Given the fact that Stephen King is my favorite writer (with all the King movie banners I use on this site, that's probably not a big surprise), some might imagine it would be hard for me to write an unbiased review of a King novel. Nothing could be further from the truth. I do own all of his books in hardback (over fifty of them!), but that doesn't mean I think every one is a masterpiece. My personal top ten list (in chronological order):

Salem's Lot
The Shining
The Stand
The Dead Zone
Different Seasons (featuring Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption)
Christine
The Talisman
IT
Misery
Black House
(... screw it, let's make it a baker's dozen):
The Dark Tower series (includes all 7 books ... even though the ending blew)
Bag of Bones
The Green Mile

And the bottom five:

The Tommyknockers
Gerald's Game
Dreamcatcher
Cell
From a Buick 8

Yes, you could refer to me as a ... Kingeast? Kingophile? (anything but a cockadoodie "number one fan"), but I can be fair and balanced regarding this man, who is often referred to as "the world's best-selling novelist." A statement that needs classification, but is impressive no matter how one slices it.

MY KING LIBRARY

Having said that ...

King's latest, Duma Key, is a return to form for an author whose last few books have disappointed his most hardcore fans (including me). It tells the tale of Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor from Minnesota, who loses his right arm when a construction crane slams into the cab of his truck. While recovering from this tragic accident, Edgar has memory lapses and fits of rage, his wife of 25 years leaves him, and at the advice of a friend, he relocates to Florida, "the refuge of the newly wed and nearly dead."

Finding Duma Key (or did it find him?), an island 9 miles long and half-a-mile wide, Edgar lands at a gorgeous salmon-colored beach house he christens "Big Pink." A sturdy old structure built on pilings, with its chin jutting out over the ocean. He is eventually befriended by a man called Wireman, who lives down the beach, and is the caretaker of the aging, charming (and often childlike) Elizabeth Eastlake, who has lived on the island all her life.

Taking up (and dusting off) his long-ignored hobbies of sketching and painting as "a hedge against the night," Edgar soon realizes that on Duma Key, his artistic talent has been seriously amped up. Fugues and phantom limb sensations give his work a new power and relevancy - often what he paints on canvas comes to be in real life, and what he "erases," disappears.

The above synopsis makes this book sound like a cross between Bag of Bones and (a King short story called) Word Processor of the Gods. In some ways it is - it also has nods to The Shining, The Stand, IT, and The Dark Tower. This tale not only embraces those others, but also stands proudly on its own.

It would be unthinkable to reveal more ... but I will say the new maturity King brought to Bag of Bones 10 years ago, has blossomed into something quite remarkable. Contrary to popular belief, King's storytelling gifts have often favored the human over the horror. Those only familiar with his work through the movies will not appreciate this statement. Does King excel at writing the monster in the closet? Of course, he does. But he is even better at creating the people who live in the house who have the monster in the closet. Such subtext is often lost in the film versions of his stories, but his Constant Readers know better. Creating empathy for characters before all hell breaks loose has been one of King's trademarks since Carrie, and Duma Key is no exception. In fact, King may never have been so forthright in his descriptions of fatherhood as he is in this long (611 pages), remarkable book.

This is by far King's finest novel in years, and is highly recommended to all. I haven't devoured a book so quickly in a very long time. I'd dare say, you don't even need to be a King fan to enjoy this story.

Is it scary? Of course, it is. But it is also sad, funny, and remarkably touching. One hell of a good read.

Long live the King.

A-

DUMA KEY trailer