Helpful Score: 5
This is a great book.It puts you to think and it makes you ask yourself the question,could this be real?It is simply about a writer having a pen name which he writes under,but shortly after announcing the "death"of his pen name Killing starts to happen.The story is great there is a lot to it like for example when the writer(Tad Beaumont)was small he had surgery and this surgery proved that he had a twin brother!This fact however has a little or alot to do with the story,it depends on how you look at it or read it as the case may be...But the important thing to this is get started with this book because it is really good.The beginning might be a little slow but it is worth the read.I read this book over a year ago and it is still in mine mind,it is so tempting to write a review about it and share its greatness with other readers,sadly I cant remember all the details about the book,but I do know it is good and I would definitely recommend it for new and old readers alike...Enjoy.
AMAZON.COM REVIEW
AMAZON.COM REVIEW
Helpful Score: 3
KING brings split personality to a new high on both mental and physical levels. The plot is entertaining and a real mind bender...
Helpful Score: 3
I think this might be one of my favorite King novels. Extremely origianl and very weird!
Helpful Score: 2
King takes the classic "evil twin" story to a whole new level in this book. It's hefty, but a fast read -- I found myself carrying it everywhere so I could read it in restaurants, check out lines, etc. It's more of a thriller than a straight horror novel, though there are some pretty gross descriptions. Overall, The Dark Half is a great, addictive read.
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of my all time favorite Stephen King books. I have read it countless numbers of times. I'll probably keep pulling it out from time to time to read it again!
Helpful Score: 1
One of steven's best!
Amazon.com
In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write The Regulators.) At the beginning of The Dark Half (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead.
Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled Machine Dreams, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in The Dark Half as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.
Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.
This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the New York Times writes, "Misery (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. The Dark Half is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination." --Fiona Webster--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write The Regulators.) At the beginning of The Dark Half (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead.
Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled Machine Dreams, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in The Dark Half as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.
Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.
This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the New York Times writes, "Misery (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. The Dark Half is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination." --Fiona Webster--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
What a good book. I really enjoyed the read.
Readers will find themselves immersed in a story filled with suspense, delving into the world of the supernatural. Fans of King's work will not be disappointed and will smile wryly as they think of his series of Bachman books . . . . Many consider Stephen King a master of horror. Perhaps the most frightening thing we find when we explore his writing is the dark possibilities that lie within the workings of the human psyche. Sooner or later, we each have to come to grips with our own dark half.
Synopsis: Thad Beaumont is a writer who published novels under the name of "George Stark". The story takes place in the small town of Castle Rock, Maine where Thad, his wife, and twins reside. Sheriff Alan Panghorn ponders the brutal roadside murder of man named Homer Gamache. Thad's prints are found all over Homer. From this point, a tale of terror begins.
a good scare!
excellent reading and typical spellbinding storyline from Stephen King, this ones keeps you on the edge of your sit
Creepy, very-very creepy.....but in that good Stephen King way.
This book was really on the gruesome side, but then we are talking about Stephen King. I prefer some of his books and stories where some of it is left to the imagination - but it sure leaves an impression!!
one of his finest!!
A very scary and gripping read, Stephen King Style.
A great book for Stephen King fans.
This book typifies the essential Stephen King. Very much like 'The Secret Window', this story has many things that surprise you. As always, Mr. King has done it once again. Thanks for the good read, Mr. King!
Steven King at his best. Scarry!!!
Stephen King is one of my favorite "horror" authors and this book didn't disappoint at all. It was full of suspense and even though I thought I had figured out what was happening, I still had my doubts. Very well written and totally S. King at his scary best.
A very good book.
Based in a small town in Maine. About a writer whose summer vacation develops into a nightmare.
Book Description
Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.
Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.
King is the master of suspense/horror and in the Dark Half he takes you into one man's dark side. George Stark is the pseudonym of the writer Thad Beaumont. Under this alias he becomes a best seller novelist and in the height of success he kills of his alter ego to pursue fame under his own name,Thad Beaumont. However, George Stark has a vast number of followers who love the violent crime novels. But even after a mock burial of the highly successful author and the tombstone epitaph "Not a Very Nice Guy" has a deeper meaning as Thad soon realizes. The dreams come, then the nightmares and then the vicious, savage onslaught of homicidal acts to those who where close to the former George Stark unfold with a strong connection and even suspicion that points to Thad Beaumont. Thad Beaumont may have once believed that George Stark was running out of things to say, but he's going to find out just how wrong he is...
When Thad Beaumont wakes to the nightmare of Georgre Stark, he hears birds, thousands of them, all chirping and twittering at the same time, and with these sounds comes a presentiment full of memory and forboding: The sparrows are flying again. Thad Beumont is a writer, and for a dozen years he secretly published novels under the name of "George Stark" because he was no longer able to write under his own name...
One of my favorite King books.
one of my favorites from Stephen King, the story of an author whose alter ego comes to terrifying life..
Great read
I haven't read Stephen King in years and thought I'd pick up a book or two and see what he was up to.
Unfortunately, I don't enjoy a book with unneccessary cursing and had to pass on this one only after a few pages.
Unfortunately, I don't enjoy a book with unneccessary cursing and had to pass on this one only after a few pages.
I am a King fan, but did not enjoy this book. It is born of a thin premise and never gets far. Someone said that it feels like a short story that's been stretched too long and I agree.
The book was well written and an easy read but I just did not like this book.
My wife read this quite some time ago, and doesn't remember much about it. Here is the synopsis from the back cover of the book:
"Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?"
"Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?"
Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.
He'd like to say he has nothing to with the series of monstrous muders murders that keep coming closer to his home.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demandng total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloddy fingerprints?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A story that roars forward on all 12 Cylinders and doesn't let up!"
-Newsday
"A chiller... Few writers are better than Stephen King at giving readers what they want."
-The New York Times Book Review
He'd like to say he has nothing to with the series of monstrous muders murders that keep coming closer to his home.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demandng total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloddy fingerprints?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"A story that roars forward on all 12 Cylinders and doesn't let up!"
-Newsday
"A chiller... Few writers are better than Stephen King at giving readers what they want."
-The New York Times Book Review
Thad Beaumont would like to say he's innocent, that he had nothing to do with the murders that keep coming closer to his home, that his twisted imagination has produced nothing more than best-selling novels. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it, and signs his crimes with Thad's own bloody fingerprints?
-from back cover
-from back cover
Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.
He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.
But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?
One of many in my collection of Stephen King books. All are up for trade. Check out the rest.
