower series.

I was excited when I heard about Mile 81. When I finally got it around 5AM the day of its release, I managed to read a few pages before I had to go to work. Normally, I really don't like stories about kids, but the intro wasn't so bad. I was fairly satisfied with the story. Ultimately, however, it amounted to a series of deaths by car. Which I liked. And this isn't a spoiler alert, at least not if you've read the product description.

The biggest problem? The ending. It was extremely abrupt and it felt very rushed. I'm a writer and I know what it feels like when you just want to wrap the story up and be done with. My works have suffered because of rushed endings. I get the feeling that Stephen was growing tired of Mile 81 and just wrapped it up with a paragraph or two so he could move on to something else. As a result, the work does suffer.

However, for the price, I'd say its worth buying.

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carolalap
great read
Reviewed in Canada on January 7, 2019
Verified Purchase
can't beat king

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JennyB
The Good Samaritans.
Reviewed in Australia on August 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
I enjoyed this novella. Mind, it’s way too short!
I listen a lot to Stephen King stories on Audible, but this one I downloaded onto my Kindle and read it very quickly.
Short, sharp and succinct that kept me in till the end.

What happened to the kids?
All three of them, not to mention the horse.

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Brendan Shields
Short and to the dark point
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2015
Verified Purchase
As a fan of Stephen King I discovered this short story on the kindle store. It starts of like most King novels, full of description and not scary at all. But all of a sudden it takes a dark unexpected turn that only King could pull off. I highly recommend this to anyone that is a fan of Stephen King. It took me about a hour and a half to read so it is perfect for a bus journey or a short flight.

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Dark Matter
Ekelog,spannend, und bisl ZU kurz.
Reviewed in Germany on October 18, 2013
Verified Purchase
Die Geschichte ist super geschrieben und zieht den Leser sofort mitten ins Geschehen. Ein Stephen King wie man ihn kennt.
Das ekelige Ungetüm das hier ein Opfer nach dem anderen fordert ist widerlich und gnadenlos. Ein tolle Geschichte die es sich alle mal lohnt zu lesen ( sofern man Englisch gut lesen kann, in Deutsch bleibt da viel auf der Strecke was die Charaktere und ihre Mentalität angeht). Einziges Manko: die Geschichte ist selbst für eine Kurzgeschichte dann doch etwas zu früh zu ende. Es gibt zwar ein klares "Ende" der Geschichte aber dennoch ist sie etwas ZU plötzlich.

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GermánRegueira
Un genuino Stephen King
Reviewed in Spain on July 1, 2013
Verified Purchase
Genial, esta novela corta, que contiene los elementos clásicos que hicieron a Stephen King el maestro de la literatura contemporánea de terror.
Un clásico absoluto al mejor nivel.

Si no conoces la obra temprana del autor es un libro introducirte en ella.

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Mile 81 (Kindle Single) Kindle Edition

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