Rating: 
Summary: Struggling Through
Review: I have to consider myself one of the biggest Stephen King fans in the world.....however; it does not deter me from stating how disappointed I was in "From a Buick 8". I read the book from cover to cover, but not with ease. Of all of his novels, this one by far was the hardest to "become" part of and the easiest to put down. I continually found myself drifting while reading. I agree with most other reviews that this book is WAY too long to hold anyone's interest for too long. Then only comfort I find is knowing this is not the norm for Mr. King and I can expect this to be a one-time disappointment for me.
Rating: 
Summary: Not His Best, But Still Good
Review: This is a book about human curiosity. Unlike some other King books, Buick 8 lacks the clear and obvious antagonist. The real antagonist is a human beings search for answers when there are no clear answers. Also, this book is written with a lot of flashbacks. Buick 8's story is told by a group of PA State Troopers to a teenager whose father was killed a year before. Incidently, the boys father was on the the troopers that took a fascination to the Buick. The story also consists of many excellent descriptions of light shows and alien creatures which are spawned from the Buick. However, despite King's excellent writing, I could not give this 5 stars because the story tends to drag and the climax (although not a dissapointment) is not of the quality the author has shown in his previous novels. But nonetheless, I would still recommend this book to King readers.
Rating:
Summary: What happened to the Master of the Macabre?
Review: Steve's never written a story I didn't like. Not even at his worst (Tom Gordon), and this is no exception. I liked it. But only because Stephen King can make a book about laundry detergent read well. That's pretty much what he did here. Buick 8 is a short story gone bad. The plot *does* thicken, but in the way that water thickens when it's 31 degrees; slowly. It reads a lot like his novella "The Mist" but it's about 200 pages too long. At the end of the story I asked myself what I'd just read, and "short story gone bad" is exactly the phrase that came to mind. I've spoken with a lot of fellow King fans who say they "loved" the book, but not one person could tell me what was great about it. I know why. The only thing that's really great about Buick 8 is its author. I hope he stays great, because too many more books like this one and...
Rating: 
Summary: Starts strong and fades
Review: Sorry. I hate to speak against the King, but this story feels worn out after the first 200 pages. So we learn that strange things are coming out of the Buick? They never mean anything significant to us. The premise is nice, but the book falls flat on theme. The Stand is still his best work. I'll go four stars for the sake of history
Rating:
Summary: Maybe the old man's right.
Review: Stephen King, From a Buick 8 (Scribner's, 2002) Most of us, at least among the Stephen King fans on the planet--and we are legion, much to the dismay of academics around the country--met the news of King's announced retirement with surprise and outrage. The man can't retire. Who could fill his shoes? Etc. And how could he say he's lost a step after, within the space of three years, publishing Hearts in Atlantis, containing 'Blind Willie,' one of his finest stories ever; The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, a book so good it brought George Romero back to America after a decade of self-imposed exile; and Everything's Eventual, the latest in his string of just plain excellent story collections (not a one of which has been less than same)? Somewhere in there, we overlooked the bloated horror that was Dreamcatcher, and while no one really expected much of Black House, it lived up to those expectations with a nefarious excellence. And now we have From a Buick 8, and I can't help but think, okay, maybe the man's right. Not to say there isn't a lot here for the dedicated King fan. The man can do more to give us a character in a paragraph then some authors can in a whole novel. And there's no shortage of the weird, the wild, and the woolly to be found betwixt these covers. But under the surface, it feels like King is treading water; there's nothing new here, nor is there anything inspired. It feels rather like Miles Davis' performance at Live Aid; the man showed up to perform, but there's no passion here. Not that that should stop King fans from grabbing a copy and getting their fix, but don't be expecting another one of the timeless tales he spins during those times when he's on his game. What's it about? Well, take Christine, add a dash of The Dark Tower (to the point where I kept wondering when he'd reveal that there was a portal to mid-world to be found somewhere in this book), a whole heaping tablespoon of Dreamcatcher, shake, chill, and serve. Those who liked Chrstine and Dreamcatcher more than I did will probably have a differing opinion; I found it enjoyable, but ultimately unsatisfying, like a lemon meringue pie from which the layer of lemon has been eviscerated. ***
Rating: 
Summary: Terrible
Review: Don't waste your money on this book..What was he thinking?????Or was he thinking at all? I think not
Rating:
Summary: Boring!!!
Review: Long winded, not well written, lacks a story line that is somewhat believable, no real character developement, repeats itself in places, ending about as exciting as a root canal! Don't waste your time or money on this one!!
Rating:
Summary: Car wreck of a book.
Review: I am disappointed in this book. The pace was too slow, I just
wanted it over with! The constant back and forth, too much time
spent on Trood D's supporting cast, made it a very uncomfortable
read. I will be more patient when his next book comes out.I think
this book should have been a short story, at least the agony
would have been less.
Rating:
Summary: disapointing
Review: I always eagerly await new works by Stephen King. He's written some great novels and short stories, and his Dark Tower books and the Bachman Books I place on my list of greatest works written, but this novel was such a disapointment. This really would have been a better idea for a short story than a novel. The story kept building to something, and then it would fizzle, before it tried to build again, before ending on a fizzle. King tried too hard to keep this from being Christine, and he suceeded there. This is a substandard story. It's an example of trying to hard to be something it isn't. It's an interesting premise--one that should have been handled in the short story format, or novella at the longest.
Rating:
Summary: problem with my rating
Review: One of the problems I have with rating a King novel is that there are so many awesome books to compare it to...e.g. The Shining, The Stand, Hearts in Atlantis. If this were just a stand-alone author, I might have given it 4 stars.
I have read King's comments about writing another book about a haunted car (Cristina), but this was a totally different premise. While I did enjoy the "scary" aspect of a car in the garage left to spit out remnants of another world and cause disappearances, it was the fraternity of the main characters
that caused me to enjoy the story. Yes, I cried out "Don't go in there!" However, I did not cry out as loud as I did in "The Shining."
One thing about a King novel, I always remember the story-line
years after I have read the book. Can't say that about a lot of
other authors I read.
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