I listened to the Audible edition of Holly which was brilliant!

Well, this is a book that has polarised the reading world! And it’s not the actual plot that has caused all the hoo-ha-ha, but the fact that King has set his book in the darkest days of the Covid pandemic and voices his opinions regarding how it was managed (or not) by the then president of the USA - he of the orange comb-over. This is the sixth book featuring Holly Gibney, who is a know hypochondriac, so it’s no surprise that she is vaxed to the max, wears a mask all the time and is phobic about washing her hands. Her anti-vaxer mother’s death, due to Covid, only supports her actions. How you, the reader, feel about the pandemic will undoubtedly influence your response to this book.

How King can still manage to write an original story after all these years, and all these books, is extraordinary. What a mind! There is no supernatural element to this story, which actually makes it all the more horrific. The elderly Professors Rodney and Emily Harris, the perpetrators of the unspeakable acts in the book make me think of the German philosopher Hannah Arendt’s reaction after witnessing Adolf Eichmann’s trial: ‘Eichmann embodied “the dilemma between the unspeakable horror of the deeds and the undeniable ludicrousness of the man who perpetrated them.” His actions were defined not so much by thought, but by the absence of thought — convincing Arendt of the “banality of evil.”’ [https://philosophybreak.com/articles/hannah-arendt-on-standing-up-to-the-banality-of-evil/]

King knows how to pace a book - and Holly is a perfect example of a perfectly paced book. It’s not too long (hallelujah!) and he builds the suspense to the point where it’s almost painful! King says that Holly Gibney is his favourite character, and it shows. She’s feisty, she’s loyal (sometimes to a fault), she’s brave and she’s still learning about herself - you can see her character grow as the book progresses.

I loved Holly and was sorry when I got to the end. But be warned, it is not for the squeamish!

Yuck. I had to stop listening to this story. Too horrible for my taste. I’m a huge Stephen King fan, but I did not like this one little bit.

Listening to the audio edition, narrated by Seth Numrich was the perfect way to approach this large tome: at just over 24 hours of listening it’s a big investment - but well worth it!

I know many readers felt this book was too slow to start, but I must disagree. The time spent getting to know Charlie Reade, Mr. Bowditch and his wonderful dog named Radar means that when the ‘action’ starts to pick up, you, as a reader, are well and truly invested in what happens to them.

King has mined the world of fairy tales and used many familiar tropes. However, he has created a unique world where young Charlie must become a hero and lead others to defeat the ultimate monster. As always, King has created a young man who must learn to overcome his shortcomings and believe in himself so he can become the man he wants to be.

I was totally immersed in Fairy Tale and didn’t want it to end. I was sorry to say good-bye to Charlie and his ever-faithful dog Radar. Another outstanding adventure from the extraordinary pen of Stephen King - long may he reign!

This is a very unusual story by Stephen King. It’s a monologue by the titular Dolores Claiborne, recounting her life story to the local sheriff after being arrested for the suspected murder of her employer Vera Donovan. There are no chapters and no other perspectives. I think it could be hard work to physically read, but to listen to as narrated by Frances Sternhagen was absolutely perfect. I was totally mesmerised, and felt such compassion for Dolores. As Dolores says, ‘Sometimes you have to be a high riding bitch to survive, sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on to.’

I listened to this as an audible book - the narrator was outstanding.
Although this has the expected supernatural element, Lisey’s Story is, at its heart, a love story and an exploration of grief. Yes, I too was irritated by the weird baby-talk that Lisey and her husband employed, but maybe some couples do that? Anyway, it’s a small irritant in a book that I found particularly moving.

I read The Stand when it was originally published thirty years ago! It was haunting then, but it now seems eerily prophetic!
Listening to this excellent Audlible Audio is the perfect way to revisit this extraordinary book. You are in for the long haul - over 47 hours of listening!
You may well ask why I would want to return to this story of the ultimate pandemic when I am living in one. Well, if you think our pandemic is bad, wait until you see what King has in store for you!
As always, King gives you characters that you care about - that’s his magic. You are invested in their journey. These characters have depth, they’re three dimensional, they make mistakes, they are nuanced.
As with many of King’s books, I wanted to get to the end to see who survives, and who doesn’t, and if good wins over evil. Then you do reach the end, and you’re sad, because you have to say good-bye to these people that you’ve grown to love. Damn you Stephen King (only joking).

If It Bleeds is a collection of 3 long stories and a novella, with varying degrees of success. The novella brings back one of King’s favourite characters, Holly Gibney, who features in the Mr Mercedes series and The Outsider. There are many references to both these earlier stories, and having read them adds texture and context to this story. Holly is horrified to discover that the outsider that she helped destroy was not a one-off and she knows it is her destiny to destroy this creature too. Holly Gibney polarises King readers; some are mystified by her popularity, others think she’s the bees knees - I fall into the later group so I found this story engrossing and rewarding.

