Stephen King Archives - Gary David Gillen

Thinner by Stephen King

Introduction

Thinner by Stephen King is a supernatural thriller fantasy novel that was originally published under the author’s pseudonym, Richard Bachman. Attorney Billy Halleck has been heavy for most of his adult life. A series of events leads to him killing an old gypsy woman with his car. Billy has powerful friends and receives a light sentence. The woman’s father puts a gypsy curse on him by saying one word, thinner. Billy loses weight no matter what he does, and it will not stop. Can Billy reverse the curse, or will he wither and die?

Summary

Billy Halleck is a defense attorney with a wife, Heidi, and a daughter, Linda. He’s overweight and enjoys life. He’s driving and Heidi distracts him which leads to him hitting and killing an old gypsy woman.

Billy avoids punishment by the law because police officer Duncan Hopley and judge Cary Rossington favors him. That infuriates the woman’s father, Taduz Lemke, so he curses each one of them with a special curse. The word he says to Billy is thinner.

Billy begins to lose weight no matter how much he eats. He tracks the gypsy band across New England to get Lemke to reverse the curse. Billy enlists his client, mobster Richie Ginelli, to help him.

Billy and Lemke meet. Some curses can’t be broken, so they find another solution.

Recommendation

Thinner by Stephen King was an enjoyable read, but what made the novel great for me was the last sentence. The last sentence changed the meaning of the novel for me and was perfect for the story. I find the history of this novel interesting. They published the novel under the name Richard Bachman like four previously published novels were. On page 117 in my copy, Billy’s doctor says the way Billy tells it sounds like he is in a Stephen King book. The funny thing is that he was. King used the alias to publish more than one book in the years he had more. Someone discovered the deception, so King stopped using the alias. He also fictionalized his feelings about writing as another person and getting caught in the novel, The Dark Half.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Thinner by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/147336843-thinner-by-stephen-king

Under the Dome by Stephen King begins with a dome covering Chester’s Mill. Who made the Dome, and will the people trapped inside it escape before they all die?

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Talisman by Stephen King

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Introduction

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub is a fantasy novel. Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer has an important and dangerous mission. His mother is dying. The only way for him to save her is to find the mythical Talisman which is in a parallel world called the Territories. He must pass many challenges to obtain his goal. Will Jack find the Talisman in time to save his mother from death?

Summary

The story is told in the third person with Jack Sawyer as the focus character except for a series of interludes featuring the antagonist, Morgan Sloat. There are four parts to the novel reflecting Jack’s journey to enlightenment.

Part I: Jack Lights Out

Jack learns about his mother’s illness. Speedy Parker teaches him about the Territories and that the Talisman, which is located in the Territories, can cure her cancer. Everyone has a twinner in the Territories. Jack’s mother’s twinner is the Queen of the Territories. Speedy gives him an aid to cross over. Jack flips into the Territories.

Part II: The Road of Trials

Jack starts his journey in New Hampshire but must travel to California to find the Talisman. He stops in Oatley, New York. He finds work in the town at a bar and almost gets trapped there.

Part III: A Collision of Worlds

Jack is travelling again and runs into a werewolf creature named Wolf. They become friends and continue their journey. They flip to the real world, and they arrive in Indiana where they are arrested and sent to the Sunlight Home, a boy’s reform school. The school’s owner runs the place like a prison. Jack and Wolf are singled out as bad students.

Part IV: The Talisman

Jack escapes the school and finds Morgan Sloat’s son Richard in a boarding school in Illinois. They travel by train to California using the Territories. Jack finds the Talisman. He must win the Talisman and bring it to his mother to heal her.

Recommendation

The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub borders on the line between fantasy and science fiction. I feel like the authors don’t make all the points fit together. I like the character of Wolf, but I don’t understand how werewolves fit into this story. The novel feels like a portal fantasy, but I think werewolves belong in a different story than this one. Jack’s actions and thoughts seem older than a boy of twelve. The scenes in the boarding house with Richard felt like they were from another novel. The story does come to a satisfying conclusion though.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13444.The_Talisman

It by Stephen King has seven kids who face horror. As adults, they face It again. Will the Losers Club defeat the hidden evil in the Derry sewers, or will they perish?

It by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Under the Dome by Stephen King

Introduction

Under the Dome by Stephen King is a Science Fiction novel with a unique beginning. A dome suddenly appears over the Maine town of Chester’s Mill. The dome is semi-permeable, but no one can enter or leave the dome. The people inside the dome try to escape, but fail, and fight over the scarce resources. Who made the Dome, and will the people trapped inside it escape before they all die?

Summary

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Recommendation

Under the Dome by Stephen King was an excellent long novel. The characters were well-defined and the situation they were put into was interesting. The problem was the slow-moving plot and the abrupt ending.

