survival – Tony's Horror Corner

Review Time: “In The Tall Grass”

Stephen King collaborated with his oldest son Joe Hillstrom King (Joe Hill) to create the terrifying novella, “In The Tall Grass.” Check out my review for the soon-to-be Netflix movie.

Originally released in the June/July and August 2012 issues of Esquire magazine, “In The Tall Grass” can now only be acquired as an e-book. If you get the opportunity to acquire this novella or even just read it, I highly recommend you do it.

Cal and his sister Becky are travelling across country to move Becky into their aunt and uncle’s house. During their drive, on a desolate road in Kansas, Cal and Becky hear cries for help coming from a tall grass field on the side of the road.

They park at a seemingly abandoned church, The Black Stone Church of the Redeemer. All the cars in the lot are covered in dust; looking like they’ve been there for ages. Cal and Becky now hear cries from a little boy named Tobin, and his mother. They try leading the source of the voices toward them, out of the grass.

Eventually the siblings go into the grass in search of the lost mother and son. They get separated and insanity ensues. They cannot find their way out, or to each other, no matter what they do. There are moments when King describes the siblings jumping and yelling to find each other, but the landscape moves around them, making it impossible.

Once in the grass, King fans immediately think of his short story “Children of the Corn.” The tall grass and tall corn are where the similarities stop though. This is a much more brutal and disturbing story that had a couple scenes, one particularly, that made my jaw drop.

I want to go deeper into this; the gruesome scenes the overall sense of desperation, distress, claustrophobia and hopelessness… but I don’t want to spoil the story. It is very good and quite terrifying. I am really interested to see how Netflix goes about adapting it.

Speaking of that: Vincenzo Natali will write and direct the film which has landed stars Patrick Wilson and James Marsden. Laysla De Oliveira, Will Buie Jr., Avery Whitted, Rachel Wilson and Harrison Gilbertson have also joined the cast of “In The Tall Grass.” It is unannounced, but its very possible that Gilbertson and Oliveira will play Cal and Becky. Buie Jr. is set to play Tobin and Rachel Wilson will play his mother.

Anyway, I highly recommend you get your hands on this thriller as soon as you can, it’s worth it. Hopefully the movie doesn’t cut too much of the gruesome parts out… they are just insane.

5 out of 5

Review Time: “Storm of the Century”

Stephen King’s screenplay “Storm of the Century” was my 71st and final book by the master of the macabre. It’s a bittersweet feeling, but with a few short stories remaining and “Elevation” coming late October, I’m not done yet! Anyway, check out my review for “Storm of the Century.”

Released in 1999, Stephen King wrote the “Storm of the Century” screenplay for a television movie. The film was released in three parts, totaling over four hours of air time. The book was interesting for sure, but I felt like the screenplay style hindered what it could have been. The film was exactly as you’d expect after reading the book.

The residents of Little Tall Island off the coast of Maine (of course) are battening down the hatches and preparing for what the news is referring to as the storm of the century (go figure). While this is happening, a mysterious man shows up and kills an innocent old woman.

Side note: You may recognize Little Tall Island. It was the setting for “Dolores Claiborne” and the short story “Home Delivery.” Dolores is mentioned a couple times by the residents in “Storm of the Century.”

Anyway, this mysterious man is Andre Linoge. He ends up being like a lame version of everyone’s favorite King baddy: Randall Flagg. Linoge gets himself arrested by island constable, and the main character of the story, Mike Anderson.

Anderson is in charge of keeping the citizens calm and making sure everyone is safe during this storm, but now he must also deal with a murderous stranger. The storm escalates to its title and all the residents of Little Tall Island end up taking refuge in the town hall building. Meanwhile Mike and a few others stand guard outside of the island’s one cell where Linoge is being held.

From his cell, Linoge uses some sort of psychic abilities and sorcery to cause chaos. I wont go much further into details to avoid spoilers, but some of the events Linoge causes are quite intense, especially the ultimatum at the end.

“This is a cash-and-carry world, pay as you go. Sometimes you only have to pay a little, but mostly it’s a lot. And once in a while it’s all you have. ” – Mike Anderson

This review is shorter because the book itself wasn’t long. The screenplay, coming in at 376 pages, is hard to go over without spoiling and it read much faster than that page count suggests. You can watch the movie and honestly probably enjoy it more. Like I said before, this story isn’t bad, and the end is even a little heartbreaking, but I would have liked it much more if it were in novel form.

