REVIEW: Mr MERCEDES

Cover photo* by Caras Ionut

Mr MERCEDES

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-444-78862-4

Pages: 405

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Published: 3 June 2014

On the cover:

A riveting cat-and-mouse suspense thriller about a retired cop and a couple of unlikely allies who race against time to stop a lone killer intent on blowing up thousands.

Retired homicide detective Bill Hodges is haunted by the few cases he left open, and by one in particular: in the pre-dawn hours hundreds of desperate people were lined up for a spot at a jobs fair in the distressed Midwestern city were he worked. Without warning, a lone driver ploughed through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes. Eight people were killed, fifteen wounded. The Killer escaped.

Months later, on the other side of the city, Bill Hodges gets a taunting letter in the mail, from a man claiming to be the perpetrator. Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing that from happening.

Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. And he is preparing to kill again.

Hodges, with a couple of misfit friends, must apprehend the killer in a high-stakes race against time. Because Brady's next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim hundreds, even thousands.

   This novel has more in common with King's Hard Case Crime novel Joyland than with most of his other novels. That is to say it is a Crime novel, unashamedly so. (Although it is easy at this point to argue that Stephen King Novel is really it's own literary subgenre.) If you have read Joyland, you will be well aware that King can pull of an excellent Crime novel when he tries. He certainly makes an effort to do so here.

   At first glance there is not much that is new here. The detective coming out of retirement to solve a large case is not exactly a new invention when it comes to Crime. There are some fresh elements in this novel though, mostly his two helpers. The first one, Jerome, seems at first to be a token Computer Whiz Kid, but he turns out to have a much larger part in what is to enfold than what can be suspected from our first meeting with him. The second one, Holly, -well- it's hard to say much about her without giving anything away. It will have to suffice to say that she is hardly a typical character, she has greater complexity than most "sidekicks".
   Bill himself is perhaps closer to the faulty Noir Crime detective, but he has something extra to him too. And his role in the final showdown is certainly a novel one, and it comes with its own share of suspense as to where we will see the character end up.

   There is one point at which this novel is much the same as other King novels, it has King's trademark build-up. We really get to know the characters and their situations. Here that includes Brady, the titular character - and the story's villain. In some ways it is Brady that we come closest too, it is him that we get the most intimate details about. He is never sympathetic though, King tells his story without making you feel sorry for him.
   This means that there is absolutely no suspense in who the killer is, but there doesn't need to be any either. It is not what the narrative is going for, and I can't see that this story would be improved by not knowing who the heroes are looking for.

   The paragraphs above makes for four main characters, which could be a bit much if every character got the same space. There is however a focus on Brady and Bill. We do not get to see much from other viewpoints, and neither do we have to. Aside from these four there are several other characters in supporting roles, they are all well realised. King once again shows us he can do very good characters, and let us get really close to them as we follow their story.
   One character did however cause a problem for me, that character is Janey. She is absolutely a good character, and she does come off as someone you would like to spend time with. However there is a part of her story that I felt was a bit cheap. Too easy, and not really up to the standard of the rest of the book. (It will be obvious what I mean if you read the book.) I don't really know if what I am talking about could be done differently without changing other events around, but what happened did feel like a bit of a letdown. This did not majorly effect my experience though,  it just made it a little less of a perfect novel.

   When it comes to the level of suspense, King is masterful as always. The novel starts out with a tense and eerie prologue. After that the tension soon starts to build gradually. By the time you get towards the end of the book you'll most likely be on tenterhooks. The last one hundred pages almost left me breathless. At that point the level of suspense is off the charts. This might not be Horror, but it doesn't really hold back in creating the feeling the constant reader will be familiar with from king's other work.

   To sum up, I found this to be an excellent King novel. Apart from the small flaw mentioned above, there is nothing wrong here in my opinion. This should be excellent reading for any Crime fan, and I will also recommend this highly to King's SFF fans. It is simply a wonderfully told story that should appeal to anyone who wants some suspense when they sit down to read.

_____

* The cover of the edition I have is actually a special cover only available in-store at UK's WH Smith High Street stores. It has a colour difference, and looks like this: 

STEPHEN KING REVIEW INDEX.

LINKS: Stephen King   Hodder & Stoughton   Hodderscape

COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XXI)

   The UK edition of Stephen King's latest, coming in 3 June from Hodder & Stoughton, has gotten a cover. (An animated version can be found here.) It's quite different from the US one in style, but the image is somewhat similar. I really like this one. Which is no surprise. I like the Hodder & Stoughton covers for Stephen King quite a lot, and this is no exception to that.

   This should be out on 3 June also, but this time from Night Shade Books. It certainly has a very good Horror feel to it, and the art looks really great. Definitely one of those covers that would make me look twice in the bookstore. And considering what it is, I would then pick the book up.

   This is an Epic Fantasy from a debut author. It will be out in late April from South Africa's Fox & Raven Publishing. The art is by Rashieq Sasman, with cover design by Hannes Strydom. It's an interesting cover, and I like these type of covers for Epic Fantasy, so this one got me interested. If like with me this has gotten you interested in finding out more, you can do so here.

