If it's true that Sutherland Menzies (author of the excellent Hugues the Wer-Wolf) was actually the pen name of Mrs. Elizabeth Stone, then A Story of a Weir-Wolf is only the second, not the first, werewolf short story written by a woman. Whatever the case may be, they're both very good. Crowe's story is more like a 3.5 stars for me because it's a tad too long, but the plot itself is simple yet effective. Besides, in how many werewolf stories does a woman get to be the hero?

BBC Radio 4 - Book at Bedtime

When a cat birthday party and an appearance from Jeff Goldblum are the most interesting things in a horror movie, you can't really say it's a successful chiller, can you? For some reason both the randomness and bizarreness work better in the book, and the plot doesn't drag quite as much as in the jarringly slow movie. Sure, Allison is pretty much made out of thin air as a character, and her boyfriend is such a punchable sleazeball that it's almost otherworldly, but the hilariously strange and creepy neighbors, the mystery and eeriness surrounding the brownstone, and the enigma of the blind priest all add to the cheesy world of 70s satanic craze.

I don't find religious horror scary or even that interesting (The Exorcist nearly put me to sleep), but The Sentinel is kooky and a bit of a mess in a good way, and I'm partial to that sort of thing. It's the kind of entertaining oddball novel that I'll gladly champion instead of a much too serious and sedate one that is touted as a masterpiece.

Oh, and I love the surprise cover this edition has!

Update 10.10.2013 Saw the film several months ago, and it was awesome. Spacek was great as Carrie, and knowing what would happen at the end didn't bother one bit.
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The story is short, but effective. After the humiliating shower scene (what a bunch of moronic apes...), the events start rolling along like a tornado. The blood bath of the prom night is referred to every once in a while, so mentioning it wouldn't really be a spoiler. The novel is actually quite melancholic despite the horrific events at the end. King's touch is delicate when he recounts the snapping of Carrie, and the cruelties that teenagers can do to each other.

Even though the story is told through multiple perspectives, and some of them in the form of diaries, letters and investigation reports, they don't interrupt the flow of the story but complement it nicely. You can also conclude, that afterwards most don't remember Carrie's sufferings. She's only remembered as some kind of faceless monster, who needs to repent her sins (kind of like what her nutcase mother told her). An idiotic practical joke destroyed Carrie's efforts to reach a connection with other human beings. And because Carrie as a result took the wrong turn at a crossroads, the innocent suffered on the side.

A lot of people may know Carrie's story already, some through de Palma's movie which I shockingly enough have not seen yet. There was a chance to see it at the local film club's screening a while ago, but I wasn't able to make it. Maybe that was for the better, though, because I was only now able to read the book, and the film may have ruined this for me.

This one didn't have much horror elements (or sci-fi for that matter) and the characters weren't as developed as you could have hoped for.

Though this isn't by any chance the scariest King story I've encountered it has a pressing atmosphere when you're waiting that click when everything explodes in Jack's head. You can just see the little hints spread around until it's sure that the disaster is going to happen. As hard as a subject domestic violence is King makes you turn the page one by one with his superb storytelling and characters.