Published in 2008
Read the dutch version
In short
Duma Key is a novel about a man, Edgar Freemantle, who survived a terrifying accident, involving a huge crane, a car and a broken signal for going backwards.
He suffered several injuries, whereunder the loss of his right arm, broken ribs and a fracture to his skull, called a contracoup.
During his revalidation his marriage fails, due to his severe rage. Filled with suicide thoughts, his psychiatrists recommends a change of geography and he moves to Florida for a year. To one of the Florida Keys to be precise.
There is the beginning of his great adventure, which in the end will have an unbelievable pricetag.
The psychiatrists had asked him what he used to love to do, before he made a success of himself in construction. So he begins to paint once he sets foot in the hired house, Salmon Point, or Big Pink as he himself calls it.
He becomes friends with Wireman, a man who takes care of the proprietor of the entire island, Elizabeth Eastlake, who suffers from Alzheimers.
Together they stand tall against all the Gulf has for them, and at the same time, dive in without knowing when they can come up for air.
I love his novel, hence the five star rating on GoodReads. King's latest novels have often been called lesser than his 1980's novels, but Duma Key, together with Lisey's Story have such a strong hold on me, almost a stranglehold, that I loudly disagree.
Much of Duma Key's strength is the personal touch King could add, with having suffered from a terrible accident in the early years of the new millenium.
Other than that, it is of course a wild ride into the psychedelic, you can't take anything too seriously, just serious enough to suffer from a few dark moments awake at night, when you imagine the twins soaking footsteps coming up the stairs.
And with all King's most valuable work, the gentle references to his other works are a treat when you figured them out. When not just enter Duma Key in Wikipedia and you see what others have found for you.
King has been an author I've been reading since I was allowed to take it home with me from the library, I was almost 12 and has been one of my most read authors 'till this day. Of course he has numerous novels to his name, for each something they like.
