Rating: 
Summary: Boring
Review: Nothing happens in this novel--nothing unpredictable, that is. It literally put me to sleep. A good time for the "Master" to stop, indeed.
Rating: 
Summary: The Master Does it Again!
Review: A car that only LOOKS like a car and the memories of what happened to the troopers of Pennsylvania State Trooper D squad is the subject of King's latest (and, perhaps, his last) book.Told mainly in flashback, "From a Buick 8" concerns a very odd classic Roadmaster Buick that rolls into a gas station one day with a mysterious driver behind the wheel. Pale skin, with an almost melted-looking face, the driver heads off around the station presumably to the bathroom, and disappears. With the driver suddenly missing, the Staties are called in to have a look-see at the vehicle. Things immediately get very strange: there are no prints in or on the car, the car itself has no dirt, dust or pollens in or ON it (the tires won't even hold a pebble jammed down between the treads), and the engine is designed in such a way that there's no way it could ever move an inch under it's own power. It only LOOKS like a car, then, and it's enough to give anyone on Troop D the creeps. The car is stored in a shed out back of the troop's barracks, where a young Ned Wilcox discovers it. Ned is the son of a State D trooper who was recently killed in a pointless and horrific traffic accident. Ned's been hanging around the barracks a lot since his dad died, trying to get a better feel for what his father was like on the job, when he discovers the car under a shed. He also notes that while the temperature outside of the shed is in the 80's, INSIDE the shed it's hovering in the low 60's. What's going on here? Why is the car there? Whats up with the temperature change? The stories start then, mostly told by Sandy, the current Troop D commanding officer, and the book begins to shuttle between the present day and the days when the car was first found, and then started doing mysterious and horrific things. Strange, twisted, potentially dangerous and hideous THINGS begin to come OUT of the car during periods when the car releases blasts of intense light. Turns out Ned's dad was the resident Buick Expert (in as much as anyone COULD be an expert of such a bizarre thing) and spent a huge deal of time trying to figure what the Buick really WAS and where it came from. Ned, like his late father, becomes totally fascinated in the Buick, and begins to wonder if somehow the car managed to murder his father... I am what Mr. King refers to as a Constant Reader-a fan of his writing, in other words. Having read almost all of the works of King, I can say that "Buick 8" departs from King's tradition of grab-you-by-the-throat style of horror. This work is more reminiscent of his epic work "It", where a good deal of the action has already happened, and the reader is just there to hear the story and be enveloped in a good tale. There is a strong sense of nostalgia to this tale, and the plot easily unwinds and you're there, right in the thick of things, trying to figure out just what this devil-car IS, and where it came from. In the end, we wind up being as bewildered as the original cast of troopers who kept vigil over this strange thing from the beginning. There is an audio version of this book that is unique in that there are 5 narrators reading the story. The characters that are telling the story to Ned right now are all voiced by different actors while the parts that happen in the past ("Then", in the book) is voiced by one single actor. I am a diehard fan of audio books and have very high standards for narrators, ESPECIALLY for long audio books like this one which weigh in at 13.5 hours on 12 CD's: unless I am completely engrossed at all times, I don't bother listening to the book. This audio version is stunning and highly recommended. Each narrator takes their time, doesn't rush through the material, and unspools the story as if you're sitting there with them, outside Troop B barracks, hearing all the odd and terrifying tales about the strange Buick for the first time. Kudos to the publisher for allowing the voice actors to take their time and not rushing them to the finish line. Overall, highly recommended, especially in audio format.
Rating: 
Summary: Like Spending an Evening With a Friend
Review: Sitting down to read From a Buick 8 is like sitting down to listen to an old friend of your father's spin a yarn about something interesting that happened back in the day. You keep wanting to stick around to hear more. The story flows in kind of an easy going pace that still manages to keep your interest. I especially liked how stories of the strange and dangerous Buick are framed around stories of routine state trooper duties. It keeps the story grounded in a way that makes it seem like it actually could have happened. What I really liked about this story was how it's told. All the different perspectives of the various troopers were exceedingly well done. Sandy being our main story teller, but he's helped out by a couple of his buddies to fill in gaps and such in their own unique ways. We get to know these troops and understand where they're coming from. This makes it easy to feel their fear and anticipation when the Buick starts any number of it's weird light shows that could lead to who knows what coming through it's trunk. We're drawn, as Curt Wilcox is drawn, to the mystery of the not quite car, and thusly just as frustrated as he is by the seeming lack of answers to that mystery. We can see how it becomes sort of a weird item in the background of Troop D's normal goings on, as we feel a part of the D family. The book is basically just ruminations of how the car came into being (how it came to be in Shed B anyways) and the many occurances surrounding it. However, past and present collide as Curt Wilcox's son, Ned, is drawn into the mystery of the car, just as his dad was, if not in more dangrous ways than Curt. Whatever you do, don't go in expecting a King book that gives you a monster that chases the characters around as they fight for their lives the entire book. No, you might be disappointed indeed if you come in with that mindset. Just sit down, relax and enjoy the tale as it is unfolded before you as only a master storyteller can do.
