If It Bleeds by Stephen King

 

Synopsis:

If it Bleeds is a collection of four new novellas —Mr. Harrigan’s Phone, The Life of Chuck, Rat, and the title story If It Bleeds— each pulling readers into intriguing and frightening places.

A collection of four uniquely wonderful long stories, including a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider.

News people have a saying: 'If it bleeds, it leads'. And a bomb at Albert Macready Middle School is guaranteed to lead any bulletin.

Holly Gibney of the Finders Keepers detective agency is working on the case of a missing dog - and on her own need to be more assertive - when she sees the footage on TV. But when she tunes in again, to the late-night report, she realizes there is something not quite right about the correspondent who was first on the scene. So begins 'If It Bleeds' , a stand-alone sequel to The Outsider featuring the incomparable Holly on her first solo case.

Dancing alongside are three more long stories - 'Mr Harrigan's Phone', 'The Life of Chuck' and 'Rat' .

The novella is a form King has returned to over and over again in the course of his amazing career, and many have been made into iconic films, If It Bleeds is a uniquely satisfying collection of longer short fiction by an incomparably gifted writer. (goodreads)

Another Stephen King, you say. 

Yes, please, I say. 

Of course King hasn't produced novels of the same caliber that IT, The Stand or The Dark Tower, he's still one of my favourite authors. 

These were novellas and since I'm prone to dislike such stories because mostly they are too short to get invested in, my lack of time surprisingly give these a little advantage. I think I can state I've read much of KIng's oeuvre and most of his titles adorn my book case here at home, even his multiple short story collections. 

It still isn't what I most like about his writing. I love what he explores in these stories, but lack the depth any good story really needs and King, in my opinion, shines best in a very thick novel. Writing short stories is a skill very little authors really master ( think Ray Bradbury when seeking such a master ) and I mostly read King's attempts out of curtesy. Of course there is the rare gem in between the masses, with a writer of such volume as King it's to be expected, but I lacked that kind of power story in this bundle of novellas. While they are entertaining, they didn't leave any mark.

The Institute

I'm a King addict, meaning I read almost eveything he writes. The good and the mediocre stuff.
The Institute was somewhat inbetween good and mediocre.

The story revolves around Luke. He's kidnapped from his home, his parents are killed and he's brought to an institute where he's subjected to various tests. The reason he's there isn't because he has a very high IQ, but because he's slightly telekinetic (like Carrie, but very mild - to think of it, a Carrie joke would've been funny in this novel, but alas in this alternate universe the novel Carrie doesn't exist probably).

He's not the only child in this Institute. All of them have been taken from their homes and all of them are slightly telekinetic of telepathic. Why they are there isn't explained and where they go after the tests end is an ever bigger mystery. They only know that going back home isn't part of the agenda, unless they take matters into their own hands.

Whenever I read a King novel like this it feels like coming home from a long journey. He's got a familiar style that I like. He's not the most eloquent writer and I felt that certain little remarks could've been edited out, because they don't add to the story (if this would be a television show, it would be the equivalent of suddenly seeing the camera man which deludes the magic a bit).
Still, I enjoyed it. It was quite long, as most of his novels are, but that also means that they are worth their while. It wasn't as good as Revival, but immensely better than the Mr Mercedes- trilogy. 
Although it does seem that his antagonists have shifted from being mostly writers to officers of the law, which gives a completely different tone to his stories.

Elevation

This was a very short story. It's strange that this made it to print all by itself since it might just have well have ended up as part  of a short story collection.
Maybe that was the intent but somewhere along the way this got printed on its own.

The story itself is endearing. Not what I seek when I read King, but I know he's got many different genres to choose from and in my opinion this particular one is not to my liking. It feels too much like a movie only shown at 2 PM, because only desperate housewives will watch this kind of thing.

Too cheesy, too predictable and too long-winded even for a story this short. Still, when holding a crying infant, I enjoyed the cheesy predictability of it all.

Lisey's Story

It's the second time I've read this and I'm not sure why I picked it up again.
It's not King's best and not even in my top 20 of favourite books of him, but I got this urge to read it. Somehow I felt myself to be in the exact right mood frame to read this one.