I watched all three seasons of the CBS TV series named Under the Dome which aired in 2013, 2014, and 2015. I watched it on Paramount Plus. It was based on a novel of the same name. The TV series is kind of dopey. It started pretty well, but the character’s actions made less and less sense as the episodes went on. Sort of like what happened in Lost. In Under the Dome, they added plot points, not in the novel like using ideas from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Alien which I thought was not successful. The TV show also changed most of the relationships and motivations of the characters from the book. The novel and the TV series both had non-ending endings.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Under the Dome by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6320534-under-the-dome

Most of Stephen King’s novels are fantasy horror. Under the Dome is straight Science Fiction. Of the books, I have reviewed of him the closest in the content is the Dark Tower series which is Science Fiction Fantasy.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

It by Stephen King

Introduction

It by Stephen King is the horror story of seven people who faced horror in two time periods in the fictional Maine town of Derry. The chapters alternate between the two time periods, 1957 to 1958 and 1984 to 1985. The seven people call themselves the Losers Club. They are kids in the first period and adults in the second. They face a horror that manifests itself as Pennywise the Clown. It feeds on their fears. Will the Losers Club defeat the hidden evil in the Derry sewers, or will they perish?

Summary

In It by Stephen King, there’s horror in the sewers of Derry, Maine. The horror preys on the fears of children taking the image of what they fear. Mostly It takes the form of Pennywise the Clown.

In 1957, seven kids come together to defeat It. They call themselves the Losers club. After the battle, they lose their memories of the encounter with It. In 1985, they return to Derry to fight it again.

Bill Denbrough is the leader of the Losers Club, who feels responsible for the disappearance and death of his younger brother, Georgie. He likes Bev but doesn’t end up with her. He becomes a horror writer and returns to Derry to finish what they started.

Ben Hanscom is the most intelligent of the Losers and he has an engineering talent. He has a crush on Bev. Ben was obese as a child but loses weight as an adult. He made a lot of money as an architect and lives in Texas.

Bev Marsh is the only girl in the Loser’s Club. All the boys have a crush on her. She becomes a fashion designer in Chicago. She gets married and her husband physically abuses her.

Summary Continued

Richie Tozier is the comic of the club. He becomes a successful DJ in Los Angeles.

Eddie Kaspbrak is a hypochondriac with an inhaler. He runs a successful limousine business in New York.

Mike Hanlon is the only African American in the club. He is the only member who stays in Derry after high school and becomes the town librarian. He researches the history of Derry and calls back all the Losers when he realizes It has returned.

Stan Uris is Jewish and a Boy Scout. He’s skeptical and logical. He becomes an accountant in Atlanta.

Recommendation

It by Stephen King is a long, good novel. The novel explores the themes of coming of age and adult reflection on childhood. It reminds me of Stephen King’s novella, The Body, adapted into the movie Stand by Me. Both stories feature a group of misfit kids trying to solve a problem. They adapted it as a miniseries and also into two movies. The 1958 story in It, and the 1985 story in It: Chapter Two. The miniseries alternates the stories. The part of the story I didn’t like was an incident near the end of the 1958 story. You will know what I’m talking about if you read it. I don’t think the incident was earned or warranted. I know that my opinion of the novel would change for the better if the author had eliminated that incident or changed it into something else.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of It by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/644173.It

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, book #2 of The Dark Tower series, features Roland, Eddie Dean, and Odetta Holmes. Roland gets one step closer to reaching the Dark Tower.

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King, Book #2 of The Dark Tower series

Introduction

Drawing of the Three by Stephen King is Book #2 of The Dark Tower series. The previous book, The Gunslinger, left Roland, the last gunslinger, waiting on a beach. Roland begins the second book on that same beach. He must discover what the drawing of the three means. Roland searches through three transporter portals. He finds the junkie Eddie Dean and the wheelchair-bound Odetta Holmes. They must work together to continue their journey to the Dark Tower or face death.

Summary

At end of the Gunslinger, the man in black does a tarot reading for Roland. The three cards he draws are The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, and Death. The three sections of The Drawing of the Three each feature a different character. Roland accesses a portal at the beginning of the section. Each of the three portals is connected to New York City in three different time periods. In between each section is a chapter named shuffle where the previous section is reset and leads to the next.

Section one, The Prisoner, features Eddie Dean the junkie. Eddie must bring drugs across the border or the mob will kill him if he doesn’t.

Section two, The Lady of Shadows, features Odetta Holmes. She is black and lived during the civil rights movement. She lost the use of her legs, uses a wheelchair, and has a secret that they soon find out.

Section three, The Pusher, features a character that I’ll leave to the reader to learn about when reading. That character is important in the journey to The Dark Tower for Roland, Eddie, and Odetta.