   This is the cover for the first book in a new series from Charlaine Harris called Midnight, Texas. It's out 8 May from Gollancz. You can see a nice animated reveal thingy here. I must admit that I haven't read any of Harris's previous books (, although that may change in the near future as my sister-in-law has all of the Sookie Stackhouse ones), but this cover looks interesting to me. I'd pick this up to see what it was all about if I found it in the SFF section of the bookstore.

   From Angry Robot we have this cover, with art by Alejandro Colucci. It's for the second book in The Majat Code and the novel will be out 29 July 2014. It's a very good cover, the art is excellent. This is absolutely good enough to stand out among a group of Fantasy covers, and that would definitely make me want to pick the book up.

   This, from Tor Books, is the follow up to the award nominated Blindsight, it will be out 26 August 2014. The art is by Richard Anderson. I hadn't looked up this book, or the previous one, yet. But this cover made me take a quick peek while I was writing this post. (Which is how I found out you can get Blindsight for free here.) It's a very good Science Fiction cover, one that belongs to a style that will always make me look at the novel.

   Out from Gollancz in September this year. This novel has got a cover with art by Chris Gibbs and in-house design by Jamie Tanner. This cover immediately caught my eye, there is just something about that that means I'm drawn to it. (No, not the eye in the middle.) Reading the cover copy here hasn't made me less interested, so I think I will pick this one up.

   Another novel of The Malazan Empire, this one out 3 July (on Kindle only?) with a paper release to follow 5 August from Tor Books. The art is good but I think I can spot some copy/pasting going on, and that seems a bit lazy. Other than that it is fine, but then again I am not sure I would use a cover that will put many people in mind of the Wall from A Song of Ice and Fire.

   This cover is for the final spoof/mash-up book of the Original Star Wars Trilogy. (The good one.) It will be out 1 July 2014 from Quirk Books. To be honest, I am not really interested in the book as a concept. It just doesn't hold enough of an appeal to me to be worth spending money, or time, on. The cover is however an interesting one, and I quite like that. Would make for a good poster for those that like both the Bard and Star Wars.

   I did the US cover for this last week. This is the UK one, and it is coming 3 July from Harper Voyager. I mentioned last time that I thought that cover looked more like a UK one. Well, it still does, but this one is also quite typical of some UK covers. I must say that I do like this better than the US one. It is still quite stylised, but the addition of a painting with some figures in it draws me in a bit more than the US one.

COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XIX)

   It's been a few months since I last did this. (You can see part of the reason for that here.) I haven't kept a very close look on covers since then, so I have definitely missed some. But these are some of those that caught my eyes.

   I assume that those that read this has caught the news that there will be a new Fitz & Fool novel from Robin Hobb in August 2014. This is the cover for the US edition, coming from Del Rey. The art is by Alejandro Colucci. I'm hardly objective when it comes to a new Realm of the Elderlings book from Hobb, but I really like this cover. (You can read the first excerpt from the book here.)

   This is the third book from Kim Curran. I was pretty excited about the ending of the last one so I am of course very excited by this one. The cover is by Larry Rostant. and the book will be out in August 2014 from Strange Chemistry. As always, Rostant has made a great cover. I really look forward to getting my hands on this one.

  The third book in The Long Earth series will be out from Doubleday on 19 June 2014. I like this cover quite a bit. It does fall into the (sometimes overused) realistic Mars expedition image, but it is a good one.

NOTE: What is it with all the Mars books coming out recently, and in the not to distant future?

   The second Stephen King novel of the year has gotten a cover. This one will be out in November this year, and I assume this is the US cover. (More info here.) Not much to say about this one. It's got King's name on it, the title, and some lightning. Only the first one of those will be necessary for most book-buyers, so this will do the job. -I am looking forward to reading this though.

   Strange Chemistry has some great covers. I'll include this one with art by Sarah J. Coleman in that statement. I really like the style of this one, it's an image that makes me want to read the book. And since I already have an e-ARC I will try to do that before its release on 6 May.

   This is the cover by Alejandro Colucci for an Angry Robot Books release on 1 July 2014. This is a really great piece of art. I would gladly pick this up without knowing anything else about it than having seen this cover.

   This is the cover for the first book in a new series, it will be out 17 March 2015 from Orbit. Photo by Shirley Green, illustration by Don Sipley, and design by Lauren Panepinto. It's no secret that I like Gail Carriger's books, and that would make me excited for this one no matter what was on the cover. But I like the covers for Carriger's books, and this fits neatly into the style of those that have gone before. -A bit more info on the author's website.

   This is the third book in the second trilogy from Deas. It will be out from Gollancz 19 June 2014. I like dragons, and these are good looking ones. Looking forward to this one.

   This is the third book in this series, it will be out in January 2015 from Solaris Books. The cover art is by Jake Murray. I think the covers for these books just get better and better. And this image really makes me want to read this book.

