Joyland by Stephen King: book review

Joyland by Stephen King. Titan/ Hard Case Crime £7.99

Reviewed by Peter Coleborn

I haven’t read a Stephen King novel in a long time, just short stories and novellas, which I rather enjoy. And to be honest, I’m often deterred by the size of some of his novels – The Dome, for instance. Thus getting my hands on Joyland, at a mere 280 or so pages, should’ve been a delight. Well, was it? In a word: yes!

However, the first 60-80 pages are mostly scene setting, and the story proper doesn’t start until then. That’s when Devin’s character – the narrator – blossoms. That’s when the relationships with his friends and co-workers at Joyland come into their own. That’s when the story of the murdered Linda Gray (killed in the 1960s) really begins to impinge on Devin’s life.

Devin Jones takes a job at Joyland in the summer of 1973. Joyland is a fairground, with rides and stalls and a ghost train, and a fortune-teller who does, in fact, have some psychic abilities. And in the House of Horrors: that’s where the ghost of Linda Gray is sometimes seen. He also encounters another psychic, this time a crippled 12-year old boy called Mike, and his mother Annie.

Devin becomes fixated on the murder of Linda Gray and soon discovers that there are other murdered girls, a connection that the police had missed. Needless to say, the story of Linda Gray becomes entwined with Devin losing his girlfriend and his growing relationship with Mike and, especially, Annie. And it all builds up the expected climax as a tropical storm heads towards Joyland.

Because those early pages were written in such an easy-going, engaging style it soon didn’t matter that they were mainly exposition for the following narrative. In truth they become essential background reading and once your engagement in the story kicks in you, the reader, will be hooked, and drawn into the delights – and horrors – of Joyland.

Although published as part of Titan’s crime line, Joyland could easily be read as a supernatural tale. Stephen King is a past-master at story telling. He’s a bard who is able to build dark and frightening worlds, spinning yarns that net in the audience. A thoroughly satisfying read, however you interpret it.

Joyland by Stephen King

Stephen King’s Joyland is now available from Titan’s Hard Case Crime imprint (£7.99). “Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work in a fairground and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.”

This is a paperback book – with a fabulous cover – but Titan also published Joyland in two limited editions but these sold out pretty quickly, sadly.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

For readers new to The Dark Tower, Stephen King’s The Wind Through the Keyhole is a stand-alone novel, and acts as an introduction to the series. It is a story within a story, which features both the younger and older gunslinger Roland on his quest to find the Dark Tower.

“This Russian Doll of a novel, a story within a story, within a story, visits Mid-World's last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his ka-tet as a ferocious storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt ridden year following his mother's death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape shifter, a ‘skin man,’ Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast's most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime.”

Out in paperback later this month (Hodder £7.99).

Joyland by Stephen King

Hard Case Crime, the award-winning pulp-styled crime novel imprint published by Titan Books, will publish Joyland, a new novel by Stephen King, in June 2013. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement, Joyland is set in the summer of 1973 when college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carnie and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Joyland is a never-previously- published novel.

11.22.63 by Stephen King

“What if you could go back in time and change the course of history? What if the watershed moment you could change was the JFK assassination? 11.22.63, the date that Kennedy was shot – unless… 

Jake Epping, a high school English teacher from Lisbon Falls, Maine, 2011, journeys back to 1958 – to a world of Elvis and JFK and a troubled loner named Lee Harvey Oswald…”

Stephen King’s time travel / alternate-history novel, 11.22.63, is published in a paperback edition next month, available from Hodder (£7.99).