Overall, “Storm of the Century” wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t King’s best work.

3 out of 5

Review Time: “Hearts in Atlantis”

My 70th Stephen King book, “Hearts in Atlantis,” was incredible. Check out my review for this interconnected collection about the Vietnam generation.

“Hearts in Atlantis” was released in September, 1999 but King had this 522-page collection of two novellas and three short stories finished in December 1998, before his near-fatal car accident in June of 1999. Sales and reception of the collection were probably hindered by this, but the collection is still a thing of beauty.

This is King’s deep dive into the generation involved with the Vietnam War. King repeatedly refers to this generation, and America during this time period, as the lost city of Atlantis. In one passage, King even refers to the war itself as “the apocalyptic continent drowner.”

These stories span from 1960 to 1999 and are all connected by feel, theme, and recurring characters. The first two stories have a feel of a brewing storm and impending doom while the last three all seem to deal with the after-effects of the storm (flood). They are all beautifully written; it is truly some of King’s best work.

“Low Men in Yellow Coats”

1960: They had a stick sharpened at both ends.

The first story in the collection is a beautiful coming of age tale, somewhat similar in feel to King’s novella “The Body.” Here King introduces the readers to all the main characters you will encounter later. Bobby Garfield, Carol Gerber, John Sullivan (Sully-John), William (Willie) Shearman and Ted Brautigan.

Bobby is the main character in this one. He lives with his mother and pals around with his best friends, Carol and Sully-John. An older gentleman, Ted, moves into the apartment above Bobby’s. Ted and Bobby soon become unlikely friends and Ted hires Bobby to read him the paper and keep a lookout for Low Men in yellow coats, as well as a few other signs.

We learn Ted is a “breaker” and the Low Men are after him because he can help destroy the beams supporting the dark tower, the nexus of the universe. Bobby, upon learning all of this, was obviously confused. All of that makes more sense if you’ve read “The Dark Tower” series.

If you have already read “The Dark Tower” series, then Ted and all his little references are incredible pleasing. If you haven’t, well, read that series. That’s all I’ll say because it is amazing.

Anyway, Bobby comes to love Ted, learn from Ted, and see Ted as a father figure. When Ted must leave toward the end of the novella, Bobby doesn’t take it well. The last few pages, watching Bobby turn from a sweet young boy to an angry teen, are heartbreaking.

“You had to keep your nose to the grindstone and your shoulder to the wheel. Life wasn’t easy, and life wasn’t fair.” – Bobby Garfield.

There’s a lot more to this novella, but I don’t want to spoil too much for you and there are more stories to get to!

“Hearts in Atlantis”

1966: Man, we just couldn’t stop laughing.

The titular story in the collection. This one almost felt like a non-fiction story. Pete Riley is the lead here and we get to journey through freshman year at the University of Maine during the beginnings of the Vietnam conflict through his perspective.

Pete makes many friends on his hall, one of whom, Ronnie Malenfant appears in the following two stories as well. Another is Carol Gerber. Yep, the same Carol Gerber. Carol and Pete get pretty chummy if you know what I mean, but she leaves school for good after Thanksgiving break to protest the Vietnam War.

“Hearts are tough. Most times they don’t break. Most times they only bend.” – Carol Gerber.

Ronnie gets Pete’s entire freshman dorm hall enamored with the card game Hearts. The freshman are so obsessed with “chasing the bitch” that over half of them move dorms, or flunk out. This becomes problematic and much more serious once the reality of being drafted hits the boys.

Toward the end of the semester, Pete and his best friend Skip plead to their teachers for extra opportunities or make-up tests to bring their grades up. Their pleas work and both boys pass their freshman year and successfully avoid the war.

“Years later I realized that for many of the instructors it was a moral issue rather than an academic one: they didn’t want to read their ex-students’ names in a casualty list and have to wonder if they had been partially responsible; that the difference between a D and a C-minus had also been the difference between a kid who could see and hear and one sitting senseless in a V.A. hospital somewhere.” – Pete Riley

Throughout the novella, King emphasizes the feeling of impending doom that is the escalating crisis in Vietnam. We see Pete fall in love, and lose her to protests. We see Pete make friends, and lose them to Hearts. We see Pete start to fail, revitalize his schooling, and then throw it all away to protest the war himself.

