Reviews
Here I will review some of the Stephen King books that I have read.
Ratings* Rubbish
** OK
*** Good
**** Very good
***** Excelent
The Stand
A deadly flu gets out and kills all but a few people. These few are drawn to one of two forces. Mother Abigail, who does the work of god or Randall Flagg who is evil. It follows the journey of the main charactors and how they travel across America, meeting each other on the way overcoming many problems. When they reach where they are headded, Colorado or Las Vegas, depending on who they are drawn to, they have to build up a community and try to defeat the other side. This is a long book and it will take a while to read but it is worth it. Rating *****
The Shining
Jack Torrance gets a job as winter caretaker in a big hotel. It will be completely isolated during most of the winter because of the snow. One of the previous caretakers had gone mad during those winter months and murdered his whole family. Jacks son, Danny, has the gift of Shining and can see all the ghosts and bad things that haunt the hotel. When Jack starts to go mad Danny has to call for help from Mr ? the hotels chef. I enjoyed this book a lot. Rating ****
Misery
Writer Paul Sheldon crashes his car and is rescued by Annie Wilkes, his number one fan. He is grateful at first but soon realises that Annie wants to keep him at her house. When she is out he escapes from his room using one of Annies hairpins to pick the lock. He plans to ring his daughter but there is no phone so he has to try other methods of escaping before Annie hurts him to badly. I enjoyed this book but not as much as the other Stephen Kings that I have read. Rating ***1/2
The Tommyknockers
Bobby Anderson stumbles across a strange object sticking out of the ground in the woods behind her house one day. The object has a strange feel to it and Bobby feels drawn to it and she begins to dig it up. Her friend Jim Gardener senses that something is wrong and goes to see Bobby. As Bobby and Gardener dig up the strange object strange things start happening in the town, people get headaches and loose teeth and they are able to make incredible devices to do any job that needs doing. A group of townspeople join Bobby and Gardener in digging up the thing in the ground. People that have some kind of large metal thing in or on their bodies do not seem to be affected, and because of the metal plate in his head this includes Gardener. He realises he has to do something but the whole town is against him. I enjoyed this book a lot. Rating ****
Desperation
This is set in the Nervada desert around a small mining town called Desperation. The local cop has seemingly gone mad and has killed everyone in the town taking in a few people that happened to be passing and holding them prisoner. Among these people is David Carver, a boy that seems to be able to perform miracles due to his strong belief in god. The cop seems to be able to control the wildlife such as the coyotes, buzzards and spiders. The people being held prisoner must try to escape and end the evil forces that have taken over Desperation. It is a battle of gods and unknown forces. In a way it reminded me of The Stand, probably becuse of the desertedness of the small town and the few people that act in a way as the "chosen ones" and the forces of god playing such a strong part in the plot. I liked the book a lot. Rating ****
Different Seasons
Rita Hayworth And The Shawshank Redemption This is the story of Andy Dufrane, a man convicted of a double murder which he did not commit. It follows his life in prison and tells of his escape. Rating*****
Apt Pupil This is about a boy that is intrested in world war 2. He discovers a war criminal and bribes him into telling him lots of stories about the war. Todd (the boy)thinks he has a hold over Dussander (the German war criminal)but he soon discovers that Dussander has an equally strong hold over him. Rating****
The Body Four boys hear about the whereabouts of a body and set out to find it. They learn a lot about friendship, death and themselves. This is a brilliant story and is in my oppinion the best in the book by far. Rating*****
The Breathing Method This is quite a strange story. A man starts going to a strange mens club and he tell a one of the storys that one of the other members once told. It is the story of how a young pregnant woman copes and then dies but still manages to have the baby even though she is dead. Rating****
Overall oppinion Overall this is a brilliant book. I recomend it! Rating*****
The Regulators (writing as Richard Bachman)
This is set in Wentworth, Ohio. It was a peacefull town until the powers of tak are unleashed through a boy - Seth. The evil powers use characters and vechicals from his favourite TV programs. The people of the town have to try and stop the evil before they all die. I did not like this book at first because of the way that the same character names as those in Desperation were used for different characters which was a bit confusing to begin with but once you get used to the new characters the book id really good. Rating****
IT
Something is killing the childern in Derry. It kills Bill's brother Georgie and Bill wants to kill IT. Him and his friends "The losers club" go through a lot of thigs and think they killed it. 27 years later it is back. The losers return on the strength of the promise they made when they were 11 to kill it for good. This is a really good book there is a lot of action and suspense. Rating****½
The Green Mile
John Coffey is on death row charged with the brutal murder of two girls. Paul Edgecombe, in charge of E block notices things about Coffey and begins to suspect that he did not murder the girls after all. This is really good. It is in 6 parts. Rating****
Cujo
Cujo is a friendly Saint Bernard dog. He is chasing a rabbit one day and follows it to a cave where he gets bitten by a rabid bat. Cujo gets more and more savage causing terror in the town of Castle Rock. Rating****
Night Shift
This is a collection of short stories. There are some Brilliant stories such as Quitters Inc, Children Of The Corn and Sometimes They Come Back; some good stories such as The Ledge, Night Surf and The Mangler; and one not so good story, Jerusalems Lot. The stories are all qiute creepy and overall it is a very good book. Rating****
Pet Sematary
The Creed family moves into a new house. Behind the house is a pet cemetary for pets that have been killed on the busy raod or died of other causes but beyond the pet cemetary lies a different kind of cemetary which is part of an ancient Indian burial ground. When Ellie Creed's cat is run over on the raod friendly neighbour Judd Crandall tries to help by showing Louis Creed the secrets of the land beyond the pet cemetary but the results are not good. I loved this book! Rating *****
I will review more books as I read them. Ones coming soon include: Nightmares And Dreamscapes, Bag Of Bones, Insomnia and more...
