A 700-page doorstop of a book, this father-son fantasy-horror novel is not up to King’s usual standard. It has the usual fairly high body count where both good and bad guys get done in, with the expected dose of the supernatural thrown in for good measure; but it’s much too long, has too many characters, and needed considerably more editing than it got. The character development was minimal (because how much character development could you get when there are 72 characters in the list at the beginning of the book?), and it was difficult to keep them straight even with that guide. In the Authors’ Note at the end, they thank two people who read “an early, much-longer version.” They also thank two editors. This is mind boggling. It just didn’t move along very well. A good King novel is a page turner that I don’t want to put down. I wouldn’t rate this as badly as Cell or The Colorado Kid (both short but also both total crap), but I’d probably give it 4 out of 10. A disappointment for sure.

Inside Little Free Library.