Rating: 
Summary: i hate to add to the mixed reviews of this book....
Review: I don't like having write another "it's good but..." review of this book, simply because I feel like Stephen King's simultaneous strengths at creating strong characters and fast-moving plot are rare gifts, even more rarely found in conjunction. Anyway, onto the review...As everyone knows by now, "The Tommyknockers" is about a buried UFO uncovered by a naive local which slowly takes over the town, giving incredible powers of ingenuity to everyone but also slowly turning them into puppets of its force. The book is structured very well, with nimble hop-scotching between characters and times as various people either fight or succumb to the Tommyknockers. The hero is the troubled alcoholic poet, Jim Gardener, who comes to check on his friend Bobbi (the original excavator of the UFO) and soon realizes what's going on and moves to fight it. My favorite portion of the book was the middle third, where King begins broadening his focus to show what's happening throughout Haven (especially the heart-rending portion of the kid's magic trick gone wrong... god!), then into the first battle against the Tommyknockers, by which time the town has become nearly uninhabitable by outsiders. My complaints are this: The climax of the book jumps a tad *too* much, using less important characters who don't last long anyway :), and its a psychic bloodbath on all sides by the end of the book. Also, the book seems a bit confused as to what it wants to be - either a small-town-destroyed story like Salem's Lot or a destroyed-by-temptation story like Pet Sematary, and we don't get quite enough of either. We don't meet many important town figures until they're taken over by the Tommyknockers; and while Gardener's hero is fantastic, Bobbi's consumption by the alien force seems comparatively antiseptic, almost :). But these *are* minor complaints -- King's grasp of a big, complex plot is wonderful; the characters are by and large fantastic; *and* its scary as hell. I'd recommend it highly.
Rating: 
Summary: Return of the Body-Snatchers
Review: Stephen King has found more ways than I can count, on how to scare the living hell out of anybody that opens the pages of his books. "The Tommyknockers" is no exception whatsoever. King took on the extremely difficult job of writing about alien invasions and body snatching, and finished smelling like roses. I never thought that I would be so disturbed by a subject so commonly written about. This book scared me stupid.
Although a bit on the long side, 748 pages, every single word has meaning to it. King's characterization is incredible. You get to know every single character that he names on a personal level, understanding exactly what that person is thinking and what he is trying to achieve.
Part one of the book is probably the most chilling. This is when we are introduced to the two main characters of the novel, best friends Bobbi and Gard. Friends to the end..... right? It is in this first part of the book that the terror and the "becoming" begins.
Part two of the book introduces us to the rest of the small town of Haven, Maine. The changing and "becoming" of the innocent country folk living up their summer. Although this part seems to drag on a little bit, each person in the town changes in a different way that makes you keep reading just to see everybody has their different way of "becoming".
Part three, the last part of the book is when things go crazy in Haven. This is when the terror begins. I was able to read the 300 plus pages of this last part in one afternoon only taking breaks to eat and use the bathroom. That is how good King has written this novel. I can say that by far this is in my top 10 favorite books by King.
Another great thing about this book is the small things he writes about connecting this book to a few of his other novels. For example: in one part a character drives through Derry, Maine and believes he is seeing things when he swears he sees a clown with white gloves in the sewer with ballons. Another is how he talks about a killer rabid dog that killed several people in a small Maine town.
The made for TV movie based on this book does no justice to the words in these pages. Dont judge this book by a bad TV movie.
This book is a King classic. Although on the long side, dont pass it up, you will be missing perfect vintage Stephen King
Rating: 
Summary: Ugh.
Review: Stephen King's fame is such that he could slap his name on the cover of the New York City phone directory and people would read it from cover to cover, then give it rave reviews. The fact that the Tommyknockers has managed to find an audience proves my point. The Tommyknockers is a bloated, horrible novel lacking in just about everything you look for in a great read. The worst part about reading this book is knowing that King is capable of so much more. It's hard to grasp the fact that this meandering drivel was written by the same author who can write the kind of tense, economical, finely crafted prose you'll find in stories like "Rage." King's best work is also his most believable, and unfortunately The Tommyknockers strays just about as far from believability as you can get. If you're new to King, do yourself a favor and begin with something like the Bachmann Books. This one will leave an awful taste in your mouth. If you're a rabid King fan and want to be able to say that you've read everything he's ever written, well, go ahead and read it. But don't say you weren't warned.
