Review of Stephen King's "The Road Virus Heads North"

Stephen King's short story, The Road Virus Heads North, is based on a painting his wife got for him.

I wouldn't want a horror story hovering and haunting a painting in my house. Would you?

Richard Kinnell, a somewhat famous writer, stops in Rosewood after leaving a conference. At a yard sale, he searched for the "liquor box filled with paperbacks" that most certainly would be in the yard sale. There weren't any paperbacks, but he spotted a watercolor picture leaning against an ironing board. A young man in a black Grand Am muscle car with a T-top looked out from the painting. The T-Top was off the car, making it a convertible of sorts. On the back of the painting were the words "The Road Virus Heads North." Hmmm, the title of the painting.

Judy Diment was conducting the yard sale for her neighbor and recognized Kinnell. She explained that Bobby Hastings, the painter, slowly deteriorated over the years; one day, he burned all of his paintings except this one, pinned a note to his shirt saying he "couldn't stand what was happening to him," and hung himself.

Kinnell wrote his driver's license information on the forty-five-dollar check, happy with his purchase, and then stopped to visit his Aunt Trudy. She hated the painting and said the driver in the picture was looking at them. After their visit, Kinnell examined the painting. The man's arm in the painting is in a different position, and he grinned at Richard. The original skyline and background have changed and are now the town of Rosewood. The Road Virus was heading north, for sure!

Richard pulled over, threw the cursed painting down an embankment, and continued driving.

Surprise! When he arrived home, the painting mounted on his wall startled him; it showed the Grand Am now parked in front of his house.

Richard turns on the TV to a news report that Judy Diment was hacked to death in her front yard. People heard a loud car driving away; he knew it was the Grand Am. The picture revealed another significant change. The headlights of the car were visible.

Slowly, Richard realized the car might target Aunt Trudy; she had seen the painting with him and hadn't liked it. He grabbed the picture, running to his fireplace. Then he looked at it and saw the Grand Am was now on an exit ramp of the freeway. Frantically trying to save his aunt, he squirted lighter fluid on it and burned it up, then left a message for his aunt to phone him.

Richard soaped his hair with Prell shampoo and dozed off while showering. After a bit, his feet slipped, and he woke up to a low rumbling outside. Looking out the window, the Grand Am was idling in front of his house.

Richard was a naked man with soapy shampoo all over his head and noticed the painting hanging above his bed. In it, the Grand Am was not on the street; it was idling in his driveway, and the driver's door was open. Heavy boots were clomping up the stairs, and he knew there was a knife. As he lay on the wooden floor planks, the painting revealed the driver's side bucket seat, full of blood.

Kinnell's last thought is, "I'm going outside, I think," and he closes his eyes.

It is a creepy short story with a painting that keeps changing features and places. King builds tension and throws in little details in the story, such as the description of the muscle car and the Prell shampoo. Four stars because the ending was a little odd for me. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️