Mr Harrigan’s Phone is, by far, my favourite story of the collection. King is a master of conveying a character’s emotions, particularly those of loss and sorrow. Young Craig’s feelings at the loss of his friend Mr Harrigan are visceral. King also explores the current addiction to phones and social media. Craig introduces Mr Harrigan to the wonders and benefits of the internet via a mobile phone. But as Mr Harrigan says to Craig when he suggests progressing to a laptop,

‘It’s like you taught me to smoke marijuana and enjoy it, and now you’re saying, “If you like pot, you’ll really like heroin.”’

‘[Drew] went outside…to look at the stars. He was always stunned by how many you could see once you got away from the light pollution. God had spilled a jug of light up there, and beyond the spill was eternity.’

Trigger alert: child abuse and murder; sodomy of a child

Listening to The Outsider read by Bill Paton is a real treat. This guy knows how to make a book sing.

I couldn’t help but notice how this novel has polarised opinions. I must confess to being a huge fan of Mr King, but I concede that his later books are in serious need of an editor who’s not afraid to speak their mind! There is a lot of unnecessary repetition that could easily have been cut to make this book shorter and more coherent.

I was totally invested in this story and had no problem with the supernatural element. For goodness sake, what are folk expecting from Stephen King? Supernatural is his raison d’être! However, I’ve dropped my rating by a star for the awful and graphic nature of the crime committed on a child. I felt it was unnecessarily heinous and the sexually violent references make the book hard to recommend to many people.

So, this review is a bit of a mixed bag! If you can get past the trigger warning, I found this story engrossing, and the characters engaging.

Stephen King is in fine form! The Institute combines many of his favourite tropes: kids as heroes; kids versus unknown evil; the kindness of strangers; references to current products and politics. He has created the perfect mix. At 482 pages it’s a commitment, but I can guarantee it’s a commitment well worth making.

Tim Jamieson is at a loose end. He’s a disgraced cop who finds himself in the small town of DuPray, South Carolina, working as the night knocker (not a term familiar to Australian readers but it’s basically night security for the small town).

We meet Luke Ellis as he’s sitting exams for early entrance to University - Luke is twelve years old and is a child genius. Fortunately, it hasn’t gone to his head (pun intended) and he’s a likeable, typical teenager. His parents are cool and he loves them to bits. As a regular reader of Stephen King, you just know this is not going to end well. In the middle of the night, he is stolen from his home and he wakes up in The Institute.

‘Great events turn on small hinges’ and how Tim and Luke meet and join forces is typical King magic. What else is King magic is his fine eye for detail, be it place or people. Passing characters are drawn as lovingly as main characters. For example, Tim thumbs a ride with Marjorie Kellerman, an elderly librarian with a car load of donated books to deliver to a library which has no money because ‘Trump and his cronies took it all back. They understand culture no more than a donkey understand algebra.’ King does not hide his political leanings!

Some of the best dialogue is between the kids trapped in the nightmare that is The Institute. Even though they are experiencing shocking treatment, they can still share a joke and a laugh. They are irreverent and made me laugh out loud: ‘“Stick your nose up my ass and fight for air, “Luke said, and began to laugh.’

And there are many more such exchanges which are reminiscent, in particular, of The Body and It. But these gifted kids also look out for each other, and discover that, together, they are a force to be reckoned with, just as King is still a major force whose gift for storytelling is irrefutable.

Trying to categorise Stephen King’s books is fraught with difficulty - Elevation is a case in point. At a mere 132 pages, it’s barely a novella, so should it be shelved with short stories? And it’s by Stephen King, so it has to be horror, right? Wrong! Anyone who has more than a passing acquaintance with King’s writing will know that even his horror novels aren’t really about horror. They are always about the characters, and how they respond to a situation - whether it’s horrific or not. He explores how people treat each other, and at the heart of all his novels are themes of friendship, kindness and redemption.

King again uses his familiar town of Castle Rock as a microcosm to demonstrate how destructive prejudice and intolerance can be, and how overcoming these emotions can be life-changing.
It’s easy to dismiss Stephen King as “popular” - whatever that’s supposed to mean! I personally like his writing style, which has an easy flow to it. But don’t be fooled - this man is a master of his craft, and every now and then, he’ll casually throw in a sentence that is, in my humble opinion, pure genius:
“The night was cold, chilling the sweat on his face, but the air was as sweet and crisp as the first bite of a fall apple.” See what I mean?