   And Finally, the US cover for the latest Discworld novel. Out from Doubleday 18 March 2014. (It's weird that Pratchett has delayed release in the US. Maybe it's a contract issue?) Every time I see a US Pratchett cover I have to wonder why they don't just reuse the UK ones. They're not all bad, this one is actually quite good, but the comparison to the UK ones will always let them down.

REVIEW: DOCTOR SLEEP

DOCTOR SLEEP

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-444-76120-7

Pages:
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Published: 24 September 2013

On the cover:
(From the publisher's website.)

 On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless - mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and tween Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the 'steam' that children with the 'shining' produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father's legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him and a job at a nursing home where his remnant 'shining' power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes 'Doctor Sleep.'

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan's own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra's soul and survival...

   This is billed as a sequel to The Shining, and in one way it is. We do learn what happened to Danny Torrance after the events that took place at the Overlook Hotel, but those events are really incidental to what takes place here. It does help if you have read The Shining before you read Doctor Sleep, but mostly in the way that you will know what it is Danny is thinking about when he is thinking about what happened at the Overlook Hotel. And it will give more significance to the problem that Danny has struggled with. But it's by no means essential to read the previous book before setting out to read this.

   King often uses quite a bit of time to let us get to know the characters before the story really gets going, and this is not an exception to that. This is however not in any way a drawback, it is done in a way that gets you very invested in what happens to the main characters.
   Danny Torrance is not the only main character in this book he shares that role with Abra Stone, who is mentioned in the cover copy above. I will not give away who Abra is, or what her role in all that happens is, but I will say that she is an excellent character who I would like to see more of in the future.
   As already alluded to both Danny and Abra are very well described by King, and we get really close to them. Danny is given more space than Abra is, but that has reasons that will come clear when you read the novel.
   There are of course more than two characters in the book but we don't get as close to the others as the two I've already mentioned. We do however get to meet several other characters that are well developed and add a lot to the story of our main protagonists.
   It wouldn't really be a King book if we didn't have at least one antagonist for our main characters, her we have a group of them. They are introduced pretty early on, but they takes a while before it really is clear what their role is. It is the discovery of what these antagonists are that gives us the story in this book.

   I've already mentioned that the story takes a bit of time to get going, but that isn't time that is wasted. Not only do we get to know the characters and the situation they are in, but we get a creepy undertone that slowly builds into suspense. King is keeping some of his cards close to his chest, and it does take a while before things really become clear. And even then things are far from certain.
   That is one of the strengths of this novel, that the outcome is kept uncertain longer than is usual. The tension level is really high at times, and the nature of what is happening in many ways prevents the story from going down familiar paths. There is however some weaknesses in the outcome here, especially one event went a little bit too quickly for my tastes, but that is just a minor quibble.

   Overall this is definitely a great novel. There is plenty of suspense here to satisfy those that like a bit of mystery in their reading. I did however not feel that there was much Horror in this, although there is an abundance of the supernatural. Even when there is somewhat of a supernatural background to what is happening it is caused by things that are very human.
   The characters are definitely among King's best, and that I see characters as one of King's great strengths that should tell you something about how much I liked spending time with them.
   This is a book that should satisfy everyone that likes a supernatural Thriller. For King fans it is of course a must, but I feel confident in saying that this is one King book that can be easily gotten into by those who have never read him before.
   Personally I want to recommend that everyone who reads this review reads this book.

STEPHEN KING REVIEW INDEX

LINKS: Stephen King  Hodder & Stoughton

HIGHLIGHTS OF MY BLOGGING YEAR 2013

   I was toying with the idea of making a more normal "Best of 2013" post, but when I looked back at what I actually posted in 2013 I quickly decided to drop that. What I instead will do is highlight some of the books I blogged about last year that I for some reason or other feel deserves a second mention. So, here goes:

   Let's start with Stephen King. I reviewed seven King books this year, and they were actually all quite different. It would be hard for me to pick just one of them, fortunately I don't really need to. What I will do is recommend Joyland, the book that was actually published in 2013. It's a great novel that should be suited to everyone who likes a good story.

  On the Science Fiction front I reviewed far from the amount of books I intended, but I still managed to review twelve books who got that tag last year. Again it would be hard to pick just one of them, but I will go with the same criteria as above, and pick one that was actually published in 2013. Uhm...screw that, I'll have to pick two. Control by Kim Curran, and Then Will the Great Ocean Wash Deep Above by Ian Sales. They are very different books, and while I enjoyed both of them I am sure not everybody will. But check them both out and chances are one of them will be worth it for you.

   On the Fantasy side of things I managed to review fifteen books. Not a lot, and not any real choices when it comes to those published in 2013. My choice there would have to be the fourth book in Robin Hobb's The Rain Wilds Chronicles, Blood of Dragons.

   I managed to review thirteen Alternate History(/Steampunk) books last year. [Note to self: Do a post on Alternate History/Steampunk one of these days.] And...I'm having trouble picking just one book here, so I'll go with two; Fiendish Schemes by K.W. Jeter and The Prince of Lies by Anne Lyle. Two books set in completely different eras that are excellent examples of this SFF subgenre.

