Rating: 
Summary: Intelligent Pulp Fiction
Review: Desperation is pulp fiction, entertaining and fast-paced withhorror thrills that appeal to genre fans. But the book also managesto be an intelligent meditation on God's holiness, evil, the nature of suffering, etc...To me, this proves King's brilliance - what other writer can use the sacred to disturb and unsettle a secular culture like ours? For many people in our secular culture, the existence of the Chrisian God and the idea that we may be accountable to him are terrifying prospects. Deep down, I think we all know that the our present secular world view does not adequately describe the world, and that something is out there that reserves the right to judge us. Scaring people with evil is old hat. King now terrifies with holiness. Bravo, Stephen King! I give this book 4 stars; for a more serious, "literary" exposition on these same themes from King, read Green Mile.
Rating: 
Summary: can tah, CAN TAK..........small god, big god
Review: I began this book thinking it was a crazy-cop psycho-killer, gore-fest, murder-hungry book. I was soooo WRONG. It is much more than that, it is a religious story about the powers of evil and GOD. God is cruel, but John 4/8: God is love. The main charactrs are loveable, hateable, worthy human beings who pull together in a hurry to survive. Come visit the lonliest highway on earth, the small mining town of Desperation, nevada, come visit the condemed theatre that becomes a battle ground for good and evil, then visit the China Pit filled with human Bones. Desperation isn't just atown, it is a state of mind. TAK!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor showing for King in Desperation
Review: Definately not his best work. If your a fan of Stephen King you may enjoy his very untraditional charcters in this book. Definately a change (but not a positive one) for Stephen King. If you've never read King don't pick this book, instead try "The Stand." Desperation read as a desperate attempt by King to simply complete a new book.
Rating: 
Summary: At times chilling, at times predictable...
Review: This was my second King novel, and the contrast between the two is astronomical. My first was The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and I found the storyline so compelling that I read the novel in one sitting, unable to put it down. However, I found Desperation much more difficult to become engrossed in. One of the reasons is evident from first picking the book up--it's very long. Another reason is that the storyline becomes rather disjointed. First, the length. I will gladly make a substantial time commitment to a book, but I expect a lot in return. In this case, I'm not convinced it was worth it. I think much of the blame rests with the lengthy conclusion. When an ending is predictable, perhaps an author should either throw in a new twist or get it over with soon. Instead, King prolonged the inevitable, and I found the final chapters frustrating--it caused the effect that most readers hate, when you're reading as fast you can because you want it to end as compared to reading as fast you can because you are so excited/scared/etc. The disjointed storyline was, at times, quite intriguing. I enjoyed how the plot jumped from one set of characters to the next, slowly bringing all of the players together in one setting. At other times, though, the plot's jumping only served to decrease the building horror King attempts to foster. When reading, I often forgot the peril of one group as I tried to pick up where another group left off. Furthermore, the lack of a clearly defined "bad guy" had mixed results. While I applaud the ambiguity to an extent, the lack of one person to fear and dread, and in its place, an abstract entity, weakened the battle between good and evil. Finally, parts of the novel were very compelling, chilling and intriguing. I enjoyed the exploration of the young heroe's Christianity--this angle offered a unique view of a common theme. I also admired the consistency of the characterizations, lending a degree of believability to a horrifying scene. While I can't compare this writing to other King novels, I can see many similiarities between the plot of Desperation and the plot of King movies and television mini-series I have viewed. I don't mean this as a criticism, though. It worked most of the time in the past, and in many instances, it works in this story, too. But in the end, a lack of fine tuning causes the story to drag, and it's difficult to be horrified when you are, instead, bored.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book, Far Better Than The Regulators
Review: This book was much better than I expected. King managed to create great characters and a great plot. This book also managed to achieve something very rare: a couple of parts actually sent chills down my spine. There were a few instances of humor, and plenty of horror. As you might imagine with a book this size, though, it was a bit over written,though not until the last 250 pages. Other than needing to be a bit shorter, my only other problem with this book was the exessive Godly/Heavenly/Christian angle of this book, though that is a personal bias. Other than that, it was a great read.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen is KING
Review: My Husband and I listened to the audio version of Desperation, on our trip up the California coast this past weekend. Let me tell you that everytime we passed a CHP we did a double take and did a slight shudder. Not only did King terrify us,but,he made us think about our place on earth . The characters were well written. We were most impressed with Kathy Bates. She was able to use her voice effectivly for each of the characters. Read this book...Hear this book
Rating:
Summary: You have the right to remain silent, I am going to kill you!
Review: I thought this was a great book. The entire story takes place in about 12 hours and the book has plenty of spiders, vultures, snakes, coyotes, scorpoins, rats and whatever else might make your skin crawl. (My personal least favorite is rats!) The relationship the boy has with God is an interesting twist and makes the book a true good vs. evil battle. The way the cop mixes the talk of the dead(Tak!) right in with being polite (Gosh, no mamn, I wouldn't hurt you!) is great.
Rating: 
Summary: King's getting desperate
Review: Let's see...an isolated small town under siege, a small group of survivors who have their own psychological hang ups, where have we seen this before? From many unfortunately far more superior Stephen King stories, I'm afraid. The biggest problem with "Desperation" is that the evil protagonist is not one of King's more memorable. Is it possible he has tapped out his fertile imagination? This book has the "Desperation" of a once hot shot pitcher who has lost a few miles-an-hour off of his fastball and is just trying to hang on.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST!
Review: I am a huge Stephen King fan. I have read almost all of his books but this one is the best he has ever written in my opinion. After reading for a bit, I couldn't put it down and read it in 4 days.
Rating:
Summary: Great and Entertaining Read!
Review: I read this book in just a couple of days. I couldn't stop reading it. And I am one of those people who get bored quick on some stories. But not this one. This book although not the scariest of King's work is very suspensful. It will keep you turning the page just to see what happens next. I don't think King could write a bad book if he tried! This is something that could come only from King's "twisted" mind! This is a defenition of pure American Literature.
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