It took me a while to finish it, just because it's very different from other works by King's hand, but I managed through it.

The story is about a woman coming to terms with her husband dead, in the real world but also in a world next to ours where her husband, who had been a writer, went to stay sane and go a little mad at the same time.
As the story progresses we find out more about their lives together and about the cruel past of her husband which made him as he is.
It wouldn't be a King novel without a little madness.

I don't think this novel will be read by me for a third time and I hope to find an eager reader to adopt this book of me, but who knows. Maybe I'll feel like it again in ten years.

The Outsider

More Stephen King, an author of which I use to think I couldn't get enough but has, in my opinion, veered off in a direction I'm not inclined to follow.
Not that he's not superb at what he's doing, it's just different and not in a genre that I especially like.

The Outsider sets up a gruesome crime scene and a suspect beyond belief, where it ultimately takes a lot of courage and believe to see it all through.
His characters are believable, even though he's got a thing for strong middle aged policemen that I don't share, but they do the trick to sell this story.
The plot and suspense in this novel are okay. Some things you see coming from a mile away, but other stuff does take you by surprise, but I'm missing that streak of genius of his earlier work. That special kind of commitment to a character, where you almost believe that it's King writing about himself.
This story ties into the universe of Bill Hodges (known from Mr Mercedes, Finders Keepers and End of Watch), and Ralph, the main protagonist in this story is probably a younger version of Bill, still active on the police force instead of retired with a private detective agency.

I can't say it struck home with me, the last part was actually a bit difficult to get through, because it was too neatly done, but it's still King and he's still got a spot in my readers' heart.

Sleeping Beauties

This was a classic Stephen King if you ask me. He wrote it together with one of his sons, Owen to be precise, but I never felt the presence of another author. This entire novel was so vintage Stephen King.

I think I could read one of these and instantly guess the author if it wasn't on the cover. His manner of telling a story is so unique.

The story itself is about women falling asleep and not waking up. It's not a metaphor for dying, because they are alive, just not conscious.
This sparks a panic attack when the male population realizes they have to fend for themselves.

The pandemic is around the globe, but King chooses to put his magnifying glass above a small Appalachian town called Dooling County. It's not entirely backwards, it even got a female sheriff, but it still got that vibe you get as soon as you leave the city. Not that it's a bad vibe, I'd like to feel more like them. I think that living a somewhat simple life is complicated enough as it is.  But enough on my opinion on the town, it's the author's choice to choose a time and place for battle and he has chosen Dooling County.

Dooling County has a variety of inhabitants, some of them good people, some bad, most inbetween.
But they are chosen to be the ones whose behavior the future will depend.

It's a good story, it's a supernatural story with some elements that makes the story go smoother, that delivers surprises, but in the end it stays believable. It's set in a day and age we know, in a town we can imagine, with people we might be friendly with or not, but covered with a veneer of supernatural events.

I liked to read it, but I'm a great fan so probably very biased. I finished it in a few days, even though it's almost 700 pages long, so that's in itself says enough.
What I do regret is the anticlimax of the ending. There's a lot of build up and I felt myself weary of turning a page to see some events turn haywire, which happened less often than I am used to in a King novel. Maybe that's the influence of Owen. On one hand I was relieved because in the end I too keep rooting for the good guys, but it did have its effect on the story because even though a sucker punch (for which George RR Martin is known) is momentarily hard to bite through, it gives the story a more layered emotional resonance.
But despite this, the story held its own and I'm glad they wrote it for us Constant Readers to enjoy!!

Mr. Mercedes

I have little words for this novel.
To make it clear.. I'm an avid Stephen King fan, I've read almost everything he published.

I would never have believed if someone told me beforehand that one day I would begin in a novel of him I wouldn't like, even to the extent of not being able to finish it.

Today, this stranger I never met, is proven right. I didn't like Mr. Mercedes.
It felt like a clumsy attempt to publish one book a year. Most of his ideas are terrific, but not all his ideas and I feel like he has come to a point where no matter what he writes it will get published and that's sad compared to aspiring writers.