   I also reviewed three tie-in books last year, two Star Wars, and one Doctor Who. I haven't read tie-in fiction for a couple of decades, but these three all gave me the incentive to explore that often neglected segment of SFF further. The one that I would highlight of the three is Star Wars: Razor's Edge, the first Empire and Rebellion novel, by Martha Wells.

   I only reviewed one anthology last year, but I want to highlight that once again, and I urge you to pick it up; Tales of Eve edited by Mhairi Simpson.

   Of course I didn't only review books that were first published in 2013, and I absolutely have to give you another heads up on some of those that were published earlier.

   First of them is The Red Knight by K.T. Davies. It's an Epic Fantasy novel I think you really shouldn't miss.

   Secondly I have to remind you of a really fun Urban Fantasy novel that is set outside the usual place such novels go, Snake Agent by Liz Williams.

   I could have mentioned several other books here, but instead of getting overlong I'll just suggest you take a look at the posts I did last year and see if anything catches your eye.

   This year I'll try to get more reviews up than I did in 2013 (, no promises though). I will continue to do a mix of new and older books, and my quest to review every Stephen King book published will continue.

COVER REVEAL ROUND-UP (XVIII)

   So, there'll be a new Stephen King novel coming in June 2014. This cover is for the US edition coming from Simon & Schuster. Although it's a pretty plain cover, it is very evocative. Looks like we are in for a blood-dripper from King. It's a good cover for a book that would probably sell just as much with just the authors name and the title on it.

   "Marky" Mark Lawrence has a new trilogy coming from Ace 3 June 2014, with a cover by Chris McGrath. It's not exactly a groundbreaking Fantasy cover, but as I've said many times before I like the traditional Fantasy covers. This is a really good one, and it makes me interested in picking up the novel.

   This one is out 1 April 2014 from Strange Chemistry. The art is by Steve Stone. First, lovely dress, and I'm not kidding. Secondly, it really is great art. Very good cover. (Although...my first thought was "Bhelliom", something I suspect is a thought that must have gone through the head of the book's editor too.)

   You may recognise the style of this cover for the first book in a series. It's by Joey Hi-Fi for a book coming 29 April 2014 from Angry Robot Books. As always Hi-Fi has made a great cover. I especially like that the city in the background gives a feeling of the 1950s or '60s Science Fiction covers. This is one I'm looking forward to reading.

   Coming 4 March 2014 from Strange Chemistry we have the first one in a series. The cover is by Chris Moore. I like this one a lot. That could be because it reminds me of the forest where we used to play when I was a kid. But it doesn't really matter, the cover definitely catches my attention.

   Amazing 15 has made this cover for a novel out from Angry Robot Books 27 May 2014. It's the first in a series. This one is really a bit WTF!, in a very good way. It's both creepy and cool...and I really need to get this one based by the cover alone.

   From Gollancz, coming June 2014. With art by Edward Bettison. This one is very subdues compared to most of the SFF covers you see. But that works to its advantage, it stands out among the covers in this reveal. I also like this style of cover, and it certainly makes me curious enough to check out the book.

   Paul Young has made this cover for a 4 February release from Strange Chemistry. I'm a bit late with this cover, and I'm not sure how I missed it. I actually became aware of it when I got the e-ARC. I really like this cover, it's really a great image. And I'll make sure to get this one read before it's released.

   I have no info on who made the images for these two. The titles are Sea of Sorrows for book two (, release 22 July 2014,) and River of Rain for book three (, release 18 November 2014), from Titan Books. -As for if I like them or not? I have one tattoo, on my arm, it's done from a picture of the xenomorph from the first movie.
   The first book is out 28 January, and here is the cover for that.

REVIEW: CARRIE

Cover photograph by Kamil Vojnar/Getty Images

CARRIE

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-444-72069-3
Pages: 242
Publisher: Hodder
First published: 5 April 1974
This edition published: 13 October 2011

On the cover:

Carrie White has a gift - the gift of telekinesis.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie - the first step towards social acceptance by her high school graduates.

But events will take a decidedly macabre turn on that horrifying and endless night as she is forced to exercise her terrible gift on the town that mocks and loathes her...

   Carrie is Stephen King's debut novel, but there is really nothing that tells you that. This reads more like the work of someone who has been writing for quite a while. Someone who has already found their voice, an author who is sure of himself. 

   It becomes clear pretty early on that this novel does have a theme that I'd argue is the Stephen King trope - growing up/coming of age. In this case it is also in some ways a retelling of the "ugly duckling" tale... Except this being King, there's not a Fairy Tale happy ending. The story stays quite far away from that.

   Carrie's coming of age in this novel is something that happens on several levels. There's what happens in the shower at the beginning of the book, her telepathy, and her going to the prom. The last one is the central event of the book, the place where all that Carrie is comes together and reaches a peak.

   Before I go any further, I have to talk a bit about the structure of the novel. I have already said that this is not structured as novels are as a standard, and it isn't. This novel does not have one continuous narrative text. There is a storyline that, with a few exceptions, is continuous, but it doesn't consists of one narrative text. It's a narrative text that is interspersed with book excerpts, official testimonies, and excerpts from news reports/news wires.

