The Dark Half

This book is about a writer (again!) who uses a pseudonym, George Stark, to write horror novels which are much more different than his own written works. The author, Thad Beaumont, is to a point where he is being pressured to reveal the pseudonym so he and his wife decide to kill George off and hold a burial for him. All of which is published in People magazine along with a story about Thad and George. The headstone they plant for the fake grave has an epitaph based on a quote Thad made that says that George is "Not a very nice guy".  All of this makes Thad a little nervous, not that he can quite understand why, but he is glad to be focusing on his own work again. Immediately after the magazine is published he has horrible nightmares about George hurting his family and threatening him.  At the same time the local grave digger discovers a hole in the ground at the cemetery in the spot where they pretended to bury George that looks like someone crawled out and a local man winds up beaten to death with his truck stolen. Which promptly turns up just outside New York full of blood.

People connected to the demise of George Stark start dropping like flies and it looks like it is Thad who is doing it as it is his fingerprints that are found at the crime scenes, but he has an airtight alibi. The police sheriff, Alan Pangborn, begrudgingly realizes that Thad is telling the truth and starts investigating it from the angle that it is some crazed fan pretending to be George Stark and who is angry at George's death. Unfortunately, this is not the case either as we come to realize that it is really George Stark and he is pissed about being killed off. So angry that he is destroying in a horrific manner anyone who he believes is directly responsible, despite police protection. His ultimate goal is to force Thad to write with him a new book and therefore bring George back to life - even if he has to kill his family to do it. Along the way we discover that Thad had a twin that he absorbed in Utero and that part of the fetus was found in his brain years later when he was having severe headaches. Thad never knew that there was a twin inside him, but it makes sense to him when he finds out as he always felt this darker part of himself.

This is a very interesting story and even more so when you realize that King wrote it as a direct result of Richard Bachman being discovered and not wanting to write under his name anymore.

The Tommyknockers

I will be honest, I gave up on this book halfway through after having read it for two weeks.  I just could not get into it and really just did not care to. This book felt to me like Kings commentary and views on the governments nuclear facilities, conspiracy in regards to aliens, and overall secrecy.  While I don't disagree with the views, I don't want to read about it or have it take up the majority of the book.  So the lesson I learned from the Talisman is to stop reading when I am no longer being entertained.  What I do remember from this book the last time I read it is that Pennywise makes an appearance, which was an interesting little mind bender.

Essentially this book is about a woman her friend (who are both writers - surprise, surprise) that discover an alien ship buried in the ground. This ship starts exerting power over her and all the people in the town of Haven. Gard (the friend who shows up after the discovery and some of the really weird shit she does as a result) is immune because of a steel plate in his head.

Things go from bad to worse for everyone as people start being controlled and doing terrible, unexplainable things.  The end result is that the majority of the town dies, but Gard is able to save the rest of the population and free them from the aliens (Tommyknockers).

At this point to me this book is a throw away along with the Talisman.

Misery

This has always been one of my favorite books, mainly because it seems that King was working out his own fear with just how crazy fans, particularly those who claim to be the "number one fan" can be.  I will also say that this is one of the best movies made from one of his books - even though some of the facts are changed - that is to be expected I believe.

This novel centers around an author Paul Sheldon who has just written an entirely new and different novel from his usual work, the Misery Series which is a sort of romance adventure series of novels.  He has a habit of writing part of his novels in a hotel in Colorado, and having just completed this book, Fast Cars, he decides to drive back to L.A. rather than fly. (Mistake #1) Before setting out he has too much champagne (#2) and does not check the weather (#3).  He hits a snowstorm in the mountains and his Camaro is not equipped to handle that so off the road he goes, wrecking the car and shattering his legs in the process.  Along comes Annie Wilkes, the number one fan, who pulls him from the wreckage and takes him home to nurse him back to health.  (That should be the first clue that she is crazy, as a normal person would have called for help)

She proceeds to fix his legs, sort of, and fills him with dope while he starts recovering.  She decided to keep her pet writer when she realized it was "thee" Paul Sheldon, famous author of her favorite books.   She is in the process of reading his most recent Misery book, in which she dies, when she discovers that she freaks out on Paul, forces him to burn his book Fast Cars, and then makes him write a new novel "Misery's Return".  To say that she is good at getting her way would be an understatement.  She has ways of making him work and of keeping him where she wants him.  He ends up spending 6 months locked in her house during which time he suffers more than any person should, he discovers that besides being a nurse in her past she is also psychopathic and that he is never going to let her go.  He makes many more mistakes which cost him dearly, but in the end he manages to get free.  Whether he is sane any longer is a much bigger question.