Has Stephen King lost his Mojo?

For the past few years, I have come to feel the perhaps Stephen King’s better years (and stories) were behind him.  Had the Master of Macabre finally lost his Mojo?

I was left feeling a rather disappointing blandness and indifference (Gerald’s Game, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, the Gingerbread Girl.)  Or worse, outright loathing, that had me saying, at least to myself, “This really sucked!  It was terrible!” 

(Song of Susanna, The Final Volume of The Dark Tower.)

But knowing how very much I have enjoyed King’s works over the years, I never fully gave up on him, and had the chance to read three of his books in the past two months.  A trifecta of terror, you might say.

11/22/63

Life can turn on a dime—or stumble into the extraordinary, as it does for Jake Epping, a high school English teacher in a Maine town. While grading essays by his GED students, Jake reads a gruesome, enthralling piece penned by janitor Harry Dunning: fifty years ago, Harry somehow survived his father’s sledgehammer slaughter of his entire family. Jake is blown away . . . but an even more bizarre secret comes to light when Jake’s friend Al, owner of the local diner, enlists Jake to take over the mission that has become his obsession—to prevent the Kennedy assassination. How? By stepping through a portal in the diner’s storeroom, and into the era of Ike and Elvis, of big American cars, sock hops, and cigarette smoke. . . . Finding himself in warmhearted Jodie, Texas, Jake begins a new life. But all turns in the road lead to a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald. The course of history is about to be rewritten . . . and become heart-stoppingly suspenseful.

My take:

Another fine masterpiece by Stephen King. This time around he tackles the paradoxes of time travel and does it quite well. I thoroughly enjoyed the intrigues and the pitfalls the character went through. The ending was an emotional gauntlet that had me re-reading it several times.

Highly recommended!

Revival

A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs -- including Jamie's mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family's horrific loss. In his mid-thirties -- addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate -- Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It's a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.

My take:

Another eerie, and very interesting tale by King. The true horror of this story doesn't reveal itself until the final chapter, but wow, what a sobering horror it is. The bulk of the book is fairly calm, and easily draws you into the character's life.

While this may not be the best King has written, it is certainly not the worst, either. I recommend it.

Dr. Sleep

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special twelve-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.

On highways across America, a tribe of people called The True Knot travel in search of sustenance. They look harmless—mostly old, lots of polyester, and married to their RVs. But as Dan Torrance knows, and spunky twelve-year-old Abra Stone learns, The True Knot are quasi-immortal, living off the “steam” that children with the “shining” produce when they are slowly tortured to death.

Haunted by the inhabitants of the Overlook Hotel where he spent one horrific childhood year, Dan has been drifting for decades, desperate to shed his father’s legacy of despair, alcoholism, and violence. Finally, he settles in a New Hampshire town, an AA community that sustains him, and a job at a nursing home where his remnant “shining” power provides the crucial final comfort to the dying. Aided by a prescient cat, he becomes “Doctor Sleep.”

Then Dan meets the evanescent Abra Stone, and it is her spectacular gift, the brightest shining ever seen, that reignites Dan’s own demons and summons him to a battle for Abra’s soul and survival. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of devoted readers of The Shining and satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

My review:

I have long thought that generally, sequels cannot compare to the original. There have been exceptions to this line of thinking, and I am pleased to admit that this is the case with Dr. Sleep. In fact, I might even say I liked it better than The Shining.

It has the usual "so darned interesting story" that King is so good at, but he weaves the scary horribleness throughout with an expertise that keeps you turning the page, and yet does not make you push the book away with a combination of disgust and fear. 

Abra, the new character who Dan Torrance is determined to protect, is instantly lovable, precious and precocious. If there is ever a sequel to the sequel, she would make a very interesting character to follow. 

The bad guys are a new kind of vampire that are evil and yet almost pitiable. In any case, they are worthy adversaries that make this book an engaging masterpiece.

Finally, there are many scenes that lend themselves to fantastic cinematic beauty. In other words, this would make a great movie with some really cool special effects!

**********

So I am pleased today that it looks to me like Stephen King is indeed back in the groove. Despite a few “stinkers”, he has shown that he still has the ability to capture your imagination, your interest, your time, and give you a thoroughly satisfying read.

                 

Douglas Boren is the author of the Alexander Family Chronicles, a series of Historical novels featuring a particular family through the generations, from 1600's England, to 1700's Caribbean, to the American Revolution, to the American Civil War,  to present day Bahamas.

You are invited to the official website at  www.dougboren.com