History Literature / FullDarkNoStars

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Henry doesn't want to leave the farm anyway, and Wilfred does everything he can to increase his fear. The thing that frightens Henry the most? If they move to Chicago, he'll end up going to high school with "black niggers".

* OutlawCouple: [[spoiler: Henry and Shannon becomes this.]]

* AbusiveParents: Arlette might have lived longer if she hadn't been so cruel to her son. And of course, making your son your accomplice in killing his mother is hardly good parenting either.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Wilfred manipulates Henry into helping him murder Arlette so that he can keep his land from being sold. He gets to keep the land, but it comes at a heavy cost when Henry knocks up Shannon and runs off, [[spoiler:eventually resulting in both their deaths]]. Soon, nature seems to throw onto his misfortune, with a rat that attacks one of his cows, his livestock gradually being killed by the bad weather, and Wilfred losing one hand to amputation to prevent gangrene from a savage rat bite. In the end, he even questions if it was really worth it.

** The sheriff has no interest in investigating Arlette's murder, and is frustrated that his job requires him to make even a token effort. He believes that matters between husband and wife are no one else's business, and twenty years before, the law had agreed. Back then, if a husband said his wife had run off, that was the end of it.

As of 2020, three of them have been adapted into tv movies: ''Film/NineteenTwentyTwo'' (in 2017, starring Creator/ThomasJane); ''Film/BigDriver'' (in 2014, starring Mario Bello), and ''A Good Marriage'' (2014, starring Joan Allen and Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia).

As of 2020, three of them have been adapted into tv movies: [[Film/NineteenTwentyTwo 1922]](in 2017, starring Creator/ThomasJane); Film/BigDriver (in 2014, starring Mario Bello), and A Good Marriage (2014, starring Joan Allen and Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia).

* StrawMisogynist: How Bob justifies his crime to himself. He has a delusion that many women he meet are sluts (he uses the term "snoot") who are trying to tempt him, when in fact they are doing normal things or even acting creeped out, such as waitress Stacey Moore. He then believes that they are sexually teasing him, so in his view they deserve to die.

As of 2020, three of them have been adapted into tv movies: [[Film/NineteenTwentyTwo 1922]](in 2017, starring Henry Jane); Film/BigDriver (in 2014, starring Mario Bello), and A Good Marriage (2014, starring Joan Allen and Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia).

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Bob is a doting husband and a pillar of the community. He's also the serial killer known as Beadie.

* FauxAffablyEvil: Bob is rather charming and a pillar of the community.

As of 2020, three of them have been adapted into tv movies: [[Film/NineteenTwentyTwo 1922]](in 2017, starring Henry Jane); Big Driver (in 2014, starring Mario Bello), and A Good Marriage (2014, starring Joan Allen and Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia).

As of 2020, three of them have been adapted into tv movies: [[Film/NineteenTwentyTwo 1922]](in 2017, starring Henry Jane); Big Driver (in 2014, starring Mario Bello), and A Good Marriage (2014, starring Joan Allen and Creator/AnthonyLaPaglia.

* {{Adorkable}}: Tess.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Henry kills himself after Shannon dies.]]

* TeenPregnancy: Wilfred's son gets the neighbor's daughter pregnant. It doesn't go well. For anyone.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: in a flashback we learn that, while they were on a plane to The Bahamas, Brad thought for a moment that Ellen had died while in fact she was just sleeping. When he told her about this later, he promised he would [[spoiler: never accept her death, but just use his imagination to keep her alive. By the end of the story, we find out that Ellen has died and Brad is doing exactly what he promised.]]
* LawOfInverseFertility: Ellen learned some years ago that she cannot conceive a child, which is one of the darkest pages in her and Brad’s marriage.

* ShoutOut: To Creator/HPLovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls".

[[quoteright:328:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fulldark_7309.jpg]]'''''Full Dark, No Stars''''' is a collection of novellas written by Creator/StephenKing that all deal with the themes of vengeance and retribution.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Probably one of King's bleakest works. It starts off grim and only gets worse.

* AffablyEvil: George Elvid is very friendly for the Devil.
** Though he becomes much less affable when he ends his business with Streeter and becomes anxious to make tracks.
* AssholeVictim: Played with. Dave sees Tom Goodhugh as one (he stole Dave's girlfriend, got rich off an idea that Dave helped implement, etc), but it's hard not to feel sorry for him when his life turns to shit.
** Not to mention that Dave comes across as an UnreliableNarrator and is possibly lying/exaggerating Tom's villainy.

