In a million years, nothing written here will ever do the man justice. His books account for a serious amount of my reading hours. Whilst i adore his work, it has to be said that he is one terrifying individual! One has to wonder where the ideas come from and what is going on in that mind of his!
'Kingdom Hospital' was written specifically for tv and, crikey, did that spin my head! Much as i think he writes well, after watching that series from start to finish i still had no idea what the heck was going on! The SyFy series, Haven, is based on 'The Colorado Kid' by him and isn't bad. Maybe his books work better than film or tv though as there is more scope for your own imagination.
There are far too many novels to go through individually, especially including his work as Richard Bachman. This is a shame because each book has particular aspects that stand out and make them special. So, i am going to pick 4 and let you draw your own conclusions on the rest.
The very first book of his that i read was 'The Tommyknockers'. My mom took it on holiday to Ireland with her one year and i robbed it. As with all his novels, the story is disturbing and creepy. Since it centres around an alien spaceship being unearthed, though, you would expect some abnormal goings on! The section where dolls come to life is as bizarre as it is terrifying. I have always classed this as being one of my first 'grown-up' books as there is bad language, sex and he holds absolutely nothing back. My reading tastes changed from then on.
'Thinner' is one of King's best novels and is also fairly well known since it was made into a film later. He was writing as Richard Bachman then and, if i remember correctly, this was the last he wrote under that name (until The Regulators). Basically it is about an obese lawyer who, whilst being...um... 'caressed', mows down and kills a gypsy woman. His judge friend acquits him but outside court the gypsies stop him and whisper 'thinner' in his ear.
Throughout the book he loses weight, hence the title, and strange things happen to the judge and police chief involved in the case. I won't ruin the story if you haven't read it but, we are talking about Stephen King here so, it's not a happy one! The moral is either to concentrate when you're driving or that you should face the consequences of your actions. Probably the latter but both are valid. (Haha)
The majority of Stephen King novels seem to have some sort of moral issue within them and i really like that concept. So, although the content can be disturbing and sometimes horrific, there is always a way that the characters cod have avoided these nightmares.
'Needful Things' is another good quality read. I am told that this has also been transferred to the big screen but i have never seen it. Initially i found the scenario very amusing. A friendly old man, running a shop (Needful things), selling anything you ask for at rock bottom prices. Providing you play a trick on one of your neighbours of course.
The elderly know all the gossip, grudges, feuds and scandals so, by carefully selecting the targets of these pranks, he incites the whole town to craziness!
Once again the la-di-da ending is absent but I'm sure noone is surprised by that at this point. Is the moral here - 'be careful what you wish for'? Or maybe it's something to do with 'what you want not necessarily being what you need'?
So, i've done the first, my two favourites and now on to the last book i read penned by him - Dreamcatcher.
According to Mr King, this book was written during his recovery from a car accident and was originally titled 'Cancer'. (Interesting little factoid there i thought!)
'Duddits' is a child with down syndrome. One day he is picked on by bullies and 4 friends wade in and rescue him. They stay friends and move away then, after having troubles in their private life, decide to go on a hunting trip and visit Duddits at the same time.
Naturally there follows weird occurrences and subsequently an army quarantine zone! The flatulance issues are hilarious but non-essential to the plot, therefore i think our quirky author was having a giggle with that. Anyway, we end up with an alien 'Ripley' virus spreading around and all manner of other goings on, such as telepathy and yet another crashed spaceship. It's very action packed and incredibly complicated!
The sad part is that Duddits is the key to stopping it but is dying of leukemia.
Not everyone appreciates Stephen King, in large part due to this weirdness and the lack of happy conclusive endings. However, even those who aren't fans can see he has been hugely successful.
The paranormal element appeals to me and beyond that i refuse to examine too closely why so many of us are drawn to the bizarre and twisted tales he creates!
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