Recommendation

I enjoyed Drawing of the Three by Stephen King better than the previous book in the series, The Gunslinger. The Gunslinger novel was a series of short stories featuring Roland’s fight with the Man in Black and his search for the Dark Tower. I didn’t feel like the stories came together. I think the Drawing of the Three came together. There were three new POVs in the story corresponding to the three sections in the novel. Eddie Dean, Odetta Holmes, and the third character are all important to Roland’s journey. I liked the perspectives of the new POVs and look forward to continuing to read the series to its end.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Drawing of the Three by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7675050-the-drawing-of-the-three

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series, seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.

Introduction

Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is a traditional fantasy. King Roland of Delain has two sons. Prince Peter is his heir who is the perfect prince and ready to lead. His younger son is Prince Thomas, who is too young and malleable to Flagg, the court advisor, and magician. Flagg secretly assassinates the King and frames, Peter, for the murder. How will Peter clear his name, defeat the ancient Flagg, and claim his rightful throne?

Summary

Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is his first traditional fantasy novel. King Roland earned his kingdom by slaying a dragon. The dragon’s head is mounted on the wall in the King’s study. Peter was his firstborn son and heir. Queen Sasha died giving birth to Thomas. Flagg is the court advisor. He is a magician and a master of poisons who has been the power behind the throne for generations. Flagg thinks Peter would make too strong of a king, so he plots the fall of King Roland and Prince Peter to elevate the boy Thomas to the throne. He thinks he can control Thomas and lead the kingdom into chaos. Flagg’s plan involves the sinister poison, Dragon Sand.

The king is dead and Peter is imprisoned for the regicide in the Needle’s top, a tower prison. Thomas is King and Flagg controls him. Dennis is Thomas’s butler and his devoted servant. Peter’s best friend is Ben, he thinks Peter is innocent, and Ben finds the exiles north of the kingdom. Naomi of the exiles is a tracker who has a pack of dogs, including the dog Frisky.

Flagg is happy with the state of his plans. He has a two-headed parrot as his familiar. Thomas learns more from Flagg than Flagg ever expects he can. Peter’s escape plan involves his mother’s dollhouse and threads from many cloth napkins. Ben also has a plan to free Peter. Dennis learns some truth and delivers a letter to Ben. Ben, Dennis, Naomi, and Frisky make a plan and head to the castle.

Either Flagg will bring chaos to the Kingdom of Delain, or Peter will escape and claim his rightful kingdom.

Recommendation

Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King is the author’s spin on a classic fairy tale. On the dust jacket, the author says he started writing this story to give a book to his young daughter who didn’t want to read his other stories of “vampires, ghoulies, and slushy crawling things.” The plot follows: the prince is wronged and must redeem himself to win his kingdom. King spins the story in his way. Flagg is a complicated villain, though he makes an unforced mistake at the end of the story. The only thing I wanted was to bring Naomi into the narrative earlier. I think a love triangle between Peter, Naomi, and Ben would have tied the story together. David Palladini enhances the story with excellent interior drawings. I added a picture of the title page below. The novel was light and interesting read.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/655707.The_Eyes_of_the_Dragon

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

The Gunslinger by Stephen King, book #1 of The Dark Tower series.

Introduction

This book starts with one of the most iconic first lines from any novel. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.” The protagonist is in pursuit of the antagonist which promises action. The words gun and desert suggest a western. The word black suggests something sinister. All these images appear from just twelve words.

Summary

The gunslinger walks the desert coming upon a homesteader Brown and his raven Zoltan. He stays for the night and remembers what happened to him in the town of Tull. The gunslinger meets Alice and later Jake in his pursuit of the man in black. He follows the man in black, searching for revenge which may end up destroying his own humanity.

In the first chapter, the gunslinger meets Alice. She has a sad and doomed arc that felt right. I am not sure what I should think about Roland, the gunslinger. He debates good and evil in his head but doesn’t seem sympathetic to me. I suppose that is the way that King wants me to feel about him.

I read the 2003 rewritten version of the novel. That is the cover inserted above the introduction. I compared it to the earlier 1982 version through this website https://web.archive.org/web/20071225081733/http://www.thedarktower.net/gunslinger/, but found the changes to be minimal.

Recommendation

For me, the book seemed to set up for a climax that never happened. I liked the stories about Alice and Jake. I found Roland’s backstory in the third chapter to be interesting. The fourth chapter was a dull travelogue, but then we get to the last chapter. I wanted a thematic close to the story, but that did not happen. What is there is a trippy and metaphysical non-ending. What a disappointment. I see from King’s afterward that he used this story to set up the novels that follow and I get that, but I was hoping for a good ending that would make me want to read the next book. I don’t feel that way.

Links

This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Gunslinger by Stephen King.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43615.The_Gunslinger

My review of Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan a book like The Gunslinger. They are both fantasy novels focusing on the protagonist’s use of guns. Adamat, Tamas, and Taniel fight gods and men in this gunpowder fantasy.

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan