Later by Stephen King

Synopsis : The son of a struggling single mother, Jamie Conklin just wants an ordinary childhood. But Jamie is no ordinary child. Born with an unnatural ability his mom urges him to keep secret, Jamie can see what no one else can see and learn what no one else can learn. But the cost of using this ability is higher than Jamie can imagine – as he discovers when an NYPD detective draws him into the pursuit of a killer who has threatened to strike from beyond the grave.

Review : I may have watched plenty of adaptations of Stephen King’s novels on TV or in the cinema, but it never occurred to me to read one of his books. Probably because most of the time, I was quite satisfied with these film adaptations, so I didn’t really feel the need to read them. So it was high time for me to correct this mistake. And as a first read to enter the vast universe of the master of horror, I stumbled upon this relatively short novel, ‘Later’ and I thought it could be a good starting point.

In this book, we follow Jamie Conklin, the young narrator of this story. And as is often the case with Stephen King’s stories, Jamie is not an ordinary child in the sense that he has a rather strange gift : he sees and hears the dead before they disappear.

From the first chapters, Jamie tells us, not without a touch of humor, about his childhood. Thus, the first third of the book reviews his childhood, adolescence, the relationships he has with his mother and Liz (the female cop), as well as his ability to see the dead. The main character of this story being very young, the tone is light and quite enjoyable to read despite the frequent use of strong language. Actually the author takes turns putting himself in the shoes of a little boy who becomes a teenager and then a young adult, all while adopting a first-person writing style in tune with his narrator and his different ages.

This also allows him to approach with a bit more lightness important and quite serious events that occurred in the 2000s, notably the subprime crisis and the Great Recession of 2008.

At first, it was quite interesting and this little boy is funny and very endearing. However, after about a hundred pages, it starts to feel a bit long. It’s dragging. Honestly, not much happens even though this story is supposed to be a horror story (as Jamie himself claims). The novel is less than 350 pages long (French edition), so inevitably, you begin to wonder when you’ll get some action. In the end, things don’t really get serious until Chapter 20.

As for me, the magic didn’t work and I didn’t really get hooked by this book. Perhaps not enough horror for my taste. I expected to read something that would give me a bit of a chill, but that was not the case here. Moreover, I would have liked to know more about the mysterious ‘dead light,’ but the novel does not provide any answers on this matter. On the other hand, I was surprised by the revelation thrown at us at the end of the book concerning the narrator; I admit I didn’t see that coming.

In conclusion, if you want to immerse yourself into Stephen King’s fascinating and anxiety-inducing universe, if you are looking for a good horror story or a thrill ride, then this book is not the best choice. However, it was a fairly entertaining read that helped pass the time.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

Bill Hodges Trilogy, Book 2

Synopsis: The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.

Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and vengeful Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.

Review: Stephen King’s new book tells the story of a young boy Peter Saubers who accidentally discovers a trunk filled with money but mostly notebooks containing the notes of an author who died several years earlier, John Rothstein. Where do these black notebooks come from and why were they buried near his house? We discover it little by little by learning the details of Morris Bellamy’s life, an obsessive fan of the author, who killed him for several reasons. The main reason is that Morris was disappointed with the storyline described for Jimmy Gold, Morris’s absolute hero. He wants to take revenge and to know the future of his hero, since Rothstein has decided to retire and not to offer his books.

This new book offers both an interesting thriller and a vision pushed to the extreme of the notion of fan (or obsessional fan). The two heroes (Pete and Morris) of this book are a little alike but will not make the same choices and one of them will resist and survive. It should also be noted that this book is the sequel of Mr Mercedes since we find some characters from the previous story and that the chronology of Black Carnets happens after the one of Mr Mercedes. However, this book can be read independently.

I had a good time with this book, but nothing happen much in 600 pages. For me, not one of the best of Stephen King, although the author may be more concentrated on the psychological aspect of the obsessive fan who can kill for books for a story that does not please him. The book is interesting on this aspect and gives an overview of the descriptive power of the author to feel the sensations and atmosphere: we are clearly caught in the story. A little more action would have pleased me though.