Rating:
Summary: "Another Page Turner by Mr. King"
Review: "From A Buick 8," by Mr. King is another page turner that had me chewing my fingernails until the last page had been read.
Rating: 
Summary: Should have left this one in the closet.
Review: I'm a big King fan, have all his books in First Editions...I am only half way through it and that in itself says something since I started it weeks ago and usually I can't put his books down... This book does not grip me. ...
Rating:
Summary: The best King in years
Review: I've been a Stephen King fan for years now, ever since my uncle told me to read "The Stand" just before the TV miniseries came out. By now I've gotten through about half of his library (give me a break, I got a late start!) and I've read every new book as it has come out since 1994 -- so I think I'm in a good position when I say that King hasn't been this gripping in years. "From a Buick 8" begins (not unlike King's "Bag of Bones") with the death of one of the main characters, Pennsylvania State Trooper Curtis Wilcox. Curtis's grief-stricken son Ned turns to his father's police troop as a surrogate family and they take him in. But Troop D has a secret -- a secret they've kept for over 20 years, one that nearly consumed Curtis. In an old shed is a classic Buick Roadmaster, but one unlike anything Detroit ever put out. There's something terrible about that car, and it's time for Ned to learn the truth. Like many King fans, when I heard about this one I thought, "Another car book? King's starting to repeat himself." But the similarities to "Christine" end with the car -- this is a very different, more mature story as much about human nature as it is about monsters and other dimensions. I haven't been pulled in like this since the aforementioned "Bag of Bones." Curiously enough, in the afterward King says he wrote the first draft of this book after finishing "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon," which I found to be one of his weaker works in recent years. (This was before his own nearly-fatal vehicular accident, by the way.) Fortunately for us all, it seems King managed to work out the kinks. King says he'll be retiring soon. If his last few works manage to convey the emotion of "From a Buick 8," I think it's safe to say he'll go out on a high note.
Rating:
Summary: Shed B - Repository of Magic
Review: It used to be fun for Stephen King. Many of his books contained a spirit of mischief, glee and a lot of "gotchas!" "Buick 8" is a mature work, sadder and wiser, nostalgic and uncertain of the certainties. The big answer is: there is no answer. Pennsylvania State Police, Troop D towed an abandoned car to their headquarters in 1979. Its driver had stopped for gas and disappeared. The squad discovered the car repelled dirt and self-repaired scratches, and its tire treads would not even hold a pebble. Sgt. Sandy Dearborn decides the "car" ("because you have to call it something") merits further investigation and stores it in the barracks unused Shed B---and there it remains for the next thirty years, with only Troop D aware of just how strange this thing is. In the present, a grieving son of Trooper Wilcox (who had brought the car in) is trying to get closure on his father's sudden death by vehicular homicide. Ned helps out around the barracks and is given temporary duty during his summer before college. He wants to know the story of the Buick. The sergeant and troopers decide to tell him---of the "lightquakes" (a Stephen King word if I ever heard one!), the strange and disgusting creatures the car would bring forth, the disappearing of Trooper Ennis and the glimpses of alternate universes. Different troopers tell the story, Sandy taking the lead. Sandy emphasizes that the "goings-on" were intermittent, not a daily thing, and weeks and months would go by with nothing happening at all. Troop D would almost forget the Buick. Ned is an impatient listener and his interest in the car becomes compulsive. The 1979 references were so nostalgic and ephemeral, I felt we were talking about 100 years ago rather than thirty. I had a slight aggravation with the esprit de corps of Troop D. Not just Sandy, but all of them seemed to have no life outside of the State Troopers. Their loyalty was first and foremost to the Troop, then the State Police, and way down on the list: family, friends and outside interests. When they were off-duty, they gathered at the barracks; they even slept and ate there. King's emphasis that day-to-day life frequently transcends the wonder of the supernatural in Shed B was hard on the pace of the story. If Troop D can forget for months at a time, so can the reader. It is true that we cannot constantly and obsessively be aware of our own mortality and where we fit in the universe, but we do need the focus for King's story to have maximum impact. "Buick 8" was not meant to be presented as a leisurely told tale spread over many years. I think it would have worked better as a novella. I would call "From a Buick 8" medium-King. A race to the bookstore for all diehard Kings fans (me); others might want to wait for the paperback.