   This shouldn't really work. It is disruptive to a "clean" narrative, and something like this will usually mess with the readers "immersion" into the novel. Here it doesn't do that, instead it adds to the atmosphere of what is going on. And it even increases the tension that is building. In my opinion much more so than if this had been handled with different points of view. (There are different points of view in the novel.)

   I mentioned tension in the previous paragraph, and to me that is what best describes what this novel gives you. There's not really much suspense, we are told early on that something major will happen. So even if you somehow have managed to completely miss anything about what Carrie is about, you will not be surprised that something happens.

   What makes this great is that the lead up to the events is a constant building of tension. You know there will be a bang, and at times you almost hold your breath waiting for it to come. There is a sense of impending doom hanging over everything that happens, and a lot of what we learn adds to that feeling. Everything, in and around Carrie, builds up the level of tension. And when all that is finally released, it almost comes as a relief.

   Carrie is a very interesting and sympathetic character. What we learn about her, both about her school life and her home life, makes us feel for her. She is definitely an "other", an the treatment that she is given because of that is something that is both thought-provoking and unpleasant to read about. This is however not a novel that is heavy handed when it comes to trying to make you feel empathy with Carrie. That is something that happens naturally as we learn about her. And even towards the end of the book, it is clear that she is pretty much an innocent.

   There are other characters here than Carrie. Three of them are important parts of the narrative. These characters does not only serve to give us a glimpse into those things that Carrie is not aware of, they also gives us a perspective on Carrie as a person. In this way they are supporting characters, but they are important and integral to the story. 

   This is a very short novel, but one that gives you much more than its page numbers would suggest. The story is excellent, once it has hooked you it will not let you go until it ends. And along the way it will give you a page-turning, tension filled, journey through the darker corners of growing up as an outsider.

   There is no doubt that this is a powerful and accomplished novel. It is arguably one of King's best ones, and is essential for anyone who is a fan of his writing. In my opinion this is also an excellent place to start reading King. And I urge anyone who has not read any of his novels to pick it up. This is Psychological Horror at its best, and a great introduction what makes King such a popular writer.

BONUS LINK: You can see some of the covers Carrie has had through the years over on Hodderscape.

BONUS FACT: I was 44 days old when this novel was first published.

STEPHEN KING REVIEW INDEX

LINKS: Stephen King  Hodder & Stoughton

REVIEW: DOLORES CLAIBORNE

DOLORES CLAIBORNE

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-0-451-17709-4

Pages: 372

Publisher: Signet (Penguin USA)

First published: 9 November 1992*

This edition published: 1 December 1993

On the cover:
(From publisher's website. Book has picture of King.)

When housekeeper Dolores Claiborne is questioned in the death of her wealthy employer, a long-hidden dark secret from her past is revealed- as is the strength of her own will to survive...

   This is not actually a SFF novel. There's a tiny supernatural element, but that has no impact on the story, and seems to exist only to tie this novel to another King novel. This is the story of the adult life of a woman who at the time of the novels present is in her sixties. You could make a case for this being a Thriller, but I really don't think it belongs anyplace else than in Contemporary American Novel - or whatever it is a novel published by an American author in 1993 is supposed to be called. (I could go on about how King's work is classified/seen, but I'll leave that for a later blog post.)

   Apart from a short "epilogue" this novel is a first person story, told by Dolores Claiborne in a police interview. The choice to do it that way is without a doubt the correct one, it works extremely well. We get up close and personal with what is going on, and there is no sense of us missing out on anything. 

   This is Dolores' story, and we get it straight from her mouth. And that means complete with some dialect, and plenty of authenticity. Something that really  makes this a very intimate story even structurally.

   On the surface Dolores' story doesn't necessarily sound very interesting, but it really is. Some of that has to do with the setting. This being told at a police interview does reveal that there is a crime involved, and beginning there does grab your attention. But once you get into what Dolores is telling, it's very easy to get invested in the story for no other reason that it is a fascinating story in itself.

   The story is told so vividly, that at times it's easy to get so involved that you forget that Dolores is actually the one telling it, and that you know what is going to be the result of the events you are reading about. King tells the story so wall that you do get involved on some level, how much will depend upon the person. I found myself very much rooting for Dolores, and I found her very easy to empathise with.

   Dolores Claiborne is of course essential to this story, it is after all her that is telling it. She's a marvelous character, and I found her to be a fascinating person. This is a women who despite being from a time when women where seen as subservient to their men stands up for herself. And she really does that to the full extent.

   King doesn't shy away from gruesome details in his description of some of what is happening, and I'm not necessarily talking about the gore we've come to expect from King. There's things here that may make people uncomfortable on a completely different level, and that is as it should be. This is not a story that is dominated by happy events.

   This story also has quite a lot of suspense to it. Like I mentioned above it's written in a way that means it's easy to forget that you know the outcome of some of the vents. And the outcome is left very vaguely described, so there's much left to discover when you read the novel. King is very good at creating this suspense by telling a bare minimum at first, and then feeding you the full story bit by bit.

