Rating: 
Summary: Just another great work by the master of horror!
Review: The Regulators was one of the best books I've ever read. I completed it in 4 short days, reading it in the little free time I had. This book is basically a full scale slaughter of a suburban community looked through a child's imagination. It was definitely worth the read, especially for fans of King's other works. It was very similar to other things he had written; very descriptive, exteremely enthralling. I could not put it down. This would also be a great book for a person that has never read King before, introducing him to his basic style. I must admit, this book's predecessor is definitely better. I do not believe this was necessarily a "spin-off" on Desperation, but to see the same characters in this one instead of just their names would have been nice. Overall I give this 5 stars, and I must say the articles and letters and scripts put in throughout the book is an excellent idea.
Rating:
Summary: Some original concepts, but not King's best
Review: As many avid King fans had probably noticed, 'The Regulators' seems to be somehow reflecting of 'Desperation' - it has the same set of characters (more or less), even the same bad guy - all set in a different place. This gives a lot of room for imagination, originality (same story told from a different point of view), and social commentary, Stepgen King style.One of the things I always liked about S.K.'s writing is that he usually writes about things he knows about - whether its small towns in Maine & their people, creepy monsters, etc. In many of his books, he tries making some sort of social commentary, often using the horror as a tool to demonstrate or bring out the social malady he's discussing. In this case, besides raising issues and concerns about western TV culture, he is also trying to connect the issues raised Desperation (God and religious beliefs) to raise the question: is TV our 'God' these days? Unfortunately, the answer given in this book is not as half as interesting or well written out as the question is. You think you know your characters - and suddenly, you don't. So instead of concentrating on the story, I was distracted by small details I THOUGHT I knew, but which were only relevant for Desperation, or visa versa.
Rating: 
Summary: I can't think of a word bad enough to describe this book
Review: This book reminds of someone describing describing a disgusting incident in an emergency room while you are trying to eat. Awful. To give you a clue to some of the imagery...there is one scene where a mentally challenged boy licks a plastic female action figure... I won't go into the details. I wish I could forget! It is a dopey gorefest. I can't believe this is the same author that wrote "Carrie"! If you care anything about yourself don't read this book
Rating: 
Summary: The Regulators
Review: A good book, but Desperation was better. I read Desperation first, and expected it to be similar, but the two books are completely different. The force of evil in both novels is the same, and the characters have the same names but different personalities, and different people survive at the end. The ending is also different, Desperation's is far better. The story involves an autistic boy named Seth who seems to have some special powers. Soon, it becomes apparent that he is infested by a being/power called Tak, which feeds on peoples' "life-force". Tak is using its limited but growing powers to turn a pleasant summer afternoon in this pleasant Ohio suburb into a living nightmare for all its residents. I think the biggest problem with this book is the characters. There are so many of them that it becomes confusing, and that the author doesn't spend much time on character development for any of them. As a result, we really don't get to "know" any of them (except maybe one), which for me is one of the things that makes a Stephen King (but apparently not Bachman) novel good. Still, it's a very amusing (and gory) story. The ending, while not quite the "epic" finish of Desperation, is still good.
Rating: 
Summary: The Regulators is imaginative, but not character driven
Review: Having read everything King has published (as far as I know, and with the exception of Desperation), I can say that The Regulators, while being a fine example of frenetic pace & action in a novel, doesn't pack the punch that King's (and Bachman's for that matter) earlier novels do. It seems to me King likes to explore situations from different points of view, which may explain his fixation with the ''Woman as Protagonist'' theme developed in Gerald's Game, Dolores Claiborne and Rose Madder. While I commend him on his versatility and dedication to providing his readers with an interesting array of characters and plots, a big part of me wishes he would retrace his steps and write a good, old fashioned ghost story like The Shining...Pet Sematary...Christine...and of course (in my opinion) his swan song, It. Added to the wonderful storylines in those novels, they also had very detailed characters with whom you could really empathize - something which was lacking in The Regulators. While I still consider King to be the Mark Twain of the 20th century with his dead-on, perceptive social commentary, I would welcome a return to something as simple as a haunted car or a haunted hotel!