Rating:
Summary: Why the negativity? This is a gripping read
Review: Okay, to be honest, the book gets gripping after one slogs through the first 200 pages. Before that, we spend a looong time getting to know Bobbi Anderson and Jim Gardener. But once the book expands its narrative to include the members of the entire town of Haven, the book does not let up. The first two hundred pages, and a bit too much techno jargon prevent me from fully bestowing this book with a full 5 stars. King has clearly done his homework on this book, but after a while, all the descriptions of the souped up gadgets made my eyes swim (much as Tolkien's endless landscape descriptions in "Lord of the Rings" made me wish good old John Ronald Reuel had pioneered the minimalist writing style.) The Tommyknockers, while not my favorite King novel, is a great effort. people may complain about an anti-climactic ending (They must have read the ending to a different book, the climax I read was rather exciting)or the fact that the characters seem to stumble down a path of destruction. Well, that happens in life as well. I think King's writing is at the top of its form... I think the scene when Jim Gardener drunkenly ruins an all too polite cocktail party with a rant against the destructive powers of nuclear energy is one of the most powerful scenes in all of King's canon, and one of the most chilling without benefit of any super- or preter- natural interference. Despite all of the evil the characters in his novels have faced (indeed, Pennywise the clown makes a brief appearance in a city sewer, which is odd as this tale is to have taken place 3 years after the events in IT... one thinks King's editors add the dates of the events of his novels to coincide with the publication dates and not to correspond with when the novels were actually written. We also encounter a minor character from the Dead Zone, and "blink and you'll miss them" references to "Firestarter" and "Salem's Lot.") the novel makes it explicit that the things that men do in the name of scientific progress can be equally as terrifying as a young girl posessed of psionic abilities. True, the analogy between nuclear power and the Tommyknockers polluting the air is about as subtle as Annie Wilkes expressing discontent, but hey, it was written in the 80's, but it loses none of its power. (No pun intended). This is a very good book, probably one of the most down to earth (again, no pun intended) science fiction/horror tales around. And that's the good thing about King... he writes wonderfully engrossing tales that are accessible to everyone. And that, to quote Martha, is a good thing.
Rating:
Summary: A Milestone
Review: I think that this book is a true milestone in King's work, something you can not compare to his literary landmarks like "It", "The Stand", "Insomnia", "Hearts in Atlantis", "Bag of Bones" (I could go on like this for a whole load of more titles, because there are so many of really good books by King but it's close - let's leave it at that. First of all, I have to express a certain feeling of shock, because there are so many reviews that just do not do this book any justice. Second, there are lot of positive reviews, although - they are well-written, I read some of them - they are much too long. I too have a tendency to get short things long (see?), but I want to stick to my main concerns this time! A lot of people will try to convince you of the contrary, but this book is ORIGINAL. In a way, this story is originality itself. Or have you ever heard of a western novelist who stumbles across the edge of an alien space-ship while taking her dog out through the woods? This may sound a bit cynic - at least it does to me -, but it is a very good beginning, the first sentences already are something worth of mental achievement. I like too recall certain passages from this book from time to time, while I realize that I have to read it again soon. To put it in a nut-shell: the plot is a thrilling heart-jolter, the language is alive and very strong, maybe not as strong as it has been in "It", but still very healthy, the characters start to caputre yourself, pulling you deep into their lives, letting you witness the pure horror that splits their silent world apart. The Tommyknockers is, beside the well-done writing job and the absolutely gripping story, a tale told in old-fashioned Stephen Kingish: first, there WAS the quiet small-town with its quiet inhabitants, THEN there IS the horror ... and when I say horror, Johnny, I m-e-a-n HORROR!
Rating:
Summary: Incredible
Review: There is no real way to describe this book . . . except for incredible. Although it has no social meaning, it still means something . . . something . . . incredible. The ending is great, and although is sags in the middle, the final chapter is riveting. King masterfully wrote this; when the action gets intense, and something BIG is happening, he ends the chapter. You turn the page, unimaginably excited, your eyes glued to the paper, and, as if he did it on purpose JUST to enrage you, he changes the scene. I had never picked up a book, thrown it on the floor, and shouted at the top of my lungs before until I read this. The first part makes you care, the second part makes you wonder, and the third part--I won't ruin it for you. I am a VERY light reader, and it typically takes me tow or three days to finish 100 pages, but I finished the last part-300 pages-in four hours. It's that good. One bit of caution to light readers out there like me: IT IS LONG. VERY LONG. 750 pages is not my idea of an enjoyable experience (I'm only (...)), but, middle part aside, you will never want to put this book down. Ever. Buy it now.
*I did not reveal any of the story to you because it is a) too complex to tell in one or two sentences, and b) I don't want to ruin it for you. Just get it.
