The Dark Half

Rating:
Summary: Great!!
Review: This was a great novel by King. Many people may say it was great but one of their least favorite by King, I disagree. It is rather a shorter story than many of his more in-depth novels but it keeps your attention throughout the entire plot. You can basically get the idea of the story from this site so I am not going to get in detail about that. Yet, it does focus a lot on King's own life regarding his other pen name, Richard Bachman. Overall I though this was a great read and definitly had the suspense.

Rating:
Summary: King and Bachman, together again for the first time
Review: The story behind The Dark Half is as interesting as the novel itself. Here's what I've gleaned from King's notes in "Nightmares & Dreamscapes," as well as from interviews he's done over the years:

In the early '80s, King was working on a crime novel that he intended to publish under his Richard Bachman pseudonym. The novel was going to be titled "My Pretty Pony," and it was about an independent hit man named Clive Banning. In the story, Banning was hired to gather together a group of fellow hit men for a big job. Their mission was to kill a large gathering of mob bosses, who would all be attending a wedding. Banning and his men perform the job, only for Banning's clients to pull a double-cross. First they kill off Banning's associates one by one, and then they come for Banning himself.

Apparently King completed six chapters of the novel, one of which was a flashback of Banning's to a time when he was a young boy, and his grandfather told him about the nature of time. This chapter was eventually published independently under the title "My Pretty Pony," appearing in both an expensive, limited-edition pressing, and "Nightmares & Dreamscapes."

Thinking the novel itself wasn't any good (which is a shame, because it sounds excellent), King lost interest in writing it. Apparently he toyed with the idea of re-writing it and publishing it as "Machine's Way," under the name "George Stark," which was - get this - RICHARD BACHMAN'S pseudonym. I guess King eventually came back to his senses, and dropped this idea as well; having a pseudonym for your pseudonym is a little psychotic. It was around this time that King was discovered to be Bachman, and he dropped the idea entirely for a few years.

Finally, King decided to combine all of these divergent stories into a straight-up horror novel that would also deal with authors and their pseudonyms. Making George Stark the crime-writing pseudonym of his main character, literary author Thad Beaumont, King used portions of the "My Pretty Pony" novel (including the gory wedding hit) as excerpts from Stark's novels. Ever since I first read The Dark Half when it was published, these excerpts have been my favorite part of the book. This just makes me wish all the more that King would've just finished, and published, "My Pretty Pony" in the early '80s. The man has a great crime novel in him, and this could've been it. It's unfortunate that he decided it wasn't up to par.

As for the Dark Half itself, it's actually one of King's better horror novels. The idea of an evil pseudonym who somehow comes to life and wreaks havoc was obviously vivid in King's mind, and it comes across so on page. King intended to have the book published as a collaboration between himself and Richard Bachman, which is such a goofy idea that it's actually pretty neat. King's publisher's rejected the idea, though, and all Bachman got was an acknowledgement on the dedication page.

In a confusing side-note, King stated in an interview in the early '90s that he was going to publish a novel called "Steel Machine," which is the novel Thad and Stark collaborate on in the end of The Dark Half (we get to read pieces of it in the book). Apparently King's publisher came up with the idea of King writing one of the George Stark books himself, and in this interview King claimed it would be "Steel Machine." However, in the Notes section of "Nightmares & Dreamscapes," King states that the George Stark book he was going to write after giving up on "My Pretty Pony" was "Machine's Way." But regardless, I think it's too late, the time's passed, and I doubt we'll ever see any of these novels, whether "Steel Machine" or a completed "My Pretty Pony," in print.

Rating:
Summary: Sparrows are in flight again
Review: This was my favorite Stephen King book, and I've read most of them. With the inarticulate humor of Thad's twin, and the murders created by him, the book is AWESOME!!! It will be forever and always my favorite book. I would like to say hey to Mr J if he ever reads this, so hey!!

Rating:
Summary: One of King's best novels
Review: The Dark Half is a gripping, creepy horror story about an author with two personalities. Like all King novels, he takes time over the main characters and lets them develop, especially Thad's character. The book is thought-provoking, violent, and genuinely scary. A very good read, recommended to all King fans and fans of the genre

Rating:
Summary: "The sparrows are flying again"
Review: When Thad Beaumont was 11 years old, he underwent brain surgery to have a benign tumor removed (which turned out to be the unabsorbed tissue from his unborn twin), but now, more than two decades later, Thad's dark mind has created something even more monstrous: George Stark, the pen name Thad has used for the past several years but has just recently retired. Even though George Stark began as a fictitious disguise, he has gradually become very real, turning into a cold-blooded killer and leaving a trail of blood and guts in his wake as he tracks down Thad and his family in Castle Rock, Maine. And as the death rate goes up, so does the suspicion surrounding Thad as being the one who committed these murders (after all, both men have the same fingerprints, and George isn't even acknowledged as being real yet) and very little seems to separate Thad and his family from being George's next victims.

"The Dark Half" is a relatively fast-paced horror story. I was able to finish it within a week and a half, unlike some King books I've read that take me a good month or more to finish, i.e., "It" (and I'm still working on "The Stand"). The similarities between Thad's situation and King's own writing career (his disclosure of writing as Richard Bachman) makes "The Dark Half" a great deal more eerie. After reading this book, I'd recommend watching the 1993 movie starring Timothy Hutton. I saw it beforehand, but it didn't ruin the suspense for me. The book and movie are somewhat the same plotwise.

Rating:
Summary: I like the old cover better.
Review: Yes, this new cover wreaks. The old one was very interesting, and had a much better photo of a younger, more handsome Stephen King on the back. I am reading this currently and I love it. I reccomend this, but if you get it for your kids, 13 and older. There is a scene where a man (oh, but who?) is stripped naked and tied to his chair, his penis cut out and is shoved in his mouth, his tounge tacked on the wall, and something (oh, but what?) is tacked to his chest. Nasty. I cringed. I want to see the movie after I read this book. Do not read this if you are easily grossed out. The excerts from Machine's Way were disgusting. Speaking of which- This book is SO real, I thought this was a true story... until like page 40, which is quite a ways into this book. Very, very real. I caught myself biting my fingernails, I want Liz and the twins to be okay! This is my first King novel, I am not finished, and yet- I sit here in suspence. Get it from the library, I hate this new cover.

Rating:
Summary: Very great read, but...
Review: it wasn't very full-throttle so to speak. The first half of the book is amazing, it's intense, suspenseful, exhilirating, and mysterious, but the latter half loses all of that. There are two climaxes in this book, and the first one is the more thrilling. I think Mr. King could have cut a lot out of this book since the second climax was not as