Saturday 21 September 2013

Dr Sleep

As The Stephen King book 'Under The Dome' is presently on Television i don't want to give away the ending to anyone who hasn't read the book but the TV series has deviated so far from the book anyway that i'm not sure that it will end the same way but if it does, i wonder if many people will think WTF as i did when i put read the final page.
My problem with Stephen King is that his books have become so bloated that they can become a slog to get through, it is not often since about 2000 that i haven't finished a King novel and thought that it could have been cut by at least a third.
He does have some great ideas but seems to spin them out to 700 plus pages so my heart lifts when i see a new Stephen King book and sinks when i see the size of it and know that it is going to be 350 great, exciting pages and 350 pages of laboured reading interspersed between the good bits.
King has written 55 novels, and his 56th 'Doctor Sleep', harks back to Danny, the kid in Shining which was one of Kings high spots along with The Stand, Carrie, Needful Things, Cujo, Christine, Dolores Clairborne, Green Mile, Insomnia, IT, Misery, Pet Cemetery and 11/22/63 
I just hope it doesn't come for the same place as 'Dome' and start off great, twirl around in circles not particularly going anywhere in the middle and run out of steam at the end so it seems he was keen to finish it and start on another one which is how it very much came across to me. 
That said there is always just enough in a Stephen King novel to draw me back to the next one so even if Dr Sleep, a book he calls 'a return to balls to the wall, keep the lights on horror', turns out to be a stinker like Dreamcatcher or Bag of Bones, i know i will still be back the next time because when King is good, he is very, very good.

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