The King is alive! No thanks to a driver who almost killed him with his car just before he began writing his new book Dreamcatcher.
Stephen King, the best-selling horror novelist of all time, came close to never walking -- much less writing. Like many of the characters in his books though, he overcame the broken bones and repeated surgeries and is making his hero-esque return to the pages.
Dreamcatcher, like most of his other books, is set in Maine. Derry, Maine to be exact, the same town visited by the killer clown in the novel It.
Dreamcatcher is the story of four childhood friends who have a bond between them much deeper than the usual beer and sex stories. Something from their youth has kept them together all of these years. (Read to find out what!)
While their lives have all taken different paths, the friends meet up once a year to hunt and remember old times. This year however, that bond will be tested by something that only King himself could 'dream' up.
The story is much deeper than the chills and thrills hiding behind each page. The four main characters all have issues that come to the surface within the 620 pages.
The Beav is a guy who never left the small town of Derry. He couldn't make the grade in school and he never really made it in the workforce either. His colorful vocabualry adds a "stuck in childhood" feel to the character. Pete is the car salesman that can't buy a break. He is an alcoholic and is slowly coming to terms with that fact. Henry is a shrink, who could probably use some time on the couch himself. He is contemplating suicide. Finally, Jonesy is a teacher. He is a good one at that, until one day a man runs over him with a car and changes his life forever. (Does this sound familiar?)
The great annual reunion and retreat, however, is cut short by unexpected guests, first by a strange old man who is claiming to be lost in the woods and then later by a visit from aliens. King has never really tackled the issue of aliens before. Monsters and creeps have always been his specialty, but never aliens. With his spectacular story-telling ability and vivid imagination, he takes the reader on a journey deep into his mind.
There are a lot of stomach- turning scenes in the beginning. A lot of gas and bathroom humor is used to set up a major turning point in the story. If you can get beyond the gross you see into the great. The tale turns into a horror story with heart. A side story about the four friends and a mentally challenged boy they get to know is quite moving.
Of course, with Stephen King, nothing is really a side story, it all comes together in the end.
The book is a slow-moving process. King's personal pain and anger bleed right into the pages. Sometimes you may find yourself skipping a paragraph here or there, but I wouldn't jump too far ahead. While King has written more than 30 books, he still has not lost his ability to surprise the reader. This one instantly hit the bestsellers list as well.
There has been no word on what King's next project may be, but he doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. That is good news for his millions of fans.
Grade: B
(Scribner, $28.00)