The story revolves around a retired Police Detective, named Hodges and one of the last cases he couldn't solve.
A madman who drove into a crowd using a very fancy Mercedes. Nicknamed Mr. Mercedes, but known to us as Brady.
Brady is a little crazy, but I think his craziness would've been more effective and creepy if it wasn't by the rules.
With 'by the rules' I mean that Brady is so textbook crazy, it's laughable. Distorted family, obsession with his mother, driving the ice cream truck (which seems only the gullible or crazy ever do for a long time) and even the fact that he's still a virgin. Although he mother relieves him of blue balls once in a while.

It didn't impress me, and neither did Hodges.
In most of King's novels I feel a very close connection with the protagonist but I didn't give a damn about Hodges. He's an empty vessel in my opinion.
Since I didn't finish the novel, and it isn't from the lack of trying. I twice threw the novel away (metaphorically) and picked it back up again because I didn't believe to be defeated by a novel by my favourite writer. But in the end I just wanted to read something good again.

Review of The Wastelands

Roland's quest to the dark tower is coming along nicely and I'm joining with pleasure.
I have to admit that I took longer to finish the Waste Lands than I expected, but there are many reasons for that.
First of all, no time is one of those reasons, a meek one I agree, but there are just those days that I come back from work and sit back after an evening of cooking and getting the little one ready for bed that I just want to brainlessly watch television.
Rekindling Friends wasn't maybe the best choice to improve my reading habits.

Another reason for the slomo I have been, is that I felt The Drawing of the Three had me right on the edge of things, where I like to be, whereas The Waste Lands let go of those reigns.
It's always tricky to be rereading a novel because there are parts you like and others you don't. The Drawing of the Three was packed with what I liked, while The Wastelands dragged on a little.
I love Blaine though, even if he is as evil as the devil. Who doesn't like to solve riddles? Even I do, and I suck at it.

For those unfamiliar with this book, it takes you along the journey of Roland and his Ka-tet, Susannah and Eddie, to the dark tower. If you know your facts, you are aware of the fact that he doesn't reach that yet, as this is just the third novel in a series that encompasses eight novels (seven when I read it at first - The Wind Through The Keyhole being a brand new edition and partly the reason I pulled these out of their resting place).
We get to see the progress of Susannah and Eddie as they slowly turn into gunslingers themselves, both terrified for Roland who seems to have lost his mind after dealing with the third door on the beach. Is Jake alive or isn't he? That's the question and Roland's mind doesn't seem to be able to decide as both memory circuits compete with each other.
As they travel across the land, they notice the signs that this world has gone on and is on its way to certain oblivion, it being a duracell bear or clocks that go backwards. As Roland has to deal with his own shit, Eddie has demons of his own. He knows something the others don't, but his past keeps him from doing what needs to be done until it's almost to late.

I could tell more, a lot happens in this novel, but I don't want to spoil too much.
I can tell you of Lud, the city that never sleeps and rocks to the beat of ZZ Top.. or swings would be more accurate. Lud is also the city of Blaine and that leaves an explosive end to a novel that will leave you begging for more.

Stephen King is a master story teller and The Dark Tower is just one example in a lifetime of unbelievable stories I can't get my hands off.
Roland is so lifelike, I can almost smell the sweat on his brow or feel the coldness that spreads when it isn't his mind but his hand who controls his movements. It's Clint Eastwood, but with a dash of utter hopelessness about him. As he travels with his ka-tet they transfrom from fellow traveler's into a band of brothers worthy of the old times.
Susannah and Eddie react in their own way to their new life and even reluctantly acknowledge they wouldn't want to go back to their old life even if it was offered on a golden platter.
But neither of them have the will and perseverance the fourth member of their fellowship has, he doesn't get to be pulled, he jumps.

But enough with the riddles.
Read it and be amazed.
Read it again and be comforted.

Review of The Drawing of the Three

Yes, I've finished the second book in the Dark Tower series already. You'd think I had nothing better to do and yet I only read when I'm not working or taking care of my kiddo.
King just reads like a train.

