[books 2015] New-ish Stephen King
Jun. 2nd, 2015 01:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inulro26. Revival by Stephen King
Billed as King's return to straight-up horror.
It is, but it's kind of not. It's about a boy who grows up in the 60s in Maine, a mostly idyllic childhood that encompasses one traumatic event. He befriends the pastor of his local church, who is generally considered to be a Great Guy, until tragedy strikes. In that time, the pastor "heals" the narrator's brother of a psychosomatic illness.
Fast forward 30 years, and Jamie is grown up, and would be a reasonably successful jobbing guitarist if it weren't for his heroin addiction. He comes across his old friend the pastor, who is now running a sideshow at the Tulsa fairground doing interesting things with photography and electricity. He cures Jamie of his heroin addiction with "secret electricity" (and it works, with only some odd side effects) and Jamie goes to work for him.
Fast forward again to nearly the present day, and Jamie is a reasonably successful studio manager, working for another man who Pastor Danny "cured" back in the day (a musician who went deaf). They discover that the pastor has a new name, and a big revival tent show business curing people of everything from arthritis to cancer. They do some digging, and find that there are - side effects.
It all leads up to a climax on a mountain in a thunderstorm. I'd figured out where it was going, but the ending is still creepy as all hell and packs a punch.
Recommended.
Billed as King's return to straight-up horror.
It is, but it's kind of not. It's about a boy who grows up in the 60s in Maine, a mostly idyllic childhood that encompasses one traumatic event. He befriends the pastor of his local church, who is generally considered to be a Great Guy, until tragedy strikes. In that time, the pastor "heals" the narrator's brother of a psychosomatic illness.
Fast forward 30 years, and Jamie is grown up, and would be a reasonably successful jobbing guitarist if it weren't for his heroin addiction. He comes across his old friend the pastor, who is now running a sideshow at the Tulsa fairground doing interesting things with photography and electricity. He cures Jamie of his heroin addiction with "secret electricity" (and it works, with only some odd side effects) and Jamie goes to work for him.
Fast forward again to nearly the present day, and Jamie is a reasonably successful studio manager, working for another man who Pastor Danny "cured" back in the day (a musician who went deaf). They discover that the pastor has a new name, and a big revival tent show business curing people of everything from arthritis to cancer. They do some digging, and find that there are - side effects.
It all leads up to a climax on a mountain in a thunderstorm. I'd figured out where it was going, but the ending is still creepy as all hell and packs a punch.
Recommended.
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Date: 2015-06-02 06:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-06-02 07:32 pm (UTC)