This has been on my to-read list for so long I think I had built it up far too much in my head and had forgotten how much King can go off on a tangent. Having said that, I did enjoy the sections about horror fiction writing over the 30 years up to the early 80s, less so the film and TV sections, and I did like King's insights into why it is such a popular genre despite the ever present question about why would people write about or read such things. I wasn't so keen on the biography bits about the various authors, directors and others involved in the world of horror but then I'm never keen on such things anyway. The main issue with this now is how out of date it, with 37 years having passed since it was published, there is so much more to review and the genre has progressed and changed so much it would be great to see an update to this, or a follow up volume. That said, I did still enjoy it although maybe not as much as I had hoped.