Balthier

 

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Synopsis: Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay ’til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.

Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a 17th century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters your homes at will. She stands next to your bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened.

The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town’s teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting, but in so doing send the town spiraling into the dark, medieval practices of the past.

Review: I had not read a novel like this for a long time. And it’s true that it’s finally a novel of the caliber of Stephen King’s horror novels. Having read the novel in the evening, I can tell you that I was looking around to be sure that the old witch with her eyes and mouth was not next to me.

The city of Black Spring is not like any other city. All the people who come to live there or who already live there are stuck in this city forever and that from hundreds of years. They can leave of course, they are free, but if they remain outside too long, suicidal desires manifest and are increasingly present. But on top of that, the witch rodes, she can manifest herself at any place in town and invites herself into everyone’s homes. It is not something pleasant and it is even rather terrifying. But the city tries to avoid the arrival of new foreigners and even hides the existence of this witch that scares everyone. No one has the right to interact with her, she must be hidden when foreigners come to town, she must not be disturbed … It must be said that the government has tried everything to destroy her, but apart from the appearance of new deaths, nothing has been done.

We mainly follow a family who has lived here for several years. That’s when the problems begin. Indeed, some teenagers have decided to rebel against the rules and to provoke and humiliate this witch.

I really liked the novel that I read very quickly. The author succeeds perfectly in creating an oppressive and terrifying atmosphere. We all wait to see what Katherine (the witch) will do regarding these mockery, and we wonder who the next to fall under his yoke will be… I admit that I did not expect such a turnaround at the end of the novel. I was really surprised.

 

 

Hex de Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Résumé : Quiconque né en ce lieu est condamné à y rester jusqu’à la mort.
Quiconque y arrive n’en repart jamais. Bienvenue à Black Spring, charmante petite ville américaine. Du moins en apparence : Black Spring est hantée par une sorcière, dont les yeux et la bouche sont cousus. Elle rôde dans les rues et entre chez les gens à sa guise, restant parfois au chevet des enfants des nuits entières. Les habitants s’y sont tellement habitués qu’il leur arrive d’oublier sa présence. Ou la menace qu’elle représente. En effet, si la vérité échappe de ses murs, la ville tout entière disparaîtra. Pour empêcher la malédiction de se propager, les anciens de Black Spring ont utilisé des techniques de pointe. Mais un groupe d’adolescents locaux décide de braver les règles, et plonge la ville dans un atroce cauchemar…

Avis : Ça faisait longtemps que je n’avais pas lu un roman tel que celui-ci. Et c’est vrai que c’est finalement un roman de la trempe des romans d’horreur de Stephen King. Ayant lu le roman le soir, je peux vous dire que je regardais autour de moi pour être sûre que la vieille sorcière aux yeux et à la bouche cousue n’était pas à côté de moi.

La ville de Black Spring n’est pas une ville comme les autres. Toutes les personnes qui viennent y habiter ou qui y habitent déjà sont bloquées dans cette ville pour toujours et depuis des centaines d’années. Ils peuvent en partir bien sûr, ils sont libres, mais s’ils restent trop longtemps à l’extérieur, des envies de suicide se manifestent et sont de plus en plus importantes. Mais en plus de cela, la sorcière rode, elle peut se manifester à n’importe quel endroit en ville et s’invite dans les maisons de tout un chacun. Ce n’est pas quelque chose d’agréable et c’est même plutôt terrifiant. Mais la ville essaie d’éviter l’arrivée de nouveaux étrangers et cache même l’existence de cette sorcière qui fait peur à tout le monde. Personne n’a le droit d’interagir avec elle, il faut la cacher quand des étrangers viennent en ville, il ne faut pas la déranger… Il faut dire que le gouvernement a tout essayé pour la détruire, mais à part l’apparition de nouveaux morts, rien n’y a fait.

