Book #110 of 2023: Holly by Stephen King This is the sixth Stephen King story to feature private investigator Holly Gibney, following the Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes; Finders Keepers; End of Watch), the novel The Outsider, and the novella If It Bleeds. The previous three entries all found that protagonist and her friends facing …
Tag Archives: Stephen King
Book Review: Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Book #141 of 2022: Fairy Tale by Stephen King This new portal fantasy from Stephen King is fine, but its tale of an ordinary kid finding his way into a magical world is not exactly breaking fresh ground for the author of such works as The Waste Lands or The Talisman. There’s also an awful …
Book Review: Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Book #38 of 2022: Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar (The Button Box #3) I’m pleasantly surprised by how much I’ve enjoyed this latest Stephen King / Richard Chizmar collaboration, given how I was generally lukewarm on the authors’ original Gwendy’s Button Box and cared even less for Chizmar’s solo followup Gwendy’s …
Continue reading “Book Review: Gwendy’s Final Task by Stephen King and Richard Chizmar”
Book Review: Billy Summers by Stephen King
Book #239 of 2021: Billy Summers by Stephen King I really enjoy the first section of this crime thriller about a hitman with a conscience, detailing the slow build-up to his intended last kill. Enmeshed for weeks in a community while waiting for his target to arrive, he’s able to construct two alternate identities for …
Continue reading “Book Review: Billy Summers by Stephen King”
Book Review: Later by Stephen King
Book #72 of 2021: Later by Stephen King This new novel from author Stephen King finds the horror master at his creepiest, blending a ghost story, a coming-of-age journey, and a crime thriller with the usual aplomb. Our child protagonist can see and speak with the recently deceased, not all of whom are necessarily friendly, …
Book Review: The Running Man by Richard Bachman
Book #176 of 2020: The Running Man by Richard Bachman I still love the propulsive adrenaline rush of this pseudonymous Stephen King dystopian piece, but I had forgotten just how needlessly steeped in bigotry it is. Presumably in an effort to make his protagonist more of a hard case, the author has him think and …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Running Man by Richard Bachman”
Book Review: If It Bleeds by Stephen King
Book #105 of 2020: If It Bleeds by Stephen King The latest Stephen King release is a collection of four unrelated novellas, probably not the best introduction to his style but definitely worthwhile for existing fans. My individual mini-reviews below: Mr. Harrigan’s Phone. This story about a boy’s elderly neighbor getting his first smartphone is …
Continue reading “Book Review: If It Bleeds by Stephen King”
Book Review: Full Throttle by Joe Hill
Book #243 of 2019: Full Throttle by Joe Hill I don’t really know what to do with this latest Joe Hill collection. My average rating over its thirteen short stories is a 3-out-of-5 stars, but the most common score that I’d give to the individual entries would be a 2. Overall, I guess it’s a …
Book Review: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King
Book #213 of 2019: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King Given a recent string of underwhelming titles, I decided to revisit this old favorite of mine. It was the first Stephen King book that I ever read, and it got me hooked on the author at a stage when I didn’t feel brave …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King”
Book Review: The Institute by Stephen King
Book #175 of 2019: The Institute by Stephen King Stephen King’s latest novel finds a secret government program kidnapping children with latent psychic abilities, running unethical experiments upon them, and harnessing their powers for nefarious purposes. That’s a variation on a plot device the writer has utilized several times before, but it’s given its most …
Continue reading “Book Review: The Institute by Stephen King”
The Lesser Joke: book reviews and more 