Rating: 
Summary: Not His Best But Stands Well On It's Own
Review: Personally I preferred all the other Stephen King Novels to this one, I must admit. I've read 5 now I believe and Christine is the only one that I don't think is obviously better than this one. The best thing about the Tommyknockers is it places the main character Jim Gardner aka Gard in a very difficult position. He has to watch his best friend, Bobbi Anderson become obsessed with an object she trips over in the earth of her backyard and has really no choice but to help her dig it up. They believe it is a spaceship, so calling the authorities, (referred to often as the "Dallas Police" in the story) well that's out and Bobbi is protective of the ship. The more she digs the ship up the more the ship gives Bobbi crazy powers, where she begins inventing strange things like typewriters that write based on brainwaves, and she and other people in the town of Haven Maine find that they are able to read each other's minds. Everyone in town starts changing or "becoming" thanks to the object in the ground except for Gard who stands by and watches the horror unsure of what course of action to take. And while Gard is trying to make his decision, the people of Haven are turning into short tempered monsters with the power to invent some destructive things. The book was scary because it placed you in Gardner's situation, where you're surrounded by people who are turning into monsters all set towards one cause and have no regard for your life because you are not "becoming" what they are. Gard only stays on in the spirit of friendship to Bobbi, but even SHE isn't the same anymore. For me the idea of being the only sane and normal person in a town of murderous mind reading monsters is chilling, and if the premise is interesting to you then you should definitely check it out. Only complaints is the object in the Earth's origin is never fully explained, nor is it's strange ability to change the people surrounding it. King attempts to explain it, but in the end he falls kind of short.
Rating:
Summary: Oh, Where has my King gone?
Review: I am such a huge fan of SK that it even bothers me to write this review. If I could give it 0 stars I would. How sad that SK had to write something so incredibly bad. I have been reading his books since High School, and I'm 34 now, I actually read this book when it was first published and I have shunned it ever since. If you are thinking of reading SK for the first time go to The Stand, IT or if you want something a little less in length go with Firestarter. Just stay away from this meaningless book.
Rating:
Summary: One of King's Best
Review: There's a lot of people that don't like this book, and there's a lot that do. I'm one of the latter. In fact I loved it! This was the first Stephen King book I ever read at the age of 13, and it instantly made me a costant reader. I'm 27 now and have completed 27 of his books, and after recently rereading this one, I can still say it's one of his best. The Tommyknockers has a deliciously campy B-movie story line that is packed with A+ characters. Jim Gardner is da man, even if he is a drunk. The story is really a metaphor for addiction of all kinds. The Tommyknockers grant you the power to turn your vaccum cleaner into a flying weapon, but in turn they take away your soul. King makes subtle comparisons to the government and the military industrial complex with this; super brains that can create all kinds of wonderful gadgets but lack any real humanity or compassion. It is also a metaphor for drug addiction itself, giving you a sense of power and creativity but eating you away at the same time. King has said that he wrote the book when his cocaine addiction was at its worst. In the thrilling climax, it is The poet Gardner's sense of humanity that saves the day, even though he must make many sacrifices in doing so. The power of love and friendship is his motivating force, as well as his desire to save the very world that he could never find a way to live in. A beautiful story with many weird, funny, warm, terrifying, and exciting moments. I highly reccomend it.
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King's buried spaceship science fiction horror story
Review: The start of Stephen King's 1987 novel "The Tommyknockers" has always reminded me of the set up of one of my all-time favorite science fiction-horror films, "5 Million Years to Earth" (a.k.a. "Quatermass and the Pit" in the U.K.). A writer named Roberta Anderson, living on the outskirts of the small town of Haven, Maine, is out looking for firewood in the forest behind her house when she stumbles over three inches of metal. She assumes that she has stumbled over a beer can left behind by a logger, but instead she discovers the metal was solid. What she has found is a space ship, buried in the earth for millions of years, but still vibrating faintly. So, Bobbi begins to dig the giant craft out of the earth by herself, soon to be joined by her friend and former lover Jim Gardener, and by the strange advanced technology that they are suddenly inspired to create. But as they uncover more of the ship Bobbi and Jim, as well as the rest of the citizens of Haven, all start to change. Up to that point "The Tommyknockers" is pretty good and I have to admit that I thought the idea of alien technology working into the ancient rubric that there are some things human beings were not meant to tamper with was enough to sustain the story. But instead we are treated to a malevolent presence that has evil designs on the citizen of Haven and that seemed to me like overkill. Add to that the fact the two main characters are writers (King dedicates the novel to his wife Tabitha, who is also a novelist), and "The Tommyknockers" becomes a bit too self referential for me as does the whole subplot about Gardener's writer's block. This novel represents the start of a period in King's writing where my recurring complaint was that the great set up never resulted in an ending that was equal to the task, although we do have a sort of reverse "deus ex machina" at the end of this one. But the discovery of the ship and the weird inventions people in Haven start putting together out of odds, ends and batteries is pretty good stuff.
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