If Stephen King Wrote the Screenplay for "127 Hours," It Would Look Like This

Source: Goodreads

Gerald’s Game by Stephen King (1992; Pocket Books, 2016, 480pp).

Hoping to jazz up their sex life, Jessie’s middle-aged hubby, Gerald, handcuffs her to the bed at their secluded summer cabin for a good, old-fashioned sex game. What could have been just another unpleasant evening for Jessie to endure suddenly takes a deadly turn when, minutes after slapping the cuffs on her, Gerald drops dead of a massive heart attack. Now she’s trapped, miles from help. The handcuff keys are located on a far-away dresser-top. The telephone is in the other room. And—as she soon finds out—there’s a starving stray dog outside looking for meat. Unfortunately for Jessie—but especially for poor Gerald—someone forgot to close the back door…

Do you remember that movie 127 Hours, where James Franco finds himself trapped in a ravine with a boulder crushing his arm? Gerald’s Game is kind of like that: like Hours, it focuses on a protagonist trapped in dire circumstances, who experiences a requisite period of self-examination, and comes to a personal revelation that prompts her to attempt an all-or-nothing escape. Unlike 127 Hours, which is well-paced and inspiring, Gerald’s Game is by turns fleet-footed and plodding, an absorbing character study that runs on for far too long. Had King pared his idea down to a short story, he probably would have been the better for it. And while there are some genuinely prime scares in the story, these moments are all too often out-weighed by grisly descriptions of the stray dog nomming on pieces of dead Gerald. In other words, if you gross-out easily, avoid this book like the plague. For King’s regular fans? It’s not bad, but certainly not his best.

Nailbiter Detective Novel with Weak Ending is Still Worth a Browse

Source: Author Website

Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy #1) by Stephen King (Scribner, 2014, 448pp.)

It’s 2009. The economy’s tanked. In a nameless Midwestern city, job-seeking hopefuls are lined up outside the annual City Center job fair when a madman plows into the crowd with a stolen Mercedes Benz. Eight are killed, and dozens maimed by the time the death-car’s taillights vanish in the early morning fog. When the police find the vehicle hours later, it’s abandoned in a parking lot, and wiped clean of prints. As a final, creepy touch, the killer also left the clown mask he was wearing during the massacre on the driver’s seat. No one is ever caught.

Exactly one year after the massacre, newly retired detective Bill Hodges receives a letter from Mr. Mercedes, taunting him for being unable to crack the case. Given a new sense of purpose, Hodges sets to work trying to catch him. Covering points of view for both the killer and the detective, Mr. Mercedes chronicles the cat and mouse game they play that could result in yet another attack of unthinkable horror.

What can I say? No one can craft a story like King can, nor can they capture the feel of an era and use it to such maximum effect. A modern-day tribute to the detective genre, Mr. Mercedes combines good old-fashioned noir with creepiness, out-right horror, and that off-the-wall prose that King’s fans know and love him for. And while I can’t quite hail the ending as particularly strong or original, it certainly is one heck of a ride getting there! Recommended for fans of David Fincher's serial killer film, Seven.

Stephen King Gets Back on Track with “Revival”

Source: Author Website

Revival by Stephen King (Scribner, 2014, 405pp.)

In the 1960s, young Jamie Morton becomes friends with Rev. Charles Jacobs, the new Methodist minister in the little town of Harlowe, Maine. Rev. Jacobs is no ordinary reverend. He has a rather fascinating hobby—the study of electricity and its applications, which he carries out in his garage. In addition to tinkering with electronics and building a mechanical model town, one of his more impressive achievements is using low voltage electricity to heal Jamie’s brother, who lost his voice in an accident. But, alas, Rev. Jacobs can’t heal everything. Soon after he heals Jamie’s brother, he gets word that his wife and son have both been killed in a horrific car accident. In response, he angrily denounces God and religion to his mortified congregation, and consequently loses both his job and his place in the community. After he leaves town, Jamie Morton fears he will never see his friend again, but Fate, it seems, has other plans. Throughout the rest of Jamie’s life, the two keep running into each other in the strangest of circumstances. Although Jamie grows up to become a wash-out musician, his personality and occupation pretty much remain the same. Jacobs, however, turns out to be a chameleon. The first time the two run into each other is at the fairgrounds, where Jacobs is working as a maker of magical “Lightning Portraits.” Years after that, they meet again. This time, Jacobs has once again taken up the mantle of religion, and is now “healing” people at revivals. At their third and last meeting, Jacobs is a wealthy, reclusive old man who tells Jamie a secret: ever since the deaths of his wife and son, he has been pursuing potestas magnum universum, “the force that powers the universe,” which he believes can be harvested through lightning strikes. He then proposes an outrageous experiment: once he has harnessed this energy, he will use it to look beyond death, into the afterlife. Unfortunately for both of them, the consequences of the experiment turn out to be more terrifying than anyone can imagine.

As someone who deeply disliked King’s last novel, Joyland, I can happily report that the author gets back on track in this latest offering. Revival is essentially a Frankenstein story that builds on Mary Shelley’s premise: one man defies God. How does he do it, and what are the consequences? If you’re already a Stephen King fan, or simply enjoy slow, ponderous pieces with plenty of creep factor, I will definitely recommend trying out Revival.

A Chilling First Novel by a Master Writer

Carrie by Stephen King (1974; Anchor, 2013, 320pp.)

Everyone’s seen the movie. Or if not, you’re definitely aware of the infamous prom scene. No? Then let me recap: Carrie White, high school reject, is being charitably crowned prom queen by the student body—but at the height of the ceremony, someone dumps a bucket of pig’s blood on her. She then reacts as any angst-ridden, humiliated teenager might: she simply goes nuts and sets the town on fire with her awesome telekinetic powers. A fictional case study, Carrie interweaves story with “historical” documents that examine the devastating tragedy long after it occurs. As King’s first novel, Carrie acts as an excellent gateway to the rest of King’s work about the supernaturally inclined.

Underwhelming

Joyland by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, 2013, 288pp.)

Joyland takes place in 1973 against the backdrop of a haunted amusement park, and chronicles Devon Jones’s experiences working there during college. The story is comprised of several subplots: the legend of the girl murdered on the haunted house ride, Devon’s friendship with a single mother whose young son is dying from muscular dystrophy, Devon’s heartache over a breakup with his first girlfriend, and the bonds of comradery he forms with his fellow carny workers.

Maybe my expectations were set too high because—I don’t know, because King is supposed to be a master writer? In any case, as a Stephen King fan, I was pretty disappointed. While Joyland is more or less passable as a piece of fiction, it lacks the drama, tension, and psychological insight found in many of King’s earlier works. The creep factor is relatively low for a ghost story, and the characters felt underdeveloped and uninteresting. If you haven’t read King’s works before, don’t start here. Try The Shining or ’Salem’s Lot first.