   There's no doubt that this really shows of King's skill as a storyteller. This is completely stripped of any of the SFF that King is best known for, but that does not in any way make his way of telling us a story suffer. In some ways it showcases it, you can see here that King is not dependent on a SFF backdrop in his writing. He shows here that he can tell a good story in any setting.

   Overall I found this a great novel. This shows King to be a writer who is certainly one of the best storytellers we have today. The lack of SFF elements should not stop anyone from reading this, on the contrary it would be a good place to read a contemporary novel for those whose reading diet consists of SFF only. Likewise the name of the author, and what he's predominantly known as, should not stop anyone who likes to read contemporary novels from picking up this.

   This is a great story, and in some ways an important one, and I think it deserves wide reading. I don't hesitate to urge anyone who likes good storytelling to pick this one up.

Stephen King Review Index.

LINKS: Stephen King  Penguin (USA)

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*Most places, including King's website gives the publication date as 1993. But the November 1992 date looks correct, and a lot of books are released late in the year before the copyright date in the US. So I have good reason to believe this is the actual first date this book was available to the public on.

REVIEW: JOYLAND

Cover painting by Glen Orbik

JOYLAND

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-78116-264-4

Pages: 283

Publisher: Hard Case Crime/Titan Books

Published: 7 June 2013

On the cover:

College student Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark truths about life - and what comes after - that would change his world forever.

   This novel belongs to King's "growing up" group of stories. But with a twenty-one year old main character it is not growing up in the sense that we usually see it from King. Here it is more a case of when you finally become an adult, and even that can be debated. Not that it really matters, that underlying theme could easily be substituted with another one without really changing the story. I have to say though, that King does that part of the story very well.

   Unusually enough this starts out as a story about a summer job. Being that the story is written by King, this isn't a job that is par for the course for everyone, and in that lies some of the genius of the book.

   Joyland, the place the book gets its title from, is more than just the setting for this story, it's also a character in itself, in the same way that a city is a character in Urban Fantasy. The way Joyland is put together of a wast number of different parts, often represented by the people, is extremely well done. It is actually so good that this would work very well as a novel even without the Crime element that comes in to it.

   A setting like Joyland is really dependent on the characters that inhabit it. And the characters here are really a joy to discover. They may be a bit archetypal, and recognizable, to the setting they are in. (King isn't trying to reinvent the wheel in that department.) But what is important is that they do not feel like they are part of the scenery, and they don't do that here. Almost all the named characters get enough time to develop real personalities and come alive to the reader. None of those that are important to the story is neglected in that regard.

   This is in some way a character-driven story, and it is one told in first person. As such the main character, Devin Jones, is essential to the enjoyment of the novel. Devin is interesting to get to know, he's really up to the job of carrying this story. Where he is in life when this story starts means that he could have easily become a pure product of his circumstances, but thankfully that is avoided.

   What Devin goes through in his personal life could have been annoying, and I was afraid it would turn to that, instead I found it to be very recognizable and realistic. King manages to tell about this pivotal point in the life of Devin while keeping him one hundred percent real. It sometimes feels almost as if this is an autobiographical story told by Devin Jones.

   The Crime element is introduced fairly early, but it doesn't really take over the narrative for good once it is. It's something that is always there in the background, like an ambient noise, and when it is called for it springs into the foreground and takes over the stage.

   As mysteries go this is an interesting one. It is partly connected to paranormal events, but that is an element that is mostly toned down here. The mystery itself gets revealed to us in a way that works very well, and is satisfying to those that like libraries. But what is most important about this mystery is that it creates an eerie feeling. 

   That eerie feeling, a feeling that something that just isn't like it should be, is something that comes at several times in the story, not always connected to the mystery either. King creates an atmosphere of the familiar becoming unfamiliar, and in some sense creepy, several times. That atmosphere of looking at something from an unfamiliar angle goes for the whole setting too, it's in some ways what Joyland is all about. And the atmosphere King creates is really a brilliant one.

   King is often talked about as an author who writes bad endings, not always deserved in my opinion. This time I think the ending will satisfy fully, and I can't really say there's something to really criticize it for.

   There's really not anything to complain about through the whole novel. This is certainly King's best recent novel, and I would also say that it is King at his absolute best. That this isn't rooted in SFF, like so much of King's fiction, should make it more accessible to those that read only Mainstream novels too. And they should pick this up, actually everyone should, this isn't just a great King novel: It is a great novel.

REVIEWS: Stephen King Review Index

LINKS: Stephen King  Titan Books

REVIEW: THINNER

Cover photo by Ilona Wellmann/Arcangel Images

THINNER

BY

STEPHEN KING

WRITING AS

RICHARD BACHMAN

ISBN: 978-1-444-72355-7

Pages: 340

Publisher: Hodder

First published: November 1984

This edition published: 20 December 2012

On the cover:

'Thinner' - the old gypsy man barely whispers the word. Billy feels the touch of a withered hand on his cheek.

