Stephen King

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Dreamcatcher

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Science Fiction/ Horror

Rating: *** (3 Stars)

Summary:

Dreamcatcher reads very much like King’s earlier novel, It, published in 1986.  Both books use flashbacks to simultaneously tell two stories involving the same characters.  The story begins as a hunting party of four men, friends since childhood, meet a man lost in the Maine woods and suffering from exposure.  They take him back to their cabin, where, instead of recovering, the man dies painfully, and gives birth to a large and vicious parasite that has been growing inside him.

At the same time, the Army is responding to reports of UFO sightings, missing hunters, and strange animal behavior.  They attack and destroy a crashed alien spacecraft, and quarantine everyone who comes out of the woods.

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The Talisman

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Action/Adventure

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:


The Talisman is a collaborative effort between Stephen King and Peter Straub. It and its sequel, Black House, tell the story of Jack Sawyer, a very special boy who has many magical adventures while saving his mother’s life.

Jack is in his early teens. His father has been killed in a hunting “accident” which later turns out to be murder, and his mother, Lily, a retired actress, is terminally ill with cancer. Morgan Sloat, a business partner of Jack’s father is harassing Lily as part of a scheme to take over the Sawyer family’s share of the business.

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It

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:


It consists of two stories involving the same group of characters. The first story happens when they are children in Derry, Maine, in 1958. The second occurs in 1984, when most of them have moved away, and are highly successful in their careers. Both stories revolve around a monster known simply as “It.” It takes various forms, and can only be seen by children. To some of them, It looks like a clown, others see a werewolf or a giant bird. In almost all cases, the children who meet It are brutally killed.

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Thinner

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Author: Stephen King (Writing as Richard Bachman)

Genre: Horror

Rating: *** (3 Stars)

Summary:


Billy Halleck is a successful lawyer, husband, and father. He is also dangerously overweight. One day, driving with and distracted by his wife, he runs over and kills a jaywalking gypsy woman. He is tried and acquitted of any wrongdoing, but as he leaves the courthouse, the woman’s father approaches, lightly strokes Billy’s cheek, and whispers, “Thinner.”

Although Billy’s eating habits don’t change, he begins to lose weight, passing his ideal weight and continuing downward. Concerned, he visits his doctor, who, after a series of tests, assures him that nothing is wrong. The weight loss continues, and Billy, who by this time has become desperate, sends a private investigator to find out where the band of gypsies has moved on to. At the same time, he learns that the police officer who responded to his accident, as well as the judge in the case, have each developed mysterious afflictions of their own.

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Lisey’s Story

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Author: Stephen King

Genre: Horror, Mystery

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Summary:


Lisey Landon is the widow of Scott Landon, a popular and prolific fiction writer. The story begins two years after Scott’s death, as Lisey begins the painful process of cleaning out Scott’s home office, and confronts memories that are both poignant and frightening. She also faces family challenges, including a sister who suffers from mental illness and is taking a turn for the worse, and harassment from memorabilia collectors who want access to Scott’s notes and personal effects.

Early on, we are introduced to Scott and Lisey’s “interior language of marriage,” which includes unique new words such as “bool.” A bool is a gift, a prize, or a prank. As boys, Scott and his older brother, Paul, had a game called “Hunting the Bool,” or simply “Bool Hunt.” Paul would hide a candy bar or soda, and place a series of clues which Scott was to follow to the bool.

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