Desperation

Rating:
Summary: Desperation is hardly desperate
Review: Desperation is King's best yet!The setting-which happens to be hopelessly in the middle of No-Man's-Land- is truly unnerving.King,as usual, takes his time with the characters and plot,making it all too real for his readers. The gore fits surprisingly well within the story and King's subtle references to his past novels and television efforts are truly humerous! Tak is probably King's best villain yet!Keep up the good work Stephen!

Rating:
Summary: Loved that Mummy line.
Review: I really liked Desperation. I didn't love it, however. What ruined the book for me was the fact that Tak seemed a direct ripoff of the villain in the terrible, terrible slasher movie, Jason Goes To Hell (which I pray SK has not seen). For people who have read Desperation, watch this movie and you'll know what I mean. For those who haven't: DON'T SEE THIS MOVIE. This warning is only for extreme horror buffs who'd even consider renting it. Also, Tak seemed to be too easily defeated: The body inhabitation idea is hardly a new one, but having the bodies disintegrate ON THEIR OWN did nothing to help make Tak a terrifying villain and formidable opponent. The only other thing that bugged me was the ending. But maybe I just don't get it. I was expecting this cataclysmic battle between good (The Boy) and evil (Tak) but instead the boy doesn't get to fight! It would be like Gandalf making an appearance at the end of the Lord Of The Rings to save the day, instead of Frodo. And I am getting disappointed by stories which have these unstoppable enemies that get blown up. Relentless, evil to the core, powerful. Ah, but we have the Holy Shotgun Shell Of Antioch! Anyway. Worth reading if you haven't seen Friday the 13th Part 9

Rating:
Summary: Supense has one name: Desperation
Review: Desperation is one of King's best in a long time. Stephen has outdone himself by keeping his readers on the edge of their nerves. The book leaves you waiting to find out what happens next at the end of each chapter, while providing your brain with tons of action. Then, once you've grown to like the characters so much, there's still another book for your likings, The Regulators. Written as, Richard Bachman. You'll enjoy this one, as it's one of King's best I've ever read. It's also one of the coolest looking hardcovers to come along in a long time, as once you put the two together they form into a "mural". Believe me, this book is definatley worth the buy.

Rating:
Summary: 2 mediocre books instead of one good one?
Review: Quantity is not quality and some ideas would be better condensed into a short story or novelette, rather than stretched into a full length novel. DESPERATION, which starts out well with its theme of a good guy turned bad sherrif picking up unwary travellors, quickly loses the plot and degenerates into a farce where characters we neither know or care about are killed off by a monster which is neither believable or frighening. The last 100 pages or so are, in my opinion, quite unreadable, unlike the companion "Bachman" novel THE REGULATORS which starts out as a mediocre novel and remains mediocre (and just about readable) right up to the end. One of the worst aspects of both these books is instead of a long build up to the central horror of the book (cf PET SEMATORY & THE SHINING) King gets stuck into the violence right away - but without the buildup we never come to care about the characters who are killed, so the potential impact is lost. This is particularly sad as there are no shortage of lesser horror writers who introduce a constant stream of one-dimensional characters whose only role is to be killed off on the next page, in some particularly gruesome way. I really regret that I parted with hard cash to pay for both DESPERATION and THE REGULATORS. Next time Stephen King publishes a novel, no matter how favourable the reviews, I'll wait to borrow a friend's copy or a library one. By the way I note that that there is no fore or after- word from the author in either of these books - I wonder if this signifies a sense of shame at foisting this second-rate work on his faithful readers?

Rating:
Summary: What a book!
Review: I must say that although I respect all of Stephen King's writings, there are some that are "slow starters" however, DESPERATION is definitely not! On the very first page, Mr. King grabs your attention and page after page this book shakes you vigorously....from beginning to end. This is one of his finest works, truly shows he is still capable of finding that which you are most afraid of and throwing it in your face. DESPERATION is that book that you hate to put down; when you get up in the middle of the night for a drink of water and see this book, you can't help reading just a little more! (I'm currently reading it a second time simply because I couldn't get enough!) A positive 10, even for those not usually taken by Mr. King's work

Rating:
Summary: Stephen King plagerizes self
Review: OK, I'll give away the plot. A group of people get pulled over by a psychotic who has some supernatural powers. The town itself has supernatural powers. All of these powers are shown as symbols throughout the story. Not all of the group like each other, and by the way the kid also has some strong (Shining-like) powers. There is action. There are arguments. Some of the group get killed, but the kid saves the day. There is a final battle vs the ultimate evil. Sound familiar with about the last 5 or 6 King novels? Stephen, please sue yourself. Your formula's getting old and wearing thin.

Rating:
Summary: Classic Stephen King "can't put down" suspense
Review: If I had to rate this relative to other Stephen King work, itmay not have rated as highly as a 9 since that is tough competition.But in the general fiction world it's up there. And within the horror genre (from which King has strayed slightly of late) it might rate even higher . This is pure terror and suspense. It's your worst nightmare come true with little hope of escape, particularly when the seemingly unexplained terror is brought about by our representative of law and order! The hero is really innocent and likeable. A true battle of good and evil, with King's traditional ironic twists.

Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: It looks like this one will turn into a mini-series. He evensaid it the book. I loved it. I just hope it won't take him too longto write another suspense like this one. He is the true master of horror!

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Summary: Mr. King, send me more "real" bad guys...
Review: Dear Mr. King, I'm just one reader out of millions, and here'swhat works for me. I am more spooked by Annie Wilkes (Misery), who isflesh and blood, than I am by Tak (Desperation) who is... well, kind of smoke-ish, I guess. I was more disturbed by Jack Torrance's demons, which came from a bottle of alcohol (The Shining) than I was by "It", which lived in a spider web under a town. Mr. King, my request is for more flesh-and-bone evil guys, because the evil that exists on this earth comes in flesh-and-bone. In Desperation, the most menacing scenes to me were the ones where innocent motorists were procured by cop Collie Entragian. It was real. It could happen. And it disturbed me as much as some of the stories on TV. And that can be pretty disturbing.

Rating:
Summary: Much better than the REGULATORS
Review: I was very suprised by the differences and simmalaritiesbetween the REGULATORS and with this book. I really would recomendthis one and not the REGULATORS to anyone, and I am fan of the BACHMAN series more than a KING fan.