California Dreamer

What an amazing and genius book that will take you on an emotional roller coaster with (wait for it)….a worthy and fulfilling ending that will hit you twice over ! Anyone expecting alien clowns, phantom old women or murderous vintage cars with arguably one of Stephen Kings questionable endings (hence the opening comment) will be disappointed and that perhaps shows in some of the chalk and cheese reviews below. What Stephen King has done here is interweave a number of stories and back stories around the main characters in a unique way based on the writing itself, and these slowly unfold throughout the book to not only keep you truly hooked at every stage of the journey, but also add layer upon layer to the characters so that by the end you can’t help but be deeply and emotionally attached to them. If that’s made it sound like a love story then yes it is, but not in the way you would expect and at there is still a violent and vengeful thriller of a story around which it is all centred. One of Stephen Kings best ever books !

Stephen King is in a rich vane of form right now. For me this vane started with 11.22.63 and culminated with the amazing Billy Summers. Holly is another stroke of genius. The return of Holly and her distinctive character is a welcome one and it’s the readers love for her and her quirkiness that allows the story of her hunt for some sinister serial killers to be told in a such a unique and exciting way. I’m not giving anything away by telling you that you know who the killers are very early on in the book and by telling their story and their victims stories in amongst Hollys investigations keeps you gripped. It’s like watching someone in a film walk into a room when you know the villain is hidden in the wardrobe ! As has been common place in Stephen Kings recent books you’ll also find yourself rooting for other characters and their journeys which are stories in themselves and I challenge anyone not to get emotionally attached to Barbara and her poetry hero. I don’t really want to mention the politics in the book but given that some people are making a thing of it I will. Simply, the book is of its time written and set in some petty unique times, and it mentions those circumstances where it needs to without being a political statement… unless that is you’re determined for it to do so and want to ignore the amazing story that is unfolds in front of you.