Review: Desperation

Desperation by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is the second Stephen King book I've read after Carrie and I really enjoyed it. The 800 odd pages just melted away. The story is, as the title suggests, about desperation. A tiny backwater desert town called Desperation, the desperation of a group of people put in extreme life-threatening circumstances by an apparently pre-ordained set of events, the desperation felt by religious believers as to the nature of God.

In a nutshell, it's a terrifying, well crafted story. Although there is a major element of good versus evil this is portrayed in an unpretentious manner. By this I mean that Stephen King is more about telling a good tale rather than debating the existence of God and acts of God - although these points make the book what it is. Through the group of characters, we gather different perspectives on their lives and therefore different viewpoints on the situation which makes for a vivid and detailed story world.

It's a pretty gruesome, violent story but very compelling. It's easy to be snobby about Stephen King, but really if you want a good yarn then grab one of his books!

Also, if you happen to be driving through the desert and a strange cop tries to stop you then put the pedal to the metal and get the hell out of there! *shudder*



View all my reviews