Stephen King made a good point when he noted that an underappreciated thriller is actually one of the best reads of the 2000s. King is a vocal critic of other Stephen King writers and adaptations, taking no prisoners in his comments – he called Cemetery Shift “just a quick exploration image” (Deadline). We feel inclined to trust King's honesty regarding film and literature. That's why his interviews and ranking lists are worth paying attention to when it comes to good books, and King was on a roll in the 2000s, making his thriller recommendation well-founded.
Although Stephen King was proficient throughout the 70s, 80s, 90s and into the modern day, he gave the world some underrated classics in the 2000s. Under the dome provided one of Stephen King's best human villains, putting him in the right frame of mind to evaluate Kate Atkinson's novel. This 2004 detective novel by British author Atkinson delves into a dark set of cold cases in Cambridge, England, investigated by the completely human Jackson Brodie. King advised readers to delve deeper into this novel to experience one of the greatest mysteries of recent years.
Stephen King is right about Case Histories being one of the best mysteries of the 2000s
Kate Atkinson's case histories are a great read
Case histories It wouldn't be Stephen King's first instance of praising a recent thriller, but it might be one of his best mystery suggestions. The book addresses multiple crimes, opening with them all one by one. This throws the reader into a depressing state of compulsion to find out how they resolve themselves. With a disappearance and dark and violent incidents, this is not a happy and cozy storybut a fascinating look at the human mind unraveling in the face of tragedy. This is something King often addresses through the supernatural, so it's easy to see why he liked it.
It is disappointing that the cases have not received more attention in recent years
Case Histories Are an Underrated Gem
Case histories received a lot of attention upon its release and through an engaging adaptation, but is generally not known to most crime genre readers in the 2020s. This excellent novel deserves to be on best lists and book club calendars around the world, but it will have to be content with the awards it won in 2004. Case histories won the Saltire Book of the Year Award and the Prix Westminster. These awards were fairly won, which was recognized by the BBC when they picked up the story for a three-part series.
The three-part series has a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it deserves a better score. Harry Potter star Jason Isaacs (Lucius Malfoy) led this gripping miniseries. In fact, the audience score is stronger than the critic score. This series is only available in the US on Peacock, but deserves a wider release on streaming giants like Amazon Prime Video or Netflix. One of the underrated Stephen King adaptations and one of the best head-scratching novels of 2004, Case histories deserves greater recognitionas Stephen King he understands.
Source: Deadline