The second book is better than the first, in my opinion.
The first has its strengths, but it can't compete with the tension and pace The Drawing of the Three renders.
We, again, follow Roland. We find him on the beach where we left him at the end of The Gunslinger. As he wakes up, he finds out he's not alone. Strange creatures have come up from the sea and Roland's life changes quickly.
As he travels across the beach, having lost more than he could imagine fighting the monsters from the sea, he comes upon a door.
Cryptically the Man in Black had told him he would learn how to draw. Roland didn't know what that meant, but the Man in Black was sure he would find out.
Above the door a word is written, the same word found on the cards that were laid before him. As he opens the door, a whole new world comes into vision and he learns just what the Man in Black expected.
His quest to the dark tower that has taken him to that beach will introduce him to magnificent characters, each unique in its own way and accompanying him whether they like to or not.
Addicted to his quest and ruthless as he has proven to be, Roland still is able to have people cling to him, even knowing they are doomed.
My heart goes out to Eddie and Susannah. May they have long days and pleasant nights. And twice so much.

What makes the Drawing of the Three so addictive, is King's way of making a character alive. As if they are really made from flesh, blood and bones. He doesn't just tell the story, he gives you just enough background and little tidbits, that makes it intimate, that makes it believable. Even a supernatural story can feel like it happened when King works his magic.
His knack in writing about broken people, people who have looked life in its eyes and paid the price, is priceless. I had no idea people that spent, could still stand up and spit back. And I admire them for it, even if they only exist between the covers of a book.

I'm going to start in the next one and expect to be back soon.

Review of The Gunslinger (Dark Tower #1)

After years of pondering I've finally begun again on this epic quest, maybe with more than I had when I embarked on this trip the last time.

It's a different experience than the last time.
When I flew through this magnum opus the first time I was seven years younger, already attached to my hubby for life, but not as responsible as I would've liked to be. I was still pretty carefree, not bothering with much except what I wanted and liked.
Nowadays I'm mother, wife and keeper of the household which is frustrating at times but I wouldn't trade it in for a million other options. Lot of things have changed, and I'm more mature as I was seven years ago.

I read these words I read back then through different lenses (which is funny since I actually began wearing glasses just a few years back) and it's difficult to say how The Gunslinger made me feel.

Don't get me wrong, I love King's writing, as I've mentioned more than once, but The Gunslinger is a feisty little motherfucker. King says so himself, it's not the easiest little novel to get through, but in the end you get what you want. The intro to a hell of a story.

In large, The Gunslinger is the psychologic intro into the main character of the Dark Tower. You get a glimpse of the man in search of the dark tower as if it was his soul he was searching. If you're like me, you'll be frustrated and annoyed by his cool demeanor, but as that outer layer flays away slowly you'll be amazed how you've somehow begun to empathize with him.
You'll get to know people from his world, some worth remembering, some easy to forget and others maybe haunting you through the rest of his journey.
All this happens while he is traveling a seemingly endless desert in search of the man in black as the very first line of the book tells you. It must be one of the more known sentences of one of his books.. although I think the Shining can also put a quote in that top three.

The Gunslinger is a bleak story about a man desperate for redemption as he search in vain to revenge himself on the man he follows. Nothing more than the bare necessities to carry along, nothing more to tell this story with. It's indeed not an easy story to roll into, but at least it's got the backbone needed for a strong story to survive upon. And I always liked a challenge, which usually leads to discovering more than meets the eye.

Now enough with the metaphores, I've got someone waiting for me.

Review of Revival

Well, I guess I did my best to finish this, but who else to help me along that my trusted friend Stephen King.
I told you a few times already how much of a fan I am of this one of a kind writer, and Revival let's me recapture that feeling again.
Although not as good as his earlier work, especially his 80's and 90's novels, I still love what he worked with. It made me regret that I stayed shy of his work for so long. I've had a marathon of a sort a few years back when I read anything I him I could lay my hands on (except for Rage which is an almost impossible book to find, unless you buy it in an omnibus of which I have all the other stories). Then, running out of material, I went to find other authors, finding George RR Martin and others like him, so Stephen King kind of was put on hold. He's still publishing books as if he's not human, but I admit that the critique I've heard that the true King spirit is hard to find, that it feels more like someone with too much time on his hands and an too large fanbase to ever be cast down because a book didn't live up to its standards.

