Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 7/19/2020 + 1222 more book reviews

What can I say, Stephen King can write and he knows how to tell one hell of a story. I've been a fan of his since reading Carrie back in the 70s. This one has a lot of recurring themes from King including a coming-of-age story that heads toward bleakness. The protagonist Jamie Morton lives in the small town of Harlow, Maine. When he was six years old, he is playing with his toy soldiers in the dirt outside his house when a shadow blocks out the sun. This shadow was made by the new Reverend in town, Charles Jacob who becomes Jamie's shadow throughout his life. When Jamie was young, his older brother, Con, loses his voice from a run-in with a ski pole and the Reverend is able to cure him using a small electrical charge. Charles later tells Jamie that the cure was really psychosomatic and that Con actually cured himself. But was that really the case? Then after a few years, the Reverend loses his faith when his wife and child are killed in a car crash. Later in his life, Jamie becomes a rock musician and is addicted to heroin. He happens upon the Reverend at a fair in Oklahoma and Charles is able to cure him of his addiction using some sort of electricity. Evidently the former Reverend has harnessed a power and is able to cure people but with some lingering afteraffects. He uses this to make money as an evangelist but his ultimate goal is something much bleaker and he must use Jamie to assist him.

In the story, King uses some devices created by other horror authors including Robert Bloch and H.P. Lovecraft. One of these is the supposed forbidden book, De Vermis Mysteriis (Mysteries of the Worm) which provides Charles with some of his insights into life and death. This book is actually a creation of Bloch's and was incorporated by Lovecraft into the Cthulhu Mythos.

The novel also had some of its roots in Frankenstein and the creepy short story, The Monkey's Paw. But King as usual leaves you speechless at the end with a very twisted and horrific climax to the story. I have read a great part of King's output but still have some to get to including his Bill Hodges trilogy which I hope to read soon.

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