Billy Halleck, prosperous if overweight citizen, happily married, shuddered then turned angrily away. The old woman's death had been none of his fault. The courts had cleared him. She'd just stumbled in front of his car. Now he simply wanted to forget the whole messy business.

Later, when the scales told him he was losing weight, it was what the doctor ordered. His wife was pleased - as she should have been. But . . .

'Thinner' - the word, the old man's curse, has lodged in Billy's mind like a fattening worm, eating at his flesh, at his reason. And with his despair, comes violence.

   When reading any of King's Bachman books I'm struck by two things. The first is how easy it is to see that King wrote this, and how strange it is that it wasn't discovered at once. Of course that is pretty much hindsight, and it does take a coincidence (or a tweet) for someone who is in a position to recognize a big name author's style to even be reading a no-name author's books.

   The second thing, and very much in connection to the first, is how many people have tried to copy King over the years. It's really not strange that anyone failed to notice Richard Bachman in the myriad of novels that have been published in the hopes of copying King's success.

    Of course there's a third thing... There was no internet when Bachman was publishing. No social media making it tempting for those that knew something to spill the beans.

   No internet would also have made it harder to discover an obvious huge flaw in this novel, "Gypsy" language. The language used in the book is actually Swedish. Not only that, it is atrociously bad Swedish. As someone who can remember when the number of TV channels available was tripled by the addition of two Swedish channels, I'm very familiar with Swedish.

   It goes without saying that seeing a familiar language being mangled on the page of a book is going to bring you out of it to some extent, but that is actually something I could live with. What I actually find worse is that the "Gypsies" do have their own language, Romani,  and it is substituted for a different one here.

   I completely understand that back in 1984, or perhaps a bit earlier, when this was written, King did not have access to the information he needed to use Romani in his book. And you know what, I have absolutely no problem with that. But being bi-lingual I do not like the idea of substitute languages. It's kind of offensive, it is in a way telling people that what their language is is not important. The only thing that matters is that it is "foreign".

   And it really is not hard to make it clear in the text that what is spoken is not English, even if you write it in English. Not that I think King should go back and change his book. As I started with, this was written in different times, and it should remain as it is as an artifact of that time.

   Thinner is a strange book, or not really considering it is King. It's pretty normal for King to write things that can be hard to classify neatly into a definitive genre category. Not that you'd notice that from all the people who state that King is a Horror writer.

   This is certainly leaning much more towards the Thriller side of the fence. While there certainly is a very central supernatural element making this Horror, that element almost exist as a separate state besides what else is going on in the story. And the other element of the story is absolutely a good one.

   As already mentioned this story has two different strands. The supernatural element is the one that we first get to hear about. Presenting it so quickly, without any build up at all, means that you very quickly get dragged into the story. It's very well done too, King hooks you right away and then he lets you simmer for a bit. And that is really my polite way of saying that after a very interesting opening the novel slows down quite a bit.

   This slow period is used for a bit of character development, especially of the main character William Halleck. Usually this is where King excels, in that he creates characters that you really care about, and that you really want to spend time with. There's nothing wrong with the "getting to know you" portion of this build-up period in this novel, it's just that the main character at first is not a very sympathetic person.

   You shouldn't actually take that as a complaint, it is an important part of Halleck's development. And in many ways it does strengthens the novel that the MC has more than one note to him.

   When the novel starts going again after the brief quiet period, it really gets going. This is where the Thriller part comes in to full effect. The structure gets very familiar to Thriller readers, as the story goes into a search mode. Familiar as this structure is, it is kept very interesting. There is some real tension to the narrative at this point. And this is ratched up quite a bit when a previously introduced character steps up to join a strong supporting role.

   There's a final confrontation that is really tense, and at times seems to be on the verge of dragging the novel into Action Thriller territory. It does get a nice resolution, although perhaps not a conventional one.

   The ultimate ending left me really ambivalent. Although there's a while since I read the novel I am still not wholly sure how I feel about it. It's certainly one I can see divide opinion.

   With relatively few characters, and a somewhat limited time frame, this almost has the feel of a shorter work. It feels pretty intimate, perhaps so than most of King's work.

   It's a good story that is executed very well, and it is certainly worth reading. Being pretty light on Horror this is a good place to start for those that have been scared off reading King by the impression of him belonging solely to that genre.

   For King fans this will of course be a must read, it is a good example of how King can write quality when he focuses on other plot points than the horror ones.

REVIEWS: Stephen King Review Index

LINKS: Stephen King  Hodder

REVIEW: THE COLORADO KID

Cover art by Glenn Chadbourne

THE COLORADO KID

BY

STEPHEN KING

ISBN: 978-1-848631-26-7

Pages: 174 (+afterword)

Publisher: PS Publishing

First published: 4 October 2005

This edition published: December 2010

On the cover:

(From the publisher's web-site. There's no text on the actual cover.)

On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. There's no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues, and it's more than a year before the man is identified. And that's just the beginning of the mystery. Because the more they learn about the man and the baffling circumstances of his death, the less they understand. Was it an impossible crime? Or something stranger still? 

