Stephen King Is "The King".
590276
Vintage Stephen King. He's the greatest author of the modern era. U NEVER forget a Stephen King book. He touches subjects that most writers avoid & he does in a tasteful way that others will not attempt. He spent over 700 pages just introducing the six main characters & I loved every page. This book is almost 1500 pages of sheer joy. It's a masterpiece.
1895243
you read Stephen king's writings because you like the way he writes, not some review.  I read doctor sleep-a novel ,  it's good but not his best.
3688068
Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, may have released this novel under a pseudonym for good reason.  While King's work is never terrible, THINNER certainly isn't his best.  Nonetheless, it is worth a read - but only for a true King fan.  I don't think I'm a loyal King fan yet, but with works like THE STAND and PET SEMATARY, I think I am well on my way.
THINNER is about an overweight lawyer named William Halleck.  Despite the fact his doctor has warned him he's nearing heart attack territory, other aspects of life are better.  He's got a good job and earns a living that is more than adaquete.  He has a wonderful wife and despite the fact he's a big guy, the two of them have an active sex life.  Billy also has a 14 year-old daughter named Linda with whom he is quite close.  Besides the weight issue, life is just peachy for Billy Halleck.
Until the gypsy's curse.  He accidentally hits and kills the 75 year-old gypsy daughter and her family, including her 106 year-old father, yearn for revenge.  So now, Billy is losing weight at a drastically alarming rate of about 9 or more pounds a week.  He's being erased off the face of the earth, pound by pound.  If he enlists the help of friend and Three Brothers restaurant owner Ginelli, will the livid, vengeance-seeking gyspsies surrender and remove their curse?  Or will Billy eventually waste away to nothing but skin and bones?
Eh.  I read on and found out.  But if I hadn't, the suspense wouldn't have killed me, if you get the gist of what I'm saying.
"THINNER" is not as remarkable as other reads by King - and not nearly as memorable.  Usually, his novels boast well-developed characters and an exhilarating plot filled with twists and turns.  With the exception of the ending, I found this book to be more predictable than his others.
Whatever.  You can't expect the man to churn out continuous hit after hit, can you?
4298418
Okay, not King as his best but still better than 80% of the so called best selling authors out there, far short of some of the incredible work being produced by independent authors like Marty Steele.  So while not a future classic, it is entertaining and really, that's why most of us read fiction.  Better than Mr. Mercedes and engaging enough for me to finish it in two days.

If you're buying this book thinking it's in the horror/supernatural genre, don't spend your money.  It's a thriller, pure and simple and King ones again proves he's very good about moving among classes of writing.  King has had mega-hits and mega-duds but this falls into neither rating.  It is, at its core, a very well written piece of fiction that most authors would consider to be their crowning achievement.

It's always easy for me to know within fifty pages whether King has written a book out of passion or out of the need to fulfill his contractual obligations.  This one isn't passion but he deserves the payday from it (like he's seriously needing the next paycheck).  It's about time for him to slip in another book like 11-22-63 where he knocks it out of the park or, we can only hope, another classic like The Stand.  Until then, it's nice to see he still has a nice touch and keeps his readers coming back for me.
873234
I am a person who struggles to accept when she is wrong, yet I am so happy to be wrong about Stephen King. After toiling through King's The Stand, I was prepared to dismiss him. In The Stand King never stretched his storytelling skills. Everything escalated to the climax as one would expect and everything fell from the climax as one would expect. Ho-hum.

But in 11/22/63, I had moments of pity for Stephen King, since he wrote himself into character dilemmas and plot conundrums that defied conventional resolution. Nothing unrolled as expected in this book. So I pitied him. I pitied King because I knew he must have passed days and weeks struggling to extract himself from these self-created authorial quagmires. At the same time I admired him because he had actually done it: he had taken chances; he had pushed the story to uncomfortable places, places where a 10 resolution and a bit of deus ex machina wouldn't suffice.

The novel is a true behemoth with over 800 pages dedicated to multiple genres. And although every genre element adds to the book, its greatest weakness is how it is simultaneously so many things. Sometimes King didn't seem to know what the book wanted to be. Was it a simple time travel tale? a straight thriller? a revisionist piece of historical fiction? a small town love story? It is all of these things, but occasionally he lingers too long on one element, leading to some duller parts, especially around the middle. Yet it comes together splendidly in the end in the spectacular final 200 pages. By that point, the intrigue is staged, the characters are fully endeared to the reader and to each other, and King's daringly bold plot strands have knotted into an unsolvable mess.