King leaves us with conflicting feelings of empowerment and dread. “Hearts in Atlantis” is a beautiful novella and King utilized the realism and non-fiction feel to drive home the Atlantis metaphor.

“Time goes by, Atlantis sinks deeper and deeper into the ocean, and you have a tendency to romanticize.” – Pete Riley

Both, “Low Men in Yellow Coats” and “Hearts in Atlantis” deal with the youth learning the world is bigger than what they thought. The next three stories deal with how that world is not a nice place.

“Blind Willie”

1983: Godbless us every one.

“Blind Willie” follows a day in the life of Willie Shearman, yep the Willie I mentioned from “Low Men in Yellow Coats.” Willie leaves home every morning, goes to an office building where he writes notes apologizing to Carol Gerber (yeah her again) for helping his friend beat her up when they were kids. After this is done, Willie dresses as a blind homeless man and panhandles for money.

Willie is a Vietnam War vet. He fought alongside Sully-John (yep, same guy) and Ronnie Malenfant. He was sent home after being partially blinded by a flash-bang grenade and carrying a seriously wounded Sully-John to safety.

Willie is not actually blind, only pretends to be when he panhandles. He has to pay off a cop who isn’t convinced of his ploy.

This was the weakest story in the collection, but it was still good and dealt with heavy themes guilt and contrition.

“Why We’re in Vietnam”

1999: When someone dies, you think about the past.

This story follows Sully-John in his post-war days. After being wounded and saved by Willie, Sully starts to see the ghost of a Vietnamese woman whom Ronnie had killed, seemingly for no reason.

Years later, Sully is attending the funeral of one of his fellow soldiers and reminisces with his old Commanding Officer. They discuss how everyone who came home is falling apart (drowning), dying too early and selling out.

After the funeral, while stuck in traffic on his way home, Sully spots a woman who looks like Carol Gerber. Sully dated Carol before college and had been seeing her photos in the news at anti-war protests. One article in particular mentioned a house she was in had burned down.

Sully realizes the woman is not Carol and random objects begin falling from the sky, crushing cars and killing people. He gets hit by a baseball glove… his old friend Bobby Garfield’s baseball glove.

In the final pages, I won’t say how, but King tears our heart out.

“Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling”

1999: Come on, you bastard, come on home.

The final story in the collection, the epilogue of sorts. Bobby Garfield has returned home for a funeral.

Bobby and his mother left their hometown shortly after Ted did. In the years that followed, Bobby was troubled and a problem child. He eventually cleaned himself up, and that is where we see him now.

While home, he revisits areas around the town, churning up old childhood memories. Bobby is sitting on a park bench when Carol comes up to him. Bobby is shocked because he had presumed Carol was dead after reading about her protests in the paper.

Throughout their conversation, Bobby reveals he received a package from Ted. The package contained his baseball glove and a message telling him to go home.

This was a mini reunion and slightly heartwarming, while at the same time very sad. The few remaining survivors of Atlantis. King brought everything full-circle… as he tends to do.

Overall I thought this collection was incredible. King absolutely crushed it. These stories were beautiful, heartwarming, heartbreaking, and impactful.

I hope I didn’t give too much away in my review, and I hope, if you’re confused or thought some things were too vague, then you’ll grab yourself a copy. I highly recommend you check it out.

5 out of 5.

Review Time: “Rose Madder”

I finished my 64th Stephen King novel, “Rose Madder,” and it was surprisingly very good. Check out my review below:

Shocking, disturbing and empowering. Those are the first three words I think of after reading “Rose Madder.”

Released in 1995, this 420-page novel is about Rose Daniels and her efforts to restart her life after running away from her extremely abusive husband, Norman Daniels.

Stephen King wrote a surprisingly real novel here, one that definitely hits your feels, and really makes you understand Rosie’s plight. The poor woman was beaten so much and then finally one day she just says, “I’ve had enough.”

King writes entire sections of this novel from the perspective of Norman and oh my god are these creepy. Seriously disturbing and unsettling.

There are also parts where we get some views of another world and some wacky things and even some Dark Tower nods, which is always fun.

