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2.5

Let me tell you a story. (Jason, Dustin- you guys have probably heard me tell this enough times you’re sick of it so you guys can skip ahead!)

Many years ago I first read the Tommyknockers. It was a huge brick of a book- a hardcover version no less. I was fascinated with it. I was a new Stephen King fan and after picking up the first book of his I ever read, I had to grab another and another and another.

The Tommyknockers had this great build- up, it was intense, there was so much going on. There was an entire town communicating telepathically. There were aliens, disappearing children, a spaceship buried in the ground and lots and lots of menstruation. What’s not to love?!

Well, I’ll tell you. The ending. I had never in my life felt so ripped off about an ending in a book. So, I did what any pissed off teenager would do- I chucked my hard cover book across the room. It hit the wall at high speeds and left a softball sized hole in the wall in my bedroom.

I can tell you one thing- Mom and Dad were not impressed.

I decided to do a re-read this year on audio in hopes of letting go of some of that anger. It was a fail of epic proportions. I ended up disliking this book more this time around than I did the first time. I think, now that I am older, I am more aware of hidden messages in books. I hate that. I felt like Gard’s obsession with nuclear power plants and the endless drunken rants was King’s way of expressing his own views. Now, I don’t know that for a fact, but I don’t care. It was annoying and was so prevalent that I kept waiting for the nuke to occur.

Another thing that annoyed me- useless shit. This book contained so much useless filler that I found myself trying to keep track of everything only to find that none of it fucking mattered.

There are FEW books (under five) written by Stephen King that leave me with this awful taste in my mouth, but when they do it’s just unbearable. I feel that way about this one and if you could see the look of disgust on my face while even writing this review, you would know the truth of what I say.

So why 2.5 stars and not 1? Well, let’s face it- it’s King. And as any King fan will tell you- even a bad Stephen King book is better than most others. Also- there were still some aspects that I loved. The disappearing act at the magic show remains to be one of my favorite King moments. I also greatly enjoy the doll scene. There were moments of greatness hidden in this tome. It is evident that King was lacking direction in this one though and was in severe need of a strict editor. Not one of his best, by any means…but an ok book.