Nous suivons ainsi principalement une famille qui réside ici depuis plusieurs années. C’est à ce moment-là que les problèmes commencent. En effet, certains ados ont décidé de se rebeller face aux règles et de provoquer et d’humilier cette sorcière. 

J’ai vraiment beaucoup aimé le roman que j’ai lu très vite. L’auteur parvient parfaitement à créer une atmosphère oppressante et terrifiante. On attend tous de voir ce que Katherine (la sorcière) va faire face à ces moqueries, qui sera le prochain à tomber sous son joug… J’avoue que je ne m’attendais pas à un tel retournement de situation à la fin du roman. J’ai vraiment été surprise.

 

Revival by Stephen King

Synopsis: A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs — including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties — addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate — Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe

Review: Stephen King’s book “Revival” is a horror novel that tells the life of Jamie Morton from his childhood in the 1960s up to his old age.

At the age of 6, he met Charles Jacobs, a Methodist pastor who had recently arrived in the small town of Harlow, with a rather atypical fascination by electricity and its power. Thanks to his studies on the potential of electricity, Jacobs succeeds in curing Connie, Jamie’s brother, of a tearing of the vocal cords. This is the beginning of a strong link between the two characters.

However, a personal drama (the death of his wife and son) will lead the pastor to lose faith and he will devote himself entirely to the study of secret electricity, initially to heal people but gradually this quest will lead the two characters at the gates of death to understand what happens after death. The dream of controlling life and death through a secret source of energy described in forbidden books ….

Stephen King still perfectly describes the scenes and it feels like we see the action going on with all the details. The only downside for me is that the story finally takes a long time to set up and the surnatural “horror” part only appears in the last 50 pages (on around 540). It is kind of a shame. The suspense also appears only in these last pages, even if one always wonders what Jacobs seeks and finds. It’s a quest for the grail to understand what happens after death and potentially also know how to resuscitate his family (his wife and son).

The other interest of the book is the evolution of the main character through the ages (which is quite nice) from the 60s to the present day, as well as the link between Jamie and Jacobs. Jamie is thankful to Jacobs for curing various people he is attached to, but he is aware that Jacobs is going too far in his quest to the detriment of the people he uses as guinea pigs.

A good book in the end (it’s the King anyway!!), although this is not the best I have read. With winks of which the most obvious is that of Mary Fay Shelley in direct connection with Frankenstein and the awakening of the dead by lightning …

3-5

Balthier

 

Revival de Stephen King

Résumé : Il a suffi de quelques jours au charismatique reverend Charles Jacobs pour ensorceler les habitants de Harlow, dans le Maine. Et plus que tout autre, le petit Jamie. Car l’homme et l’enfant ont une passion commune: l’electricite.

Trente ans plus tard, Jamie est un guitariste de rock ronge par l’alcool et la drogue. Il va croiser a nouveau le chemin de Jacobs, et decouvrir que le mot – renaissance – peut avoir plus d un sens.

Addiction, fanatisme, experimentations scientifiques… Un roman electrique sur ce qui se cache de l’autre cote du miroir. Hommage a Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne et Lovecraft, un King d’anthologie.

Avis : Le livre de Stephen King « Revival » est un roman d’horreur qui raconte la vie de Jamie Morton de son enfance dans les années 1960 à sa vieillesse de nos jours.

A l’âge de 6 ans, il fait la rencontre de Charles Jacobs, un pasteur méthodiste nouvellement arrivé dans la petite ville de Harlow,  plutôt atypique et fasciné par l’électricité et ses pouvoirs. Grâce à ses études sur le potentiel de l’électricité, Jacobs réussit à guérir Connie, le frère de Jamie, d’une déchirure des cordes vocales. C’est le début d’un lien fort entre les deux personnages.

Toutefois un drame personnel (la mort de sa femme et son fils) vont conduire le pasteur à perdre la foi et se consacrer entièrement à l’étude de l’électricité secrète, initialement pour guérir les gens mais petit à petit cette quête conduira les deux personnages aux portes de la mort et à la compréhension de ce qui se passe après la mort. Le rêve de commander la vie et la mort grâce à une source d’énergie secrète décrite dans des livres interdits….

