Four Past Midnight

astina

Shining the movie I happened to see on TV the other day, impressed me a great deal. I found the horror story fascinating though a bit scary. What a shame that I have never heard of Stephen King before!

I waited impatiently for a whole week until Saturday finally came. I rushed to the library nearby and grabbed two of his novels from the shelf. Actually those two were the only two available in the library at that time. Had there been more, I would have borrowed all of them - I know I am a greedy person.

I started one of them straight away, a novel called Four Past Midnight – what a name to start with! 10 pages into the story and I found myself already stuck to it. 152 passengers were on a so-called red eye flight and when 11 of them woke up at midnight, they found they were the only people left in this aeroplane. Everybody else, including the entire crew, simply disappeared. The plane was still flying east automatically thanks to the auto programme set up by the pilot before THAT event happened. To make things weirder, the personal belongings of those disappeared passengers remained on their seats, including their purses, wallets, jewels, watches and even wigs!

Fortunately, of the 11, there was one pilot who just got off duty from an eventful and exhausting overseas flight and now was on aboard as a passenger. He managed to break into the locked pilot’s room, only to find a cup of half finished coke and a Danish pastry with one or two bites. He tried to communicate with ground or other planes but the radio system was not working at all. When flying over Denver, they did not see any lights of the airport and the city that they were definitely supposed to see. There was simply no sign of life and they seemed to be a deserted group, left alone in the vast darkness and emptiness.

One cannot help but wonder what actually happened to those who disappeared, why only 11 people remained and why that particular 11, whether they would land safely without any radio communication and what would wait for them after the landing. Every day after dinner, I just rushed to the book and kept reading it until bedtime. I never thought of going onto net any more because there was something far more appealing lying on the bedside table, waiting for me. So far I am only half through and the story is getting more and more fascinating. The author’s wild imagination brings one highlight after another and each night I found it hard to put down the book and turn off the light.

I strongly recommend this book, Four Past Midnight by Stephen King, if you are into thrillers and mysteries like myself. If you have read the story, please be kind enough not to tell me what happens afterwards. A thousand times I wanted to jump to the last few pages but managed to stop that in the last second – just to save myself some fun and win a few more nights with something to look forward to.

joaquin

你动作真快呀～～～

astina

被华金提醒，我想起来我写过个故事梗概，挖出来，在这里再推荐一下这本SK的four past midnight

原文于2004年7月7日发表于Freeoz.

astina

原帖由 joaquin 于 2008-11-5 20:30 发表
你动作真快呀～～～

存货

joaquin

真有耐心
要是我，不睡觉也要把书看完，否则心痒难忍
哪里还有空来写半途读后感

[ 本帖最后由 joaquin 于 2008-11-5 20:34 编辑 ]

astina

是上班时候写的，反正也看不到书

老陶

我记得看过这部电影。


BTW，看英文真的很累啊。

joaquin

我不行的，打开一本小说，就要以最快速度看完才能安心。
所以过了晚上8点俺是不会开始一本新书的。

steveking

Stephen King 的书、电影看的不多，缘于好几个故事的结尾不是鬼怪就是外星人的，本来很有悬念的故事就这样加了个牵强附会的结尾。就像话说当年看《侏罗纪公园》和《异形一》，对怪兽外星人还是有新鲜感的，但看多了就那样。。。(paopaobing(10))

astina

没关系，我说了我现在已经get over他了

孔武

我本来想问的，是不是转贴还是什么的，因为我知你曾喜欢SK  的小说的，文中说以前不知SK , 我就觉得奇怪。原来是旧作。

astina

原帖由 孔武 于 2008-11-6 13:33 发表
我本来想问的，是不是转贴还是什么的，因为我知你曾喜欢SK  的小说的，文中说以前不知SK , 我就觉得奇怪。原来是旧作。

yeah it has been more than 4 years since I wrote this one

zmzhu

我首先知道Stephen King是通过电影，主要是他的作品拍成电影的实在太多了，而且不少作品相当不错。
早期的有大师级的经典恐怖片《carrie》《Shining》，后来有《Misery危情十日》，Kathy Bates凭此片获奥斯卡和金球奖影后，拍的相当的不错，再后来就有了最著名的《The Shawshank Redemption》，《The Green Mile》等了，除了SK的小说改编的电影，其他作家象John Grisham，Tom Clancy的小说拍的电影我也都是每部必看的

孔武

前几天看了80年代的老片Dead Zone，突然喜欢上了那个时代

zmzhu

我更喜欢八十年代的上海，上周末又看了一遍《小字辈》，真怀念小时候

孔武

我半年前收集了一批老片子的DVD:

今夜有暴风雪
包氏父子
牧马人
火烧圆明园
雅马哈鱼档
等等

很经典

zmzhu

包氏父子好看呀，谢铁骊导的 管宗祥刘昌伟演的，刘那时候还是小吧啦子

孔武

刘昌伟简直把小包演绝了，后来他还演了《孽债》，不过那时已经老了。
我还买了《祝福》，还有《海外赤子》（估计这部戏没人知道，70年代的吧）
想买的没买到的是陈思思的《红蝙蝠公寓》

zmzhu

海外赤子陈冲演的，里有我最最喜欢的歌

我爱你中国！！！ -叶佩英

孔武

你对中国电影知道的真多，佩服佩服~

zmzhu

叶佩英本身是马来西亚华侨女高音歌唱家，所以唱这歌特别有感情，身在海外的华人更爱中华

孔武

好像关牧村也唱过？

zmzhu

彼此彼此，我也非常佩服你， 你多大啊？

astina

我爱你中国真的很好听，包含深情，又 不做作

astina

郁闷一下，书评看的人本来就少，用英语写的就更没人看了

zmzhu

我一般听歌只听原唱的，对了红蝙蝠公寓只听我妈说过，很好看的悬念片，唉，陈思思也死了，美女啊

孔武

我看过陈思思的结婚照，惊为天人，更她一比，现在那些花哨的婚纱照全部给比下去了
不过她老了后就不太好看了。

astina

原帖由 孔武 于 2008-11-6 16:48 发表
我看过陈思思的结婚照，惊为天人，更她一比，现在那些花哨的婚纱照全部给比下去了
不过她老了后就不太好看了。

有照片吗

孔武

还有部戏，外国的，叫《蝙蝠》，好吓人，看了我倒厨房去，老是担心窗子外有巨型黑手伸进来。

zmzhu

还有部《古堡幽灵》没看过，独角戏里听过，哈哈