Below is a slightly spoilery synopsis, so beware.

Rose leaves the only home she has known since marrying Norman, steals his debit card, and takes a bus as far as it will take her. She finds solace in a battered woman’s home where she makes many new friends and gets a job as a maid at a hotel.

One day she walks into an antique shop to sell her wedding ring and ends up trading it for a painting that really caught her eye. This painting ends up being a doorway of sorts… I’ll get there in a minute. Another store patron offers her a job as an audio book reader.

She moves into her own apartment, turns into a very successful audio book voice and starts dating Bill, the man who ran the antique shop. Rosie has totally turned her life around and the story is truly uplifting. That is, until we read Norman’s perspective.

Whole sections of the novel are written in italics and from Norman’s perspective. These parts are extremely disturbing and unsettling.

Norman is on the hunt. He is very angry that his docile wife left him and stole money from him to do it. Norman is a detective, so he puts his skills to the task of finding Rose. He is a sick and twisted individual, but he is smart… scary smart.

Norman literally kills his way to Rose. he takes his time, finds out where she is, and strikes. King writes a very intense and heart pounding fight to the finish. It’s a serious page turner.

After thwarting Norman, Rosie and Bill become married, have a daughter and live a happy life. One of the rare happy endings for a King novel, but the flow of the story called for it.

The painting! How could I forget about the painting! So, remember way back 6 paragraphs ago when I mentioned the painting being a doorway? This was a very cool aspect to this novel, an added little wrinkle you could say.

Rose one night discovers this painting is a doorway. She walks through and finds herself in another world. This act is very reminiscent of some events in The Dark Tower series. Here, Rose saves a baby from a Bull in a maze. A bit like the Greek mythological Minotaur.

The bull and painting come into play with Norman later, but I don’t want to spoil that for you… it is crazy!

Anyway, read this novel. I went into it not really knowing what to expect and I think that added to my surprise. It was shockingly amazing, and I highly recommend it.

5 out of 5

“The Tommyknockers” and “The Stand” Join the List of Upcoming Stephen King Adaptations

“The Tommyknockers” and “The Stand” are set to hit theaters and TV screens in the coming years, exciting King fans everywhere.

After the announcement that King’s narrative poem “The Bone Church” was going to be a TV show, news of more adaptations were quiet. Enter James Wan, Roy Lee, Larry Sanitsky, Josh Boone and CBS.

On March 29, Wan and Lee announced they were teaming up with Sanitsky to create a movie adaptation for Stephen King’s novel, “The Tommyknockers.”

“The Tommyknockers” is a 563 page novel released in 1987 about a woman who finds a spaceship buried in her backyard. Through the process of trying to unearth the UFO, an unseen gas is emitted and begins to possess and change the inhabitants of Haven, Maine.

The novel has heavy themes surrounding addiction and often feels disorganized. King said he wrote the novel with bloody tissues hanging from his nose due to too much cocaine use.

I enjoyed it though, in all its jumbled weirdness. It was a fun, unique and overall a great novel that also carried heavy themes of redemption. I gave it a 4 out of 5 and have it ranked 46 out of 63.

James Wan, known for his work on “The Conjuring” films, and Roy Lee who helped produce the 2017 adaptation of Stephen King’s “IT,” have joined Larry Sanitsky who worked on the first adaptation of “The Tommyknockers” which hit TV screens everywhere in 1993. The trio plan to turn the novel into a movie.

The first attempt at an adaptation was hindered by the television platform. Hopefully with Sanitsky’s past experience with “The Tommyknockers” material, Wan’s success in the horror genre, and Lee’s success with King’s material, the trio can give us the worthy adaptation “The Tommyknockers” deserves.

In other, bigger news (yes, bigger), another, much more important King novel, is also being adapted.

One day after the “Tommyknockers” announcement, word of a new adaptation for King’s epic novel “The Stand” hit constant readers in the face.

OMG WHO’S PUMPED?!?! I KNOW I AM!!!

“The Stand” was reportedly picked up by CBS’s streaming service, All Access, for a 10-hour series. Josh Boone, whose past work includes “The Fault in Our Stars” and the upcoming X-Men horror, “The New Mutants,” has been attached to the project since 2014, and is still slated to direct the series.