-sweetmolly- Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Great dialog as always, but too long
Review: In January 1999, I went to a talk in Los Angeles by Harry Turtledove. Some of you may know him. He's a very successful science fiction author, with many novels and short stories to his credit. Anyway, during the question session, someone asked who he considered a better writer. He said Stephen King; that King could write dialog for characters in contemporary America like no one else. Certainly, based on objective measures like hardcover sales, King is at a level above Turtledove, who is no slouch himself! Which brings me to this novel. King demonstrates his usual superlative ability to transcribe dialog that captures the cadences of authenticity, without descending into banality. His descriptions of the experiences of a group of police in western Pennsylvania who end up owning a Buick that is a portal to another, quite unearthly dimension, are engrossing. But, dare I reveal this to you of the plot? Nothing much happens. It is a quiet, explicitly retrospective narrative. Though a little too long. It could easily have been trimmed down to the length of one of his novellas in "Four Past Midnight", each of which I consider superior to this. In those, each plot was taut and there was a discernable climax. Here, unfortunately, not much of one. King sometimes lets his fingers run off the keyboard. For King fans, yes, you should read this book. Don't raise your expectations too high beforehand.
Rating:
Summary: A boy, a car, and a mystery.
Review: Ned Wilcox's father, Pennsylvania State Police Trooper Curt Wilcox, is dead, killed in a horrific accident by a drunk driver (the uncomfortable parallels to the author's own accident are nothing more than a spooky coincedence, or so King informs the Constant Reader in the Author's Note). Sandy Dearborn is not surprised when Ned begins to do odd jobs around his late father's Troop Barrack, but he is dismayed when Ned eventually uncovers Troop D's scary little secret, the Buick Roadmaster hidden in Shed B. The Troop now must tell Ned an unpleasent tale of the unkown. From A Buick 8 is, if the recent interviews and press announcements are to be believed, Stephen King's final original novel (only the remaining three Dark Tower novels are yet to be published). If that is truly the case and King has finally kicked his publishing addiction, then the one time King of Horror has gone out with a mature, albeit frustrating, work. What makes Buick 8 frustrating is that it deals with the Great Mystery of Life, the Roadmaster that is less a Buick than a portal to some horrid alien dimension (perhaps the same one that Project Arrowhead burst into in King's classic novella The Mist) is clearly meant to symbolize death, or loss, or both. The predominant message of the book seems to be that we must learn to live with it as opposed to conquering it, or so a first reading of the book seems to want to say. King's writing, as always, is accessible and his characters are real, the novel more than once offering up a poignant and painful naturalist photo of life in today's world. Some may complain that King did not go out with a more traditional novel, but don't be discouraged. The King went out with a mature and literate work that invites revisiting. Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: King goes out with a semi-bang
Review: Stephen King has been announcing his exit from writing for a while now; he says that "From a Buick 8" will be his last book (the final unpublished volumes of "The Dark Tower" don't count, he says), so it would have been nice if he went out with a bang. Alas, this book is more like a banglet; it's not a whimper, but not nearly the pyrotechnics he's shown us he's capable of. The book starts off very well indeed; a mysterious stranger pulls up to a gas station in a Buick, gets out, and disappears; the Buick turns out to be portal into another dimension that sounds like a very King-ian hell. Occasionally, weird, loathsome, obnoxious critters come out of that hell via the Buick, and humans have been drawn into it via the same route. What makes this book a disappointment is that King has developed an annoying habit of pulling his punches. He gives us a tantalizing glimpse of that netherworld, but glimpses is all we get; the old Stephen King would have dragged us into it kicking and screaming and showed it to us in all its unspeakable horror. King used to write real horror novels; "Buick 8" is much more frustrating than frightening. I think I'll re-read a few of his early books such as "Salem's Lot", "Needful Things", and most especially "Pet Sematary", to remember what King was like when he was really at his best.
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