I have always been a fan of talking books, I guess that comes from never living within three quarters of hours drive from where I work. So when I saw this short story read by the author there was no hesitation, I had to have it. Fortunately, I was not disappointed by the experience.

This story concerns a man (LT) who's wife has left him, and the story he tells of her leaving. It revolves around two animals. A Jack Russell Terrier his wife bought him for their first wedding anniversary and a Siamese Cat he bought her for their second. Unfortunately the pets didn't like the person for whom they were bought but loved their purchasers.

This story has quite a bit of humour in it (in a rude vein) but does have some of the characteristic Stephen King grizzlyness to keep us horror fans happy. He has always had the knack of writing something truly creepy. As this is short fiction it does not have the rich depths of characters or situations that King writes into his longer work, but that's not what fiction of this length should be about. Here he tells the story well, the intended humourous moments are humourous, the creepy bits are creepy.

The only down side to this is the performance. It's not a bad performance, King can read his work well (try the unabridged Bag of Bones), but at the start of the reading I felt he was too quick, not taking the pauses that would have allowed the words to sink in before reading the next phrase or sentence. As the performance continues he seems to relax and the delivery is vastly improved by the end of the

A very enjoyable way of driving to work.