Wrong!
Definitely wrong!

Even though King maybe revisits certain worlds more than once and for someone briefly familiar with his work, it might seem like he is just recaching what he has written before.
Instead for someone like me, who started reading him since childhood and never really quit on him (please don't judge for a few gaps in time where I tried to focus on something else) each and every book of him feels like coming home.
Castle Rock, The androscoggin county and in general Maine is like our home away from home. I've never been there, but someday I will. Not to go visit the grand master. He's a King to me, but I worship from a distance. But I want to visit Maine to get a better feeling of the country, travel through little towns, stop at one or two little diners along the road, maybe even witness some kind of summer festival. Anything to see where the magic comes from that sparks from his books each time I open them.

But back to the novel.
As I said Revival isn't his best, but also not his worst novel.
The first 2/3 of the book scores highest with me, as we grow up along with Jamie Morris, in a way almost expected of Stephen King, with the highs of growing up, but also with a scattering of terrible events that brought tears to my eyes.
We meet Jamie for the first time when he is six, a few weeks before he meets Charlie Jacobs, the new appointed minister of their county.
They keep meeting, in both good and bad occasions throughout his childhood.
The second part of the novel concentrates on Jamie trying to rectify choices made in his life, again with the help of the minister.
But all is not how it looks and Jamie instinctively shies away from the minister as soon as he can.
But as faith has tendencies to be a bitch, they keep on colliding with each other, eventually reaching a breathtaking climax.
Reading through this novel I can conclude to say that novel deals with the loss of faith, some of what the minister says in his final sermon in the church of Harlow rings very true and I was cheering him on as he was shocking the religious community.
But the novel deals not only with that loss of faith that consequently also covers the loss of a belief in an afterlife. Thinking this after this life, there would be nothing left, might seem scary and final, but what if the afterlife is there, but it's not that grand and wonderful most of us think it's going to be? What if whether we live a good or bad life, it doesn't matter in the end, that there isn't a division between our behaviour here on earth?
Those are a few questions King tries to answer in his usual scary way.

Many of King's characters share the same qualities and faults.
Drug addiction.
Loneliness, although seeing what he does to a family in the shining, that might not be a bad thing.
The arts, be it music, words or pictures.
Roots deeply buried around Castle Rock

and a deeprooted instinct to do right and help where they can, even though they themselves would be the last to claim that truth.

Why he chooses to go back to that cocktail of a protagonist for so many times, we may never know, but it's definitely a combination that rarely fails its expectations.
It seems the same, but each time he got that rhythm just a little different, but in the end all that shit starts in E.

Joyland

Another one by Stephen King. God, I love his writing! I've read almost anything that man ever wrote and he is my number one author by far. My husband asked me if I liked this book and I had to tell him that I did. I don't know why exactly, but I liked it. Once I was past half of the book I couldn't put it down. He hypnotizes you with words, no kidding. The next question my husband asked was if there was any book of Stephen King I didn't like. Believe it or not, I couldn't think of a single one. They all have this same quality to them. He weaves a story and you get stuck in it. With dozens of books written already you'd think he's get it wrong some day, maybe that's why I waited so long before reading this because of the HARD CASE CRIME series it was published for. That doesn't interest me one bit, and I thought King had gone off the deep end, but he managed to make me like, no love it!

Alright, that's enough praise shoved down your throat.
Joyland is a novella, about a young man going through a heartbreak and trying to work through it by volunteering at a carnivale. A kind of eighties Disneyland, before Disneyland began swallowing up the little places of fun. The places you adored when you were a kid, but when you see pictures you laugh at having been so silly and gullible. Still, almost everyone loves to go to a themepark. It's getting in touch with our inner little self and just having fun.
Well, Devin, the main character, is selling fun all summer long. During his time there he hears a story about the horror attraction being haunted. He never sees the ghost of a girl murdered there, but you still get goosebumps how King describes the setting. A paranormal crime novel. Kuddo's!
I know, again with the praise.
As he decides to take leave of school for a while and keep working at the entertainment park he digs deeper into the mystery with a little help from his friends. He also get to know a local woman and her son whose got a serious illness. Everyone plays a definite part in this novel and I liked it how King kept me on the edge of my seat.