Stephen King décrit toujours parfaitement les scènes et on a l’impression de voir l’action se passer tellement les détails sont nombreux. Le seul bémol pour ma part est que l’histoire met finalement beaucoup de temps à se mettre en place et l’ « horreur » n’apparait que dans les 50 dernières pages (sur 540 environ). C’est un peu dommage. Le suspense n’apparait également que dans ces dernières pages, même si on se demande toujours ce que cherche et va trouver Jacobs. La quête du graal pour comprendre ce qui se passe après la mort et potentiellement aussi comment rendre la vie aux personnes disparues (sa femme et son fils).

L’autre intérêt du livre porte sur l’évolution du personnage principal à travers les époques (ce qui est assez sympa) des années 60 à nos jours, ainsi que le lien qui lie Jamie et Jacobs. Jamie est reconnaissant à Jacobs pour avoir guéri différentes personnes auxquelles il est attaché, mais c’est lui qui est conscient que, finalement, Jacobs va trop loin dans sa quête au détriment des personnes qu’il utilise comme cobayes.

Un bon livre au final (c’est du King quand même !!), même si  ce n’est pas le meilleur que j’ai lu. Avec des clins d’œil dont le plus évident est celui de Mary Fay Shelley en lien direct avec Frankenstein et le réveil des morts par la foudre

3-5

Balthier

The Last Harvest by Kim Liggett

Synopsis:

“I plead the blood.”

Those were the last words seventeen-year-old golden boy quarterback Clay Tate heard rattling from his dad’s throat when he discovered him dying on the barn floor of the Neely Cattle Ranch, clutching a crucifix to his chest.

Now, on the first anniversary of the Midland, Oklahoma slaughter, the whole town’s looking at Clay like he might be next to go over the edge. Clay wants to forget the past, but the sons and daughters of the Preservation Society—a group of prominent farmers his dad accused of devil worship—won’t leave him alone. Including Ali, his longtime crush, who suddenly wants to reignite their romance after a year of silence, and hated rival Tyler Neely, who’s behaving like they’re old friends.

Even as Clay tries to reassure himself, creepy glances turn to sinister stares and strange coincidences build to gruesome rituals—but when he can never prove that any of it happened, Clay worries he might be following his dad down the path to insanity…or that something far more terrifying lies in wait around the corner.

Review: It’s been a long time since I read a novel of this kind, a novel of anguish or even horror but it is always interesting to plunge back into this type of atmosphere. I had the opportunity to read some reviews before beginning the story and it was with pleasure that I saw that they were all positive even if several explained that for a YA novel, that it did not correspond to a youthful novel. I can understand that and it is true that I did not expect the story to be so black, but knowing it, it did not bother me.

We discover Clay, a young boy in charge of his family after the death of his father in strange conditions. But now, since this tragedy, almost a year ago, he is sidelined and his friends have abandoned him. Yet, it seems that things are changing …. His family gradually begins to dislocate, while his friends return to him, hoping that he would take his place in the Society of Preservation (something he did everything to avoid). The counselor of her school is convinced that these people worship the devil and that only Clay can prove it. But here, our hero does not know how to situate himself in relation to the different events, not knowing if he loses his head like his father and if something sinister is really happening.

I was easily taken by the story and the very special atmosphere of the book although it is true that it is very difficult to disentangle the true from the false. I understand the relentlessness nature of Clay as he tried to understand and tried to fix things even if it is something very complicated. Besides, I did not see the end coming at all and it was very amazing even though I understand a bit why now. Many events are taking place and we are trying to discover the truth with Clay. It’s a different story and it’s one really well done in its kind. I do not want to say too much because I think you really have to read it to understand everything but it was an amazing discovery. The story gives you chills while taking you through short chapters. There are many questions about the characters and their behavior. It really is very difficult to understand what is really going on, and the suspense is kept to the end.

4

mellianefini