Stephen King first released “The Stand” in 1978 and the novel tallied in at 823 pages. In 1990 he released an uncut edition which was 1152 pages long. I haven’t read the original, I only read the uncut edition, and it is PHENOMENAL. 5 out of 5, and lands at number 3 in my rankings.

“The Stand” is about a super-flu called Captain Tripps that wipes out almost the entire world population. The novel focuses on the epic battle between good vs evil and how their forces gather and then meet in a wild final showdown.

“The Stand” is where we are introduced to one of the most, if not THE most famous King villain: Randall Flagg.

The novel is epic and the original 1994 TV series directed by Mick Garris, starring Molly Ringwald and Gary Sinise, came in at just over six hours and didn’t do the novel justice whatsoever. The series wasn’t horrible by any means, but it wasn’t good either.

Hopefully Boone does better, and I think with four more hours to work with, better technology and most likely a bigger budget; things should definitely go better this time around. *Fingers Crossed*

So, to recap: read “The Tommyknockers” and “The Stand” BEFORE the adaptations release. They are both great novels, especially “The Stand.” You won’t regret it, and remember: The book is almost always better than the movie!

Stay tuned for updates, and be sure to follow for more news and reviews!

Review Time: “’Salem’s Lot”

I reread Stephen King’s second novel, “’Salem’s Lot,” and I am very glad I did. Here’s my review of my second trip to the Lot:

Talk about a creepy novel. I read “’Salem’s Lot” for the first time four years ago. At the time, it was my 4^thKing novel. I am on #64 (“Rose Madder”) now, so yeah, it was time to reread King’s classic Vampire tale and wow, am I glad I did.

“’Salem’s Lot” was the second novel King ever published. Released in 1975, this chilling 439 page novel tells the story of writer Ben Mears returning to his childhood hometown, Jerusalem’s Lot, looking for inspiration for his next novel.

While there, he learns two strangers have purchased the haunted Marsten House overlooking the town. Strange things start to happen around the Lot; dogs hang from funeral fences, people get sick and others go missing.

Ben falls in love with Susan Norton, befriends a Doctor: Jimmy Cody, a teacher: Matt Burke, a priest: Father Donald Callahan, and a young boy: Mark Petrie. Together they witness the destruction of their little Maine town and decide to fight back.

As usual, King’s characters are superb. Ben Mears is an excellent protagonist, and the amazing antagonist combo of Barlow and Straker are cunning and chilling.

Susan is a strong character although if King rewrote this book today, I’m sure he would do a better job making readers feel attached to her.

Matt Burke is possibly one of the most underrated and underappreciated characters King has ever written.

Dr. Jimmy Cody turns into a very likable and strong character, but King waited until over halfway through to bring Cody to the novel’s center.

Callahan is awesome. He’s a priest at the local Catholic Church in the Lot, and he ends up being a very brave and awesome character. *Spoiler* Callahan also makes an appearance in another King series. *End Spoiler*

Mark Petrie is a great character too. King has shown an uncanny ability to write strong younger characters, and Mark was truly the first of many.

King wrote an excellent Vampire tale here, and the slow burn he applies to readers throughout the novel’s entirety is incredible.

This is probably one of King’s scariest novels to date just by pure creepiness and suspense. You’ll be rocking goosebumps the whole time reading it.

The way King makes his constant readers feel like they are citizens of the town is amazing. He writes from the perspective of the entire Lot at times, giving quick glimpses into everyone’s lives; the good, the bad, the ugly, the innocent, and the sinister.

“’Salem’s Lot” has been adapted into two, three-hour TV movies. One in 1979 and another in 2004. Neither do the book justice (as expected), but they are both worth watching for different reasons.

The 1979 “’Salem’s Lot” was a very creepy film, a great horror movie itself, but overall a poor adaptation of the novel. The movie eliminated a lot of the characters and changed Matt’s name to Jason *(this pisses me off a lot more than it should, but COME ON why do that?? What is the reasoning for that??)*… sorry, rant over.

Anyway, the movie also turned Barlow into some weird, bald, blue creature which is just… wrong… creepy… but wrong. This movie gave us an awful Callahan which was lame too.

Overall the 1979 movie was creepy and definitely captured the atmosphere of the book, but the changes left me disappointed, so I give it a 6 out of 10.