Joyland is quickly read, and maybe that's it's only fault. I loved it and can't wait for the next King to be released!

I give it an 8 out of 10.

Review of Doctor Sleep

First of all, I'm a huge fan of Stephen King, I've read almost everything he's written over the years and I like most of it tremendously much.
He's been my favourite writer since I was 12 and they let me take Christine home with me at the local library. I wasn't supposed to, because his books were in the adult section but I persevered and never regretted it. Christine was a very well written novel and made me a fan for life.

First of all the short of it..
Mostly I copy the summary from Goodreads but I think it gives away much too much detail. In my opinion all you need to know that this is the story of Dan Torrance, the little boy from the Shining (REDRUM anyone?) and a new evil is around the corner zoning in on his special ability. For people who've never read The Shining, this story might have some 'huh? paragraphs' but you don't need the read the first to appreciate the latter.

I liked it. Maybe not as much as I liked the Shining, and I don't think that it's the highlight of his career. The shining was something else, much like Misery and Pet Sematary. Most people remember the movies, but I'm more a fan of his grand fiction, aka The Stand, The Dark Tower, It and other more unknown work like The Long Walk and Duma Key.
Doctor Sleep is like stepping into a familiar house where you haven't been a while. You know every nook and cranny, but somehow it doesn't feel as familiar as it supposed to be, and it also appeared to have shrunk. Although the shining was set in a much smaller environment, it felt much grander than his sequel. Maybe the bombastic nature came from the more explosive pen Stephen King handled back then. Doctor Sleep feels more sedate, but it crawls under your skin just as well and I stayed up well over bedtime (don't I feel old when I talk about going to bed on time) to read as far as I could. It was well worth the redrimmed eyes and mornings filled with yawns.

I liked the character of Dan Torrance, a middle aged man dealing with the phantoms of his youth, made to come to the rescue of a young girl. It's a great adventure and as it deals with supernatural powers, you don't expect someone to tuck their tail in between their legs and run, but somehow the fictional truth of everyone standing up for one person, someone not even known to them from before feels a little fictional. Especially in today's world where look but don't even consider helping is becoming a firm cornerstone.
But don't get me wrong, It doesn't make the book any less good. That's why I love to read books, because in general the people portrayed in there are of the good and responsible kind, sometimes even the heroic kind.

It's written in the style of Stephen king that I come to love and like also in other novels. Short bursts of chapters that keep you on the edge of your seat. An easy to read english, full of nowadays slang without being too confusing. And the descriptions are just enough to set the stage without unnecessary details, so you can fill in the blanks with your own imagination.

Can't wait for the next one, I just might grab one of his early ones and reread it for old times sake.

Personal rating: 4 stars

Review of 11-22-63

In short

Jake Epping is a thirty-five-year-old high school English teacher in Lisbon Falls, Maine, who makes extra money teaching adults in the GED program. He receives an essay from one of the students—a gruesome, harrowing first person story about the night 50 years ago when Harry Dunning’s father came home and killed his mother, his sister, and his brother with a hammer. Harry escaped with a smashed leg, as evidenced by his crooked walk.

Not much later, Jake’s friend Al, who runs the local diner, divulges a secret: his storeroom is a portal to 1958. He enlists Jake on an insane—and insanely possible—mission to try to prevent the Kennedy assassination. So begins Jake’s new life as George Amberson and his new world of Elvis and JFK, of big American cars and sock hops, of a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald and a beautiful high school librarian named Sadie Dunhill, who becomes the love of Jake’s life—a life that transgresses all the normal rules of time. (www.goodreads.com)

My two cents

This is a good novel.
The reason why is because I wanted to keep on reading it and if I had more time it would have been devoured in less than a week, for sure. But as time is precious and the only downtime I had was at work during lunch, I was forced to read this novel slowly and I am pretty sure that made all the better.

Stephen King has always been a favourite for me, I've read 95% if his work and those I haven't read are mostly about football and I don't give a damn about that.
11-22-63 is a winner. It's a love story, a survival guide and sometimes even funny although with a sarcastic tone to it. Despite the unlucky chosen title, there's nothing wrong with it. King at its best.