Rating:
Summary: Dreadful Schlock
Review: This novel gets 2 stars instead of 1 out of me only because I thought the beginning pages displayed a certain satisfying suspense, a feeling of impending dread, and I liked the way King captured the atmosphere of suburban American. It doesn't take long for the book to deteriorate though, and it gets bad. I mean, really, REALLY bad. I just came back to reading King after being away from him for a long time, and if "The Regulators" is any indication of the stuff he's churning out now, I think I'll go back to staying away. You might be interested in checking out the sister book to this, "Desperation." It's better by far, but it's still a much flabbier, more undisciplined book than I remember King producing in the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent, but for completists only
Review: Without question, this one doesn't begin to stack up against Desperation. Some new elements fall into place, but nothing too exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Being in a wrong place and a wrong time
Review: Bachman writes better than king. This book is not typical at any rate. Its suppossed to be gory, but the morbid description of it for me was written in sophistication. The element of suspense was well rendered, multiple characterization were very much developed and i can say that his words bring forth a very vivid visual imagery in my head which a well experienced writer can only do. Behind the plot, I can say that the message in this book pertains well to the extent of the human psyche. this brings us to a funny realization that a human's mind has the ability to detach and if one chooses to have its own escape in a crisis situation. However silly some appears- Behind his words a persona made of undriven intentions are created. In short, we came to see of people living in security stripped of their defenses and see how they will react when pushed to extremes.
Rating:
Summary: The Bestselling Companion of Desperation
Review: The Regulators is plain great. This is just one of those stories where you get sucked in and cant get out. I know one reviewer gave this a one star, but don't pay attention. The one star reviewer did mention that this novel had its somewhat perverted parts and it does. I will admit that. This is a Bachman book and is very graphic. Not recommended for younger children.
Now, why do I think The Regulators is great? Because of the same reason as Desperation. It is very exciting in the first few pages. I will give away little as possible, but I will say in the first few pages there is a drive by shooting. From there on the book is a roller coaster ride. The reader wants to know more and more. You just can't stop until you know the next twist of plot.
For those of you who hunger for a good overview before reading a book I shall provide your wish. Seth is autistic. Something has taken him over. He is starting to manifest vans which are eerily like Power Wagons. Poplar Street turns into hell instead of peacefulness. The people on Poplar Street must try to solve and defeat "Seth".
To sum it all up, this is a graphic and gory book that is great. The writing is maybe not as good as other novels he has written, but the plot is great. Obviously, I won't even think to compare it with It or The Shining but still it is King at the top of his game. I encourage you to read Desperation first(I did), because the book will make much more sense. Desperation gives you good information about Tak. One other thing to mention too is the various journal entries and documents King puts in The Regulators. I enjoyed the entries and documents which took up a pretty big portion of the book(maybe 100 pages worth of entries). This was awesome because we were able to see Seth's descent into madness from Audrey's perspective.
Rating:
Summary: Welcome back, your Highness
Review: I think this is one of the best pieces of real pulp horror that Stephen King has ever written. While ohter reviewers cut inot the supposed lack of character development, they are missing the big picture. This book was written to keep you on the edge of your seat, afaraid to turn out the lights when you can finally put the book down. The idea of a virtually indestructible, omnipotent villian has probably been kicked around by most writers of horror fiction, but only King had the balls to try it. And he did a great job, in my opinion. One reviewer even went so far as to say that King didn't know anything about guns when one of his characters claimed that the projectile found in the house didn't have a mark form the firing pin. That was the whole point! The bullet was created by Seth/Tak. They didn't know how a gun worked, just that it killed. That was also why the bullet was shaped like a big cone, as if a child had drawn it. Please, don't nitpick on the book if you don't understand the premise in the first place. Some say that this was far from King's best work, but after such stinkers as Rose Madder and Gerald's Game, it was a great relief that he came back to doing what he does best, scaring the hell out of his audience.
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