The 2004 “’Salem’s Lot” stuck to the book a lot better than the original. Rob Lowe was an excellent Ben Mears in appearance only, and this movie actually kept Matt’s name (hallelujah). They did, however, change the beginning and ending which both weren’t great in the movie but were in the book (surprise surprise), so why change it you know?

We got a much better, more true Barlow and Callahan in the 2004 movie, but it was actually pretty boring at times and I never felt bored reading the novel, so there was definitely a disconnect somewhere. Overall it was a decent adaptation but a cheesy and boring film so I gave it a 6 out of 10 also.

Anyway, back to the important matter here; the incredible novel:

I absolutely loved King’s take on vampires and the slow burn was the perfect way to write it. He even wrote prequel and sequel short stories to “’Salem’s Lot” in his 1977 collection of short stories, “Night Shift.” “Jerusalem’s Lot” tells the tale of the Lot’s haunted past while “One for the Road” tells readers a story only a few months after the events of “’Salem’s Lot.”

I have “’Salem’s Lot” ranked 7^th in my Stephen King rankings, and the reread only solidified that position. This is truly a masterpiece and I highly recommend everyone check it out.

5 out of 5

Review Time: “Dolores Claiborne”

I finished my 63rd Stephen King novel in only three days. Here is my review for the beautiful testimonial novel “Dolores Claiborne:”

“A person can always find something to be grateful for, no matter how dark things get.” – Dolores Claiborne.

Dolores Claiborne lives on Little Tall Island in Maine with her husband Joe and three children, Selena, Joe Jr. and Pete. Dolores is a housemaid and caretaker for the wealthy Vera Donovan.

Dolores has worked for Vera for a long time, but at the start of the novel, we learn Vera has fallen down the steps of her home and died. Dolores has been accused of murder.

This 305-page novel released in 1992, takes place mostly in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s with some bits in the 1990’s.

The novel was adapted into a film in 1995 starring Kathy Bates as Dolores. Kathy also portrayed another strong (yet psycho) woman in the adaptation of King’s novel “Misery.”

The film was very good. There were some major differences from the novel, but nothing that took away from the overall story.

Kathy bates was a PERFECT Dolores Claiborne. I love Kathy in everything she does, and both King adaptations I’ve seen her in, she has absolutely nailed. Jennifer Jason Leigh played adult Selena and she did a great job too.

Overall the movie was good and gives readers a nice visual for the novel. I’d recommend checking it out. (After you read the book though!)

Back to the novel:

“Dolores Claiborne” is written like a testimony. Dolores Claiborne’s testimony to prove her innocence. The first 301 pages are written in what almost feels like one breath. No chapters and no real pauses or stopping points. Its Dolores talking, and members of the Little Tall Police Department listening and recording.

The last four pages are clippings from newspapers describing events as an epilogue to Dolores’s story.

The narration may seem weird or almost boring, and it did take me a few pages to get into it, but I quickly came to appreciate it. I mean REALLY appreciate it. King was able to write his usual vivid descriptions and amazing characters but all through Dolores.

Not only were the descriptions and characters amazing, but the story was incredible as well.

!!!!!SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!

The testimony is split into thirds. The first third is about Dolores’s time taking care of Vera, who at this point is an old woman that frequently soils herself and has horrible nightmares and visions of dust bunnies preparing to attack her.

The second third is about Dolores’s life with her abusive, selfish, drunk husband Joe St. George. In this section of the testimony, Dolores confesses and describes how she killed him.

Dolores Claiborne is a certified badass.

She grew up fighting and working hard for everything. She married Joe straight out of high school and had three children with him. After marriage she learned Joe wasn’t the pretty-boy she had thought.

One night, Joe hit Dolores across the back extra hard and she decided she’d had enough of that and broke a creamer jar over his head… Joe never hit her again.

The hitting stopped, but Joe began to manipulate their daughter Selena and started to force himself on her. Dolores finally saw the signs just before it was too late and again stood up to Joe and got him to stop.

Joe went behind Dolores’s back and took the money from the college accounts of all three children and transferred it to an account in his name only. Dolores learned of his thievery and decided she’d had enough of Joe St. George… period.