* Sadist: Dave Streeter becomes one, relishing the suffering Tom Goodhugh and his family go through.

* AssholeVictim: Played with. The reader is made to hate Tom Goodhugh (he stole Dave's girlfriend, got rich off an idea that Dave helped implement, etc), but it's hard not to feel sorry for him when his life turns to shit.

* TheBadGuyWins: Dave Streeter enjoys watching the horrible things that happen to Tom Goodhough's family, delighting in Tom's suffering while telling him it will get better. Meanwhile, Dave becomes more and more prosperous and happy. At the end of the story, looking at Venus, he makes a wish - for more.

* DrivenToSuicide: Almost. After his life goes to shit, Tom tells Dave that if he could kill himself and make it look like an accident, he would. Dave, delighting in Tom's suffering, tells him it will get better. [[spoiler: It won't.]]

* KarmaHoudini: Dave Streeter.

* AxesAtSchool: Bob planned a school shooting when he was younger with his friend Brian, several decades before Columbine.

* CriminalMindGames: Beadie sends taunting messages to the police, where Bob deliberately misspells to hide his intelligence.
* DarkSecret: First Bob's, then Darcy's in the end, which Holt Ramsey figures out.

* NightmareFetishist: Darcy discovers that her husband has a collection of extremely dark sadomasochistic magazines.

* StrawMisogynist: How Bob justifies his crime to himself. He believes a delusion that many women he meet are sluts - he uses the term "snoot" - who are trying to tempt him, when in fact they are doing normal things or even acting creeped out (such as waitress Stacey Moore). He then believes that they are sexually teasing him, so in his view they deserve to die.

* FiveStagesOfGrief: [[spoiler:Brad is firmly in stage 1, Denial, and it doesn’t look like he will get out of it soon...]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: in a flashback we learn that, while they were on a plane to The Bahama’s, Brad thought for a moment that Ellen had died while in fact she was just sleeping, and when he told about this later, he promised he would [[spoiler: never accept her death, but just use his imagination to keep her alive. By the end of the story, we find out that Ellen has died and Brad is doing exactly what he promised.]]

A man makes a DealWithTheDevil to exchange his misery with his friend's good luck.

After being violated and left for dead, a crime novelist uses her detective skills and plots her revenge.

* AnimateInanimateObject: Tess imagines many of her appliances helping her and giving her advice.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Tess initially has one of these after accidentally killing her rapist's brother and believing him to be innocent. [[spoiler: It turns out he was in on it with his brother.]]
* RapeAndRevenge
* RoaringRampageOfRevenge
* ScaryLibrarian: [[spoiler: Ramona, who deliberately sent Tess off the beaten path so she would get raped and murdered by her son.]]

* AffablyEvil: George Elvid is very friendly for the Devil

* TheBadGuyWins: Streeter enjoys watching the horrible things that happen to Tom Goodhough's family. Meanwhile, he becomes more and more prosperous and happy. In the end, looking at stars, he makes a wish - for more.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The Devil is clearly disgusted with Streeter.

* GreenEyedMonster: The ''actual'' reason for Streeter's hatred toward Tom.

* LouisCypher: George Elvid.

* BewareTheNiceOnes

* DarkSecret: First Bob's then Darcy's.
* DeadTVRemoteGag: When Darcy's looking for batteries for hers, she finds a lot more than she intended....

* GollumMadeMeDoIt: Bob states that Brian Delaney infected him with misogynistic and violent ideas, and his voice drives him to kill. Darcy believes this is simply a self-justification.

* StrawMisogynist: How Bob justifies his crime to himself. He believes a delusion that many women he meet are sluts who are trying to tempt him, when in fact they are doing normal things or even acting creeped out. He then believes that they are sexually teasing him, so they deserve to die.

This is an additional short story included in some editions of the book, after the Afterword [[note]]later collected in ''Literature/BazaarOfBadDreams''[[/note]]. A man named Brad Franklin goes through his day while his wife Ellen stays in bed because she has bronchitis. Or so we are led to believe.

* FiveStagesOfGrief: [[spoiler:Brad is firmly in stage 1, Denial, and it doesn’t look like he will get out of it soon]]