The Bachman Books (writing as Richard Bachman)

Another omnibus. I'll review each book as a stand alone. Have I mentioned that I have an ongoing love hate relationship with omnibus versions? Probably, as I only have a couple of recurring trains of thought. I tend to repeat repeat myself a lot.

Rage (©1977)
A young man walks into his high school and shoots a couple of teachers, and holds a classroom hostage.  The story is at times riveting, and often disturbing. Much of the punch this story packs, has been soured by reality.  There have been too many real life dramas and killings involving high school students.  I found this a fascinating story, and was unable to stop reading until I had finished the whole thing. Rumour has it that Mister King, no longer wishes to have this story published.

The Long Walk (©1979)
Wow.  Pretty simple story.  100 young men set out on a walk and won't stop until no one is left standing.  The only way out once you start walking though is to "get your ticket."  An unbelievable read (meaning good for a change).  Hard to stop reading from the first page, it's like watching a horrific accident happen.  You don't want to watch, but you can't stop just the same.  Truly an amazing tale.  So simple in structure, it is the characters and raw humanity that make this so engrossing.

Roadwork (©1981)
The weakest book so far. I'm not saying that this is a bad book. The pace is fast, and you are totally drawn into the character. The common theme in all of the Bachman books is the strong narrative, and depth of character.  The story is a simple one. A road extension is being built, and it will go through what was once a nice suburban neighbourhood. The guys snaps, and won't move. We get to watch as the main character falls apart.

The Running Man (©1982)
Another happy story (uh, that's sarcasm folks). Most people are probably familiar with the Arnie movie. Don't expect the same thing in the book. The basic premise is the same, killing for sport and pleasure. The audience wants blood, the game provides the action. As with all of the Bachman books this was a page turner. Not a happy story, and the ending is about what you'd expect from Bachman, not King.

These are books the King couldn't have written as King at the time. Very dark, bleak, and without redemption. The anthology left me feeling kind of yucky. It was like staying too long at a funeral. You're glad when it's over, but you're glad you went.

Four Past Midnight (©1990)

This one had been sitting on my shelf over a decade, and I finally decided to give it a whirl. After all, I'm a sucker for a King story, and he's a master button pusher, and who knows one day he may even get the recognition he deserves.

There are four tales here, The Langoliers, Secret Window, Secret Garden, The Library Policeman, and The Sun Dog. I'll say straight off, that I am not going to go into an in-depth literary analysis of the pros and cons of each individual tale. That would take time, energy and thought. Of which I have little of each at the moment. So I'll use a wide brush and paint the whole bunch in one masterful stroke.

Ready?

These are really good. In fact much better that I expected. Sure, the weird monster bowling balls with teeth from The Langoliers was so stupid it was funny - but it didn't detract from the ethereal dreamlike quality the whole story evoked. Secret Window was a variation of The Dark Half, and was good enough for what it was. The Library Policeman was creepy King at his best - the man has a freakish imagination and frankly at times he gives me the heebie-jeebies. The last story, The Sun Dog is another simple what if story and although I found it to be somewhat weaker than the other stories it was a solid story.

In there's nothing here that will bend your brain but it will take you away and provide hours of creepy entertainment, and in the end isn't that why we read the guy's stuff anyway?

Reviewed December 2004

Gerald's Game (©1992)

Eyeeew! Ick! Gross! Disturbing. Mister King is one sick sick man at times. The underlying subject matter here is so taboo it's no wonder the master of the macbre put on his "what if" hat and dared to go where no one should venture.

The story is pretty simple on the surface. A husband and wife go to their cabin in the woods to have a little afternoon nookie. The husband and wife have been playing bondage games, which the husband enjoys a lot more than his wife. He cuffs her to the bed is all ready to enjoy an afternoon of mattress bouncing. However, his wife decides that she's had enough and asks nicely to be unshackled. Gerald ignores her, and proceeds to pretend his wife's objections are part of "the game." She asks again, and finally has enough and give old Gerald a swift kick to the happy sack.

In hindsight this was probably a bad idea, as Gerald's ticker tocks, and this pretty much leaves poor Jessie up the old Hershey highway.

Lucky for Jessie she hears voices, and all of a sudden there's a regular party going on. Apparently Jessie has some unresolved issues, and what better place to confront you demons that lying handcuffed to a bed, with your husband dead on the floor and no way to get out.

There are some good creepy bits, and some totally over the top scenes pretty much guaranteed to make you go "eyeeew!" This isn't a book for everyone, if fact it's probably the most offensive book I've read by King, which I'm sure if he ever rad this would delight him to no end. In a way I'm surprised I actually finished this thing.

In a weird way this is what Mister King does best. Take something totally off limits and weave it into a story. He is a master button pusher, I'll give him that.

Gee, I wonder why this one hasn't been made into a movie?

Reviewed March 4, 2004

Nightmares & Dreamscapes (©1993)

I started reading this book a number of years ago, and read about half of it in a couple of days. It got to be to heavy to pack around on the train so it was delegated to be my standby night table book. Then a few months ago I started picking away at it again. A story here, a story there - and pretty soon I'd finished the whole thing.