“Sometimes, an accident can be an unhappy woman’s best friend.” – Vera Donovan

She plotted to kill him and kill him she did. Her plan occurred and succeeded on July 20^th, 1963, the night of the full solar eclipse. The same eclipse another King character experiences on her father’s lap in the 1991 novel “Gerald’s Game.”

“Gerald’s Game” is another great and disturbing novel with a strong female lead. It was adapted into a very good movie on Netflix in 2017 by director Mike Flanagan. Flanagan recently signed on to direct the film adaptation of “Doctor Sleep,” King’s sequel to “The Shining.”

Sorry, I got side-tracked again, back to Dolores:

Dolores has visions of this character, this little girl named Jessie, during the eclipse. King masterfully and very subtly ties in the two novels together through overlapping themes and the eclipse.

After the death of Joe, Dolores is freed, but she loses the love and trust of her daughter.

In the last third of the novel, Dolores tells the story of the day Vera died and how she was pegged as a murderer even though she was innocent. The similarities between Vera and Dolores and the secrets each has lived with add some nice little twists during the novel’s conclusion.

The novel was short and easy to read but beautiful. Like I said earlier, Dolores Claiborne is a certified badass. King knows how to write strong female characters and showed it here.

I actually really enjoyed the testimonial narration and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this novel. I highly recommend you check it out.

“In the end, it’s the bitches of the world who abide… and as for the dust bunnies: frig ya!” – Dolores Claiborne.

4 out of 5

Review Time: “Cell”

“Cell” was my 62nd Stephen King novel. It was quick and pretty interesting but didn’t have enough to make it great for me.

A signal known as The Pulse is released through all cellphones into the brains of everyone who uses them. This signal drives the victims insane, making them primal.

“Cell” was released in 2006. This 350-page novel is King’s unique twist on zombies. As usual, King weaves in a very intriguing story with some incredible characters as well as an extremely creepy villain, Raggedy Man.

This novel had a very fun, very exciting start. Lots of gore, lots of action, lots of suspense.

The middle of “Cell” was a bit dry for me. It had a lot of explanations that played in later, but the actual events flew by almost too quickly. King, usually a very descriptive writer, decided to give an almost synopsis-like depiction of the characters journey from place to place.

The main character and main protagonist, Clay Riddell, a striving comic artist, was leaving a meeting in Boston where his artwork for a comic called “The Dark Wanderer” (sound familiar?) was just purchased, when The Pulse happened.

Clay does not own a cellphone. He makes friends and quickly gets out of Boston and heads north in search of his son.

Clay is easy to love. He is humorous, smart, and determined. The friends he makes along the way are great too. Specifically, Jordan. Like I said, King is great with characters.

“Cell” had plenty of moments where King would slow it down and spend some time in one area, and those moments were always awesome. Gaiten Academy, where we meet Jordan, being a personal highlight for me.

Jordan is a loyal and extremely smart young boy attending Gaiten Academy. He also didn’t own a cellphone but is a computer genius of sorts. Jordan’s character quickly became a favorite of mine due to his strength, courage, and brains. His theories on the phone crazies prove to be very useful and important.

Gaiten is also where we first see the creepy torn up leader of the phone crazies: Raggedy Man.

King does what everyone knows he’s good at: describing someone who will haunt you. Raggedy Man is that someone. He is a phone crazy but seems more aware. His physical description alone is creepy as hell, but some of his actions really made his scenes scary.

The end though… WOW. King packed a HUGE punch. The whole Kashwak scene was just INSANE! Talk about going out with a bang. The last few pages could have been done differently, but overall, I actually sort of liked the cliff-hanger.

“Cell” was adapted into a movie, starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, released in 2016. I watched it shortly after finishing the novel…

I wasted 97 minutes of my life.

Within the first five minutes of the film I was already angered. Changing small details that didn’t need to be changed, the effects were poor for a 21^st century movie, and the acting was Cheetoh’s level cheesy.

Don’t waste your time on the movie but do read the book. The book is at least cool.

“Cell” was pretty good, it just wasn’t great. I talked to a few people who follow my Stephen King Instagram page and discussed my issues. The last 100 pages or so made it better for me.

It felt like “The Stand’s” little cousin, but not nearly as good. There were a few “Dark Tower” nods that made me smile but the novel probably could have used another 100 pages and it would have been great.