The protagonist Jake, aka George Amberson, feels like a real life character, someone you might know from the neighbourhood, maybe even someone who has taught your son or daughter in school. And yet he transforms into an all-american hero. And it doesn't stop there, when pull comes to shove he sets all that aside for the love if his life and still it doesn't end there.
Then there is Sadie Dunhill, a clumsy librarian, escaping from a bad marriage and to be falling in love with our dear George. Their love is what love should be like. Dreamy, yet realistically hurtful so you know you have to treasure every moment. And how they could do the Lindy hop.

Stephen king keeps you on the end of your seat and for once his ending is superb. Way to go, I'd say and never stop writing!

Personal rating: ****
Thickness: 849 pages
First published in 2011

Review of The Long Walk

Author: Stephen King
First published in 1979
Thickness: 370 pages
Personal rating: 5 stars
Read in Dutch

In short

100 young boys run a marathon. The prize of winning being having all you ask for, the prize of losing being your life.
Set in a dystopian society, we follow Ray Garraty, one of the contestants, while he runs for his life and in the meantime learns the true meaning of friendship, death and love.

My two cents

The long walk is one of my most cherished novels of Stephen King. It isn't his greatest work of fiction, written before Carrie (his first novel) was published, at the age of 19, but it strikes a chord in me. It feels real to me, like something that might happen in this crazy world we live in today, where we all want to be entertained no matter the cost.
Of course such dystopian tales have been told before, we all have heard of Battle Royal, The Hunger Games, The Running Man,... 
But what makes this a novel you should have read at least once, is that it's written from a very personal point of view. We actually tail Ray Garraty, in his personal glories and defeats. How does one cope with the fact that you living, means 99 others have to die and the only way to live is to keep on running, hoping your body and mind don't fail you.

As they begin to run, Ray quickly becomes friends with a few of his fellow runners, and they do watch each others backs up until a point where they all know that saving another means possible death for themselves. You follow them as they all figure that out in their own way, and cope with it.
It's a story full of grim possibilities, and if you are like me, you'll read it in less than three days. It's a novel I could read in one sitting if I could find the time.
Also a novel that my husband read and liked and he isn't much of a Stephen King reader to begin with.

I give my full blessing :)

Review of Full dark, No stars

Author: Stephen King
Published in 2010
Page count: 416 pages
Personal rating: 2 stars

In short

This is a collection of four novella's, one more lenghtier than the other, all dealing with retribution. 

1922 tells the tale about a farmer who kills his wife with the help of his son and what becomes of him when his wife doesn't quiet down as easily as he had expected. 

Big driver is about a woman raped and left for dead and goes in search of the culprit herself. 

Fair extension recaptures the infamous deal with the devil. 

Good marriage is a horror story for those who think they know their significant other and find out they don't. A woman's world is turned upside down when she discovers the secret her husband has held all those years. 

My two cents

I have rated this collection of stories rather low when you compare them with other stephen king novels I've read.
First of all I'm not a big fan of his short fiction. He's a master of spinning the thread of suspense and surprise when he writes a novel 300 page or more. Few can follow in his footsteps. His short fiction doesn't live up to that, so in giving this only two stars, so stating I'm finding it okay but not terribly good, is partly a statement to this novels of his that our superbly and outstanding.

But second, I found this novella's to be repetitive. All feature a hidden persona inside the main characters mind and when I didn't mind that coming up in 1922 because it being the first of the collection, it did annoy me when it showed it's face in the other stories.
Big Driver felt like a story told too many times already. I just saw a movie (I spit on your grave) which tells more or less the same story. Also Last House on the Left brushes the same subject and is mentioned in the story.
Fair Extension made me feel uncomfortable. It lacks a moral and I had no idea I needed one when reading that kind of story. Streeter just seemed really really bad, no matter what his best friend had done to him all those years ago. Envy can be a treacherous ally.
Good Marriage was the story I liked the best. It's something we are all afraid of, not knowing the person we love the most.

Duma Key: Reviewing one of my favourites

By Stephen King
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.