The Wind Through the Keyhole: review

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King. Hodder & Stoughton £19.99

Reviewed by Mike Chinn

The Wind Through the Keyhole – the latest addition to King’s Dark Tower books – fits between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla and is essentially a story within a story within a story. The gunslinger Roland of Gilead and his band have to wait out a starkblast (think an almost instantaneous ice age that lasts a couple of days). To keep their minds off what’s happening beyond their shelter’s stone walls, Roland tells them a tale of his youth: when he and fellow gunslinger Jamie were dispatched to the mining town of Debaria to kill a shapeshifter that’s been slaughtering the locals. Just as they arrive, news comes that an entire ranch has been attacked; all but obliterated. The lone survivor, a boy named Bill Streeter, might be the key to identifying the killer. That night there’s a wind-storm, and to bolster young Bill’s spirits, Roland tells him the story which supplies the book’s title – effectively a fairytale told to Roland as a boy by his mother (and yes, there is a fairy in it; and a dragon – but I’m prepared to overlook that, just this once).

In his Foreword, King says that readers won’t need any previous knowledge of the Dark Tower sequence and Mid-World (no – not Middle Earth … not at all), but newcomers may find the eclectic mix of Western, Horror, Fantasy, Science Fiction and – yes – meta-fiction a tad baffling (if not downright irritating) at times. There are references to a lion by the name of Aslan and an eagle called Garuda; an Arthur and a Maerlyn; whilst the fairy Tim Ross encounters in the title story is pretty clearly Disney’s Tinkerbell gone bad. And although the tale young Roland tells Bill is supposed to be a traditional fable of Mid-World (with widowed mother, evil stepfather, a sinister forest, quest, kindly wizard and a sort of fairy godmother), aspects of the Dark Tower still creep in (such as a villainous tax-collector who signs himself RF/MB; which won’t mean much to anyone not familiar with the author’s universe – but should bring a nod of recognition from regulars).

But don’t let that put you off. I’ve always been in favour of blurring the genre borders – and the Dark Tower series does that in spades. Although I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this to someone unfamiliar with Roland Deschain’s grim quest, it’s still a great read: the 330+ pages fly past with barely a longeur to be found. If anyone can get away with writing a novel that throws in just about every literary genre and sub-genre, it’s King.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Volume 4.5 of Stephen King’s Dark Tower sequence is published in April by Hodder & Stoughton (£19.99).

In his introduction, King numbers it volume four-and-a-half due to it’s position in the Gunslinger’s saga. The Wind Through the Keyhole follows the adventures of Roland Deschain and his band of companions – the ka-tet – as they continue their search for the Dark Tower. The Wind Through the Keyhole is “a story within a story, within yet another. For as Roland is telling his companions the story about himself when he was young, the young Roland is telling another boy a story, too...”

This edition includes some lovely illustrations by Jae Lee. I wish more publishers would similarly embellish their publications.

The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Coming in April 2012: The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King -- A Dark Tower Novel -- published by Hodder & Stoughton (£19.99).  It will also be available as an eBook and an audio-book, read by the author.

"Roland Deschain, Mid-World's last gunslinger and his small band of misfit warriors have crossed the desert following the Path of the Beam, searching for the Dark Tower. Now they have reached a run-down battered ferry. Old Bix, the ancient Ferryman, hasn't had customers for longer than he can remember...

The Wind Through the Keyhole is a story within a story within yet another. For as Roland is telling the story about himself when he was younger, the young Roland in his tale is telling another..."

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

Coming this autumn is the latest from Stephen King. Full Dark, No Stars is a collection of four novellas, an area at which King excels. They are "1922", "Big Driver", "Fair Extension" and " A Good Marriage". Full Dark is published in November by Hodder at £18.99 (and probably as an eBook, too). Expect great things!

Under the Dome by Stephen King

The paperback edition of Stephen King’s massive tome, Under the Dome, is released this week by Hodder at £7.99. This 880-page volume is published with four different covers – it will be interesting to see which is the most successful (assuming fans don’t buy one of each). Luckily, my edition's cover is probably the best of the four alternatives. The story must be familiar to everyone by now: a small Maine town is cut off and separated from the world by the dome of the title. The town’s people come to terms with this and then “the power struggles begin”. It sounds like a larger scale The Mist but without the monsters hammering to get in (I haven't yet read the book so I may be wrong in that aspect).