In the final chapters, every other page or so punches you in the heart. While the time travel bits keep you turning the pages--from the outset, you know that changing the past can only go poorly; the question is how will it go poorly--it is the character relationships that endure. For all of the bluster surrounding Stephen King as contemporary literature's most famous horror writer, 11/22/63 is achingly romantic. It is gentle tale, which means it is King at his harshest.
4638987
Many people, I among them, have had the feeling that Stephen King has written himself out.  He hasn't written a novel that really grabs you since "Needful Things", and his recent short stories for the most part show the same lack of the old spark.  I wasn't crazy about "Riding the Bullet" when it came out as an e-book (maybe it was the format that turned me off; how do you curl up with an e-book?), and his serial novel "The Plant" was showing some real promise when he infuriatingly suspended it halfway through, leaving his readers hanging.  "Everything Eventual" is pretty much a compilation of so-so short stories that one feels wouldn't have made the cut in "Nightmares and Dreamscapes".  But there are a few real gems among all the ho-hums that make me give this book four stars.  "Everything's Eventual", the book's title story, is a spooky tale of a dream job that turns into a ghastly nightmare; "Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" is a deliciously grisly shocker, and few readers will be albe to resist the screaming horror inside "1408".  "The Little Sisters of Eluria", a prequel to Kings 7-volume epic "The Dark Tower", rekindled my interest in the series which stopped at volume 4 a few years back (although King assures it that volume 5, all 900 pages of it, is on the near horizon).  I'm hoping that King will tie up his loose ends, namely, finish the "Tower" epic and give us the second half of "The Plant", and then leave us to appreciate him, if not at the top of his game, at least with the memory of how great a writer he can be when he is at his very best.
1805920
Thanks to Simon and Schuster for the opportunity to read and review this novel.
Stephen Kings Mr. Mercedes isn't the full-blown scare-fests that King is known for with his past novels like It and Pet Semetary. However, what makes this novel so fantastic is the realism and the believability of the plot. The fact that it could actually happen is so creepy, that you will stay up at night. Only Stephen King can do nightmares so well.
In this novel, we are introduced to (Retired) Detective Bill Hodges, who, shortly after his retirement, receives a letter from a man his police department dubbed the Mercedes Killer. This killer drove a stolen Mercedes into a crowd of people who were waiting in line at a job fair, killing eight and injuring many more, including an infant. Hodges and his department never solved the case so when he receives the letter, he begins to investigate on his own.
Brady, the Mercedes Killer, is sick and twisted, with a family history plagued with mental illness, addiction and death. However, he is, for all intents and purposes, a normal member of society, maintaining two very normal jobs and even interacting with the public. He defines the term unsuspecting. However, we are able to watch him slowly unravel when his next plan is foiled by the Detective and his team.
I love Kings no-excuses writing style. He is blunt, to-the-point and obvious and he makes no justifications. His characters come off as some of the most realistic characters in literature as a result; any of his characters could just as easily be your next-door neighbor or your mailman, which of course, adds that extra level of macabre that King is famous for. This novel is told from the perspective of both Bill and Brady, with just the right amount of suspense added to the end of each chapter so that the reader wants to continue. It is the definition of page turner. The novel ends well, with all of the characters receiving resolution, and it adds the final kick of suspense (when Brady wakes from his coma) right at the end that makes King the powerhouse writer he is.
King has been writing longer than Ive been alive and it doesnt look like he is going to slow down any time soon. Which is a great thing, as a literary future with no King in it is very bleak indeed.
2396432
I read all of Stephen King's books because they are spellbinding.  Usually I pre-order, then when I get it, I read it the same day.
1918176
Ok, it's Stephen King... of course it was a good read!
2043313
It was like the "real" Stephen King returned.  I had always loved his books but then for a while they just got weird.  So "Doctor Sleep" is a lot more like "The Shining", "Salem's Lot"...that generation of King books.  I truly enjoyed the story and it scared me in a way only a King book can scare.  There are parts toward the end that I had to focus on because I thought maybe I had missed something.  I think this one takes a bit of imagination on the reader's part because of the mind games everyone plays.  But not to give the story away, if you are a King fan, it is a must read.  I would love to see it as a movie as long as they don't ruin it as Hollywood seems to do with the best of them.

It is a lengthy book but I couldn't put it down.  Totally worth the time!  I was kind of sorry when I was finished.
437919
A freighting book.  Stephen King dealing with psychological problems as only King can.  I loved it.
321314
Not what I expected, but a good one as always from Stephen King.
667810
This is a two-night easy read from Stephen King. His horror plot is light and not gory. The plot moves along as you wold expect King's books to move. The characters are likeable and all of them have a very different personality that appeals to any character type. The storyline is interesting and you will l;earn a lot of carney-talk and the inside story of this fictional show. There is a life message for the reader as most of King's books from after his accident tend to do.
This book was excellent and worth the read. No nightmares, no unsettling blood and gore, no hurry-up-and-wait for suspense: this one is on cruise control from the start. You will enjoy the subtlety and crystal-clear-top-down-view of this short book. Definitely worth a few hours of your life.
4465961
This is Stephen King's greatest book yet. He has excelled himself, the characters are believable, real, the story has some great moments (the Hokey Pokey song), and it has a little humour (greatly appreciated) to relieve the tension of the story. Please Mr King, may we have some more please? Do yourself a favour and read it. I am certainly planning on reading it again.

