The Side Quest Book Club PodcastPet Sematary Part 4 - Stephen King - Horror Book - Supernatural Horror
Our guest had to put this book down for two weeks. Chapter 35 named the date.
We close out PET SEMATARY by Stephen King with John, the listener who talked us into reading it — full spoiler discussion, final episode of four.
John is the reason this book was on our list, and he's read it twice: once at 20, once as a father. We start with why it's the rare book you have to walk away from, then get into what actually makes horror work — the slow boil, and whether a story lands when it stops being about a burial ground and starts being about a man with no framework for death. Then forbidden knowledge and control, Judd as the Mephistopheles of Ludlow, whether the ground was discovered or built, who the real hero is, and what happens after the last page.
Tell us the book someone talked you into reading in the comments.
(00:00) - Intro: The Guest Who Picked This Book
(03:11) - The Date That Stopped Him Cold
(05:26) - Reading This With a Toddler Nearby
(07:03) - Books That Actually Break You
(12:29) - King Almost Didn't Publish It
(13:36) - Side Quest: Movies That Made Us Cry
(20:34) - Why This Became John's Favorite
(21:55) - The POV Switch Nobody Notices
(24:54) - What Makes a Good Horror Story?
(27:24) - Horror and the Human Condition
(31:39) - It's Not About the Burial Ground
(33:25) - The First Crack in His Worldview
(34:30) - The King Multiverse Connections
(36:20) - Why Forbidden Knowledge Pulls Us In
(38:33) - Knowledge Without the Suffering
(42:46) - Made for Another World
(45:24) - The Quick Fix That Ruined Everything
(47:03) - All He Had to Give Up Was the Cat
(48:21) - Judd as Mephistopheles
(50:25) - Advice That Quietly Ruins You
(53:06) - COVID and the Illusion of Control
(54:55) - Three Lies We Live By
(58:07) - What Is the Burial Ground, Really?
(59:36) - Discovered, Not Created
(01:03:06) - Steve Is the Real Hero
(01:04:46) - What Happens After the Last Page
(01:05:57) - Books King Planned vs Winged
(01:07:57) - The Best Sentence in the Book
(01:10:07) - King Got Hit by a Van
(01:11:27) - Side Quest: Do You Smell Your Books?
(01:13:46) - Final Thoughts
The Side Quest Book Club Podcast is a weekly deep-dive book review for sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fans who love getting lost in worlds. Hosts Jonathan and Slava break down Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere (including the Stormlight Archive), the works of Stephen King, and the best and most overlooked fantasy, sci-fi, and speculative fiction.
🎙️ New episodes every Tuesday: full spoiler discussions, world-building, character analysis, and book club arguments that make you want to re-read the book to prove Jonathan wrong. We take a break during summer but have a full catalog for you to listen to.
What we cover:
📚 Brandon Sanderson — Cosmere deep dives, Stormlight Archive chapter-by-chapter
👑 Stephen King podcast — from IT to The Mist, and everything in between
🐉 Fantasy literature analysis — hidden gems, classics, and what makes great world-building
🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
(00:00) - Intro: The Guest Who Picked This Book
(03:11) - The Date That Stopped Him Cold
(05:26) - Reading This With a Toddler Nearby
(07:03) - Books That Actually Break You
(12:29) - King Almost Didn't Publish It
(13:36) - Side Quest: Movies That Made Us Cry
(20:34) - Why This Became John's Favorite
(21:55) - The POV Switch Nobody Notices
(24:54) - What Makes a Good Horror Story?
(27:24) - Horror and the Human Condition
(31:39) - It's Not About the Burial Ground
(33:25) - The First Crack in His Worldview
(34:30) - The King Multiverse Connections
(36:20) - Why Forbidden Knowledge Pulls Us In
(38:33) - Knowledge Without the Suffering
(42:46) - Made for Another World
(45:24) - The Quick Fix That Ruined Everything
(47:03) - All He Had to Give Up Was the Cat
(48:21) - Judd as Mephistopheles
(50:25) - Advice That Quietly Ruins You
(53:06) - COVID and the Illusion of Control
(54:55) - Three Lies We Live By
(58:07) - What Is the Burial Ground, Really?
(59:36) - Discovered, Not Created
(01:03:06) - Steve Is the Real Hero
(01:04:46) - What Happens After the Last Page
(01:05:57) - Books King Planned vs Winged
(01:07:57) - The Best Sentence in the Book
(01:10:07) - King Got Hit by a Van
(01:11:27) - Side Quest: Do You Smell Your Books?
(01:13:46) - Final Thoughts
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Side Quest Book Club is a podcast about books, the people who write them, and the tangents in between.
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