   I feel it's important to get one thing clear from the outset when it comes to this novella; It is not SFF. If anyone ever needed any evidence that King is not solely a SFF writer, this would be exhibit A. What we have here is a story belonging in the Mystery genre. A strange mystery perhaps, but not as strange as to take it into the SFF genre.

   We learn very early on that this is a mystery, and what this novella really is, is the story of this mystery being told to (what is arguably) the book's main character. And what really struck me is how simple, yet complicated, the structure of this story is.
   In one way the story is actually too simple to really work. Although I thought it was great the whole time when reading it, there was the feeling every time I did my review notes (,something I do after every chapter, ) that this shouldn't really work. But it is undeniable that it does. Part of it comes down to King's storytelling ability, something that this kind of storytelling structure really shows off to great effect. And part of it is because although you do know it is a mystery, the discovery of what the mystery is makes for compelling story in itself.

   We get quite close to the main characters, there's three of them. And in a sense these three characters are more important than the mystery we are being told about. It's the interaction between the three, the two who tell the story of the mystery and the one being told the story, that makes everything work - even though as I pointed out earlier, in some ways it shouldn't.
   King manages to tell us quite a lot about these three characters as the mystery is told. I really felt I got close to them, and by the end of the novella I had even come to care about them. That is not really unusual for King's characters, but he does show here that he can do it in few pages if he is so inclined.

   This really is a story that appeals to my love for the weird and strange. In many ways it is common - just a slice of reality - but at the same time it is a wonderfully bizarre story that fits in very well with some of King's more fantastical work.
   I think this would be of interest to anyone who likes mystery, and also to those that like to read about a slice of small town life. And it should be a high priority for those that like to see the mundane mixed with the strange.
   And of course, it goes without saying that this should have a place on the shelves of every Stephen King fan. This is King at his absolute best, and he really shows off how great a teller of stories he is in this novella.

NOTE: I don't do "buy links" (, a matter of principle for me,). But I know this can be a bit difficult to find in a paper edition, so if you want to own this novella in Hardcover version it might not be a bad idea to start looking on the publisher's website.

LINKS: Stephen King  PS Publishing

COVER REVEAL ROUND UP (VIII)

   It's been a while since I last did one of these (as usual), so some of these covers will have been revealed quite some time ago. I will however start with some covers that have just made it into the public eye.

   This is an absolutely lovely cover by Paul Young for Student Bodies, Sean Cumming's sequel to Poltergeeks. As with the cover for the first book, I really love this one. The novel will be out 3 September from Strange Chemistry.

   A totally different type of cover for another 3 September release from Strange Chemistry. This one is by Argh! Oxford for When the World Was Flat (and we were in love) by Ingrid Jonach. I like that it is "clean", basically it stands out by not being anything special when every other cover seemingly tries to be.

   Next is the UK cover to Jo Nesbø's Police. What I like most about this is that the picture is actually of the correct prison in Oslo (Botsfengselet). That matters to most Norwegians, who are very familiar with the image because of a long running film series. Lots of credit to the UK publisher for commissioning an Oslo photographer to take the photo. -And let's face it, it is a pretty good cover for a crime novel of that type even if you are not already familiar with the image.

   The last of the recent images (, all four were revealed yesterday as far as I know) is this cover by John Coulthart for Fiendish Schemes by K.W. Jeter. If it looks familiar it's because it is the same artist, and same style, used for the covers for Jeter's two books from Angry Robot Books, this book will however be released by Tor Books on 15 October.

   Creepy clown time! Not really any need for me to say anything else about the cover, except that it is by SL Johnson. -This is a collection edited by K.A. Laity coming from Fox Spirit Books this Saturday (13 July).

   This is the kind of cover that will always get me interested in looking closer at a book. Art by Steven Wood. The Woken Gods is written by Gwenda Bond, I loved her debut Blackwood so I am definitely looking forward to this one. Out 3 September by Strange Chemistry.

   I've previously had the UK cover for Stephen King's Doctor Sleep in one of these posts, and here is the US one. As a King fan I would have read it if it was just the name of the novel in crayons, but this is a good one in my opinion.

   The third Owner novel by Neal Asher has, according to what I think we can call tradition at this point, gotten a Jon Sullivan cover. I really like Sullivan's covers, and you can read more about the creation of this one in this post on the Tor UK blog.

   This cover is for a Historical Fantasy by Mark Barrowcliffe M.D. Lachlan Mark Alder. The cover isn't too much to write home about (or in a blogpost about for that matter), but it fits very well with the book description I've read, and I like this simple style for an Historical Fantasy novel.

   A really nice cover for the follow up to Katya's World. Love this cover, and I'm really excited to read the novel. It's coming 5 November from Strange Chemistry. (November?!? I don't want to wait that long!)

   Larry Rostant has made the cover for the third Night's Masque novel, like he did for the first two. I think all three covers are great, but this one is my favourite.

   Finally, there's two covers for novels released by Strange Chemistry on 1 August.

   This is the sequel to Shift, the art is by Larry Rostant. Another great cover by him.

   I like the magic associations in this cover by Steven Wood, makes me want to read the book.