At this point in working through King's back catalogue, opening one of his books feels like settling into your favourite armchair with a cosy blanket, but knowing in the back of your mind that at some point that the blanket will be ripped off you and you will be savaged by the previously loving family pet...

..Which is where we find ourselves here as Cujo, the friendly Saint Bernard, is bitten by a rabid bat and, as events conspire against certain residents of Castle Rock, turns against the humans around him.

Once again this is absolutely nerve shredding, particularly when we're sat alongside Donna and Tad Trenton trapped in their car as Cujo awaits them. We've spent time with the Trenton's and the Cambers (Cujo's owners) in the time leading up to the fateful Monday that Donna turns into their drive, so by the time the heartbreaking ending arrives our grief feels almost as real as Donna's. I'd spent quite a bit of time by then yelling at Vic through the pages as he focuses on every threat to his family but the real one, and hoping futilely that help would arrive but, as in real life, no white knight arrives just in the nick of time, and the lack of a happy ending only makes the book more powerful.

Great stuff.