It left a warm feeling in my heart, and I cannot say anything better.
555463
Stephen King is on track. I used to read every
one of his books as soon as they came out, but I stopped many years ago. I recently reread the Shining and loved it again. I'm glad I now know how Danny grew up.
1156887
Okay, I've read the other reviews for this book giving it 4 and 5 stars, saying that it was one of the best Stephen King books they've ever read.  Did they read the same book that I just finished?  If so, they must not be familiar with classic Stephen King, the King of Carrie, The Shining, Salem's Lot, and The Stand.... the King that literally kept me up at night from fear after reading a 500 page book in a single sitting because I could not put it down.  This book reminded me of WHY I stopped reading Stephen King.

I will agree with these other reviewers... this was definitely his most personal book.  The first half of the book really gives insight into what Stephen King went through after his accident.  In fact, it is this half of the book that allowed me justify the one star in my review.  However, when it comes to the "horror" aspect of the book, I felt that Stephen King had run out of ideas and was simply recycling his old plot lines.  A pair of twins killed by mysterious means whose "ghosts" return to the protagonist (The Shining); a man who travels to a "remote" location only to be consumed or taken over by supernatural forces (again, The Shining); a man who suffers a catastrophic accident and suddenly becomes a conduit for these supernatural forces (The Dead Zone); even the "walking dead" back from the sea whose description, down to the sound of the gurgling water in their throats, is directly from "Creepshow" (I can hold my breath a LOOOOOOOOOONG time!)

The plot "twists" that were "original" in this book were lame.  Of course it's "logical" that silver works for werewolves and vampires.... therefore it would OF COURSE work for the living dead, crew members on the death ship Persephone..... Or, because Perse came from the sea (salt water) that fresh water would kill her....  I am a firm believer in the reader's requirement to willingly suspend your disbelief.  In fact, in the heyday of Stephen King, I would GLADLY do that!  However, there must be some logic behind the suspension.  It doesn't have to be a logic based in reality (that would defeat the purpose of of Stephen King's works).  However, it must be logic that fits within the context of the novel and the disbelief.  That logic was not there in this book.

Finally, if I was told JUST ONE MORE TIME that "this would be the last time [the protagonist] would see/talk to/interact with X,Y, or Z" I think I would scream.  (In fact, I think I did the fourth or fifth time this lame, cliched line was used....)  The beauty of Stephen King in his prime was the shock of reading the next paragraph and finding out that X, Y, or Z had met a grisly end or someone turned around or turned on a light and an evil, malevolent force made flesh was suddenly behind them.  There were some of these "shock" moments in "Duma Key".  However, the cliched foreshadowing just seemed beneath him and down right annoying.

I stopped reading Stephen King for a reason.  His books had seemed to lose their originality and were sinking into pulp fiction instead of classic, well written, horror.  I bought this book on a whim, hoping to be proven wrong and to have my faith restored.  Unfortunately, I wasn't and I didn't.  I finished the book on vacation and simply left the book there.  To those of you who think this is one of his best.... go back a read The Shining and revel in the inexorable rise of the elevator carrying a demented Jack to kill his wife, go back and read Salem's Lot, go back and read Carrie, The Stand, and The Dead Zone.  Then tell me what the best Stephen Kind is.  "Duma Key" it is not.
1366968
King has written several fine novels, but The Shining is really his masterpiece.
Jack Torrance is the quintessential screw-up.  He just can't seem to get anything in his life on track  -  ever since he broke his infant son's arm, while on one of his many alcoholic benders.  Jack can't hold a job, what with the booze and his unmanageable temper.  And with all these problems, Jack can't concentrate sufficiently to write the play he's wanted to write for years.
Colorado's historic Overlook Hotel gives him just the chance he needs to redeem himself.  The hotel needs a caretaker through the winter months.  Jack could use the privacy for his writing, his wife Wendy looks forward to the cozy surroundings, and his son Danny has more than enough room to play in.  Neither Jack nor his family are concerned about the rumors that the Overlook is haunted  -  or that the former caretaker, Mr. Grady, went mad and bashed his wife and children to death with a roque mallet.
No, they're not concerned  -  but they should be.  Because little Danny has an unusual psychic power, a special "shine" to him.  The kind of power that could manifest the Overlook's many violently-demised ghosts back into the world, to wreak even more mayhem than they did when they were alive, if they could just kill Danny so they could use it.  But with someone as emotionally unstable as Jack spending the winter with them, the disturbed spirits have hands to make that job just a little bit easier...
The only flaw with this great novel is an occasional tendency to go over-the-top, but King does that far less here than in most of his other books, and not sufficiently for it to become a nuisance.  His writing is in peak form, and these are among the best and most realistic characters he's ever written.  The plot and the suspense never flag, building relentlessly.
There are fewer than a handful of great ghost stories written in this century, but this is one of them.  If you've never read a King book in your life, but want to see what all the hoopla is about him, this is the one you want to read.  Don't miss it.  And don't assume it's at all like the Stanley Kubrick movie, because they're worlds apart.