(Just as an aside, signifying nothing - King can be a little over-generous in his use of expletives, but in Elevation he uses barely any, which makes this novella accessible to a wider reading audience.)

714 pages…..seriously? Please, please, please Mr King - do us all a favour and get yourself a skilled editor.
I love big books and I cannot lie - however, this did not need to be a big book! ‘The Stand’ did; so did ‘It’, but this just had waaayyyy too much information about waaayyy too many people. No wonder it required a list of characters at the beginning, which did sound alarm bells for me.
Enough about the size of this door-stopper, what about the plot? Well, I’m afraid there’s nothing really new here. You have the really good guys, and the really bad guys, who have a BIG battle; with a dash of characters who will be redeemed by the end of the novel, and a sprinkle of fairy-dust in the shape of a magical tree, surrounded by mystical creatures.
This had a number of elements that I did like: the whole ‘mother earth’ message was different for King, and he does know how to create great leading characters with plenty of flaws that make you want to be their buddy; and he can describe bloodshed in graphic detail like no-one else. But the sum total of the positives does not outweigh the negatives.
Oh, and it-was-not-scary!!
Maybe writing with his son is not a recipe for success?
I hate to say this, but I was disappointed.

What more can be said about Stephen King that hasn’t already been said?
He is the master of the short story/novella and Gwendy’s Button Box does not disappoint.
Gwendy is 12 years old. It’s 1974, and she lives in Castle Rock. So you know something bad is going to happen!
She has all the usual issues that 12 year old girls have, particularly when it comes to her appearance. So she’s running up the Suicide Stairs to loose some puppy fat. As she’s catching her breath one summer’s day, a gentleman sitting nearby says “Hey girl. Come on over here for a bit. We ought to palaver, you and me.” (I haven’t heard the word palaver for years!) And Gwendy’s world will never be the same again.
At first I thought this might enter into an unpleasant child abuse scenario, but, thank goodness, that is not where King takes us. This trip is much more interesting, and unsettling.
This is a story about the choices we make, and why we make them, and the impact that those choices have.
Like many of King’s novels set in the 1970s, there is a sense of nostalgia and melancholy. And a sense that the world can be a much stranger place than we could every imagine.
Highly recommended

I listened to Duma Key as an audio book, and I do think that the audio experience is quite different to reading it yourself. Duma Key worked exceedingly well as an audio book. I think King’s gift is his portrayal of men and their friendships with other men. I think his females are not so successful - usually one dimensional or just a plot device, which is disappointing. But, that is my only negative. I was totally engrossed in this story, and like so many of King’s books, I couldn’t wait to find out how it would end, and then felt bereaved when it did! And he always leaves on a note of melancholy and loss. I know some think that’s just easy sentimentality, but I see it more as an honest expression of how we do often feel but are usually too proud to voice.
Highly recommended - but not for the kiddies!

I am an unabashed Stephen King fan, and I loved Dr Sleep. Yes, I really enjoyed Revival, but I couldn’t say I loved it. I think King’s strength has always been creating characters who get under your skin, and who you really care about. I just didn’t get that connection with the main character, Jamie, in this novel. However, this novel is very, very scary. Not in a “bump in the night” kinda way, but in a real way. He questions one of the primary tenents of all religions: life after death. And he paints a very grim afterlife! So, in this regard, I would say that this is King’s most horrific novel to date.
But don’t get me wrong; I still think this is a cracker of a read, which will leave you feeling quite unsettled. 3 1/2 stars.

I must confess up front that I’m a huge Stephen King fan, and do get cross with reviewers who suggest that he is “just popular”, because he really is so much more!
I listened to this as an audiobook, narrated by Will Patton, and it has been keeping me company for over 18 hours!
The story follows the little boy Danny Torrance who survived the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. When we catch up with him, he is middle aged and at a very low point in his life: broke, alcoholic and aimless. Until he is contacted by a 12 year old girl, who also has ’the Shining’.
I loved this story: the development of the relationship between Dan and Abra; the camaraderie shared by those who face the evil forces (in this case the True Knot). This is King’s gift; not so much his portrayal of horror, but the characters that populate his books. By the end, you feel like they are your friends, and although you race to the end of the story to find out what happens, you do it with a sinking heart, because you know that you won’t be spending any more time with these characters that you’ve grown to love (and in some cases, hate!)
Highly recommended - enjoy enjoy enjoy!

I read this in one hit on a rainy Saturday afternoon - perfect. I haven’t enjoyed King’s more recent novels - they seemed to be full of too many ‘clever’ references to current culture and icons. But Joyland was a joyous (pun intended)return to his previous form, with a very large nod to Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked this way comes.
In turns creepy, nostalgic, romantic, mysterious with a lead character you really like and hope will find his way in the world.
Highly recommended.