This is pretty standard King. There are a lot of very good stories in here, and a couple of excellent ones as well. King goes for the gross out in the odd story, and succeeds marvelously. If you're a fan of short stories, and like to be amazed, thrilled, and grossed out, this is a meaty collection of tales.

reviewed July 16, 2000

Desperation (©1996)

Yikes!  This one was a big fat monster.  It's a wonderful counterpoint to the Bachman book. I could almost see Stephen in his gonch writing this at times trying to come up with the most disgusting things possible.  I'll bet he could write an absolutely wicked Eczema Man story.  That said, I really liked this book.

The Green Mile (©1996)

A weakness?  True, but love him or hate him the guy is master button pusher.  I didn't buy into the serial hype, but when the omnibus version made it to the remainder section of my favourite bookstore I snapped it up.  Wow.  I couldn't put it down. 

All of the cheesy dust jacket quotes you've ever read apply to this one.

Wizard and Glass (©1997)

Hmm, a book that I eagerly waited for.  With the hook firmly planted after The Wastelands with Blaine the Train, I could hardly wait to immerse myself into Mister King's ongoing opus.  The results are mixed, but worthwhile.  Without trying to put spoilers in here, let me say that the Oz stuff in the later stages of the book were, well, weak.  It's a clever nod to L. Frank Baum, and reminded me a tad of the final scene in Dan Simmons' Hyperion where all the characters walk into the sunset singing "We're off to see the Wizard."  The main part of this novel was a prolonged flashback featuring a young Roland in his first adventure after becoming a Gunslinger.

The whole world King creates is like a giant plate of King's leftovers.  Much like Moorcock's Eternal Champion universe, one gets the feeling that King is also trying to weave his tales into a common tapestry.  The world of the Dark Tower is rich and has more stories in it than will ever make it to paper.  I would love to see something about Roland's father and the elder Gunslingers, more about the history of the Baronies, and how they were before the world moved on.

So what's my final judgment on Wizard and Glass?  Good book.  It's too easy to shoot it full of holes, but if taken in stride a highly entertaining read, and if you've been following the series, it's another piece of the puzzle.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (©1999)

Some books are so simple in premise it's a wonder we're not all writers. Meet Trisha McFarland, a nine year old girl, who one day while walking in the woods with her mother and brother gets lost. Seriously lost. Unbelievably, undeniably, certifiably lost without a trace. A girl who at nine, has no sense what so ever. Rather than stay put, she wanders, and wanders, and wanders some more. Lucky for her she has her Tom Gordon baseball cap. Eventually stuff happens and the story ends.

King to his credit, glosses over the basic rule of "SAY PUT" and does what he does best - and that's tell a story. He brings us along for the ride, as we watch a little girl try to find her way home. There's all sorts of minor weirdness, but nothing overly grisly or gross (I thought the part where she fell in her own poop was pretty darn funny). As little Trisha gets more lost, and more hungry she begins to see more and more strange things. Tom Gordon keeps her company, and there's something stalking her in the woods, or is there? King sort of introduces a couple of aborted sub-plots which he thankfully abandons, and sticks with the Trisha.

This is a hard book to put down too. I was about 20 pages from the end when my train reached the final station, so I walked to the car, sat in the front seat and finished the rest. King had sucked me in, and even managed to make my eyes well up with the ending. I got suckered, and I liked it.

Reviewed August 2, 2001

Storm of the Century (©1999)

Storm of the Century is a strange little tale. Not much really happens, but it's an engaging story nonetheless. King is a master button pusher and he's not lost his touch. You know what's coming, but it doesn't matter - it's a fun ride.

The story is pretty simple. Take one bad man, one good man, a bunch of people who are like sheep. Add one mother of a storm, add some little kids, a little gore for effect, stir and serve chilled.

What makes this so much fun is that for a teleplay, it reads really well, and it didn't take more than a handful of pages for me to forget that I wasn't reading a novel.

The characters as always in a King novel are fun and just over enough not to make them to much like characatures. The villan Lingoe is good fun - who is he? A vampire, a demon, an Amway distributor? King keeps you guessing until the end. Mike Anderson as the small town lawman is well done too. The balance of power throughout is nicely done. Plus there's enough blood and guts to keep the body bags full.

The ending is hard to swallow, but there really wasn't much room for King to play with. Still it works, and for a guilty pleasure you can do much worse than reading Mister King.

Scary stuff kids.

Reviewed July 2004

From a Buick 8 (©2002)

For the longest time I dismissed this book as Christine part two: the Detroit years ... in my ignorance I figured Mister King had finally run out of gas and was recycling his ideas by slapping on a fresh coat of paint and seeing if his ever faithful audience would snap it up.

But when it showed up in hard cover on the remainder tables, I snapped it up. I quickly realized that I had badly misjudged Mister King. So I'll say it out loud, "I'm sorry Mister King for doubting your ability to do the unexpected."

From a Buick 8 is an engaging tale that is hung on an unbelievably thin premise. Told in equal parts present and past the tale of the nasty car slowly unfolds, with fits and starts and periods of nothingness. Just like life, not everything unfolds according to a tight plot. It worked for me. This isn't a deep work, and it's not a flashy action page turner, but I was propelled through the pages at a furious rate regardless. It's about the human drama, and trust between a group of people glued together through experience.

This isn't Christine kids - it's more mature than that. Mister King still knows how to push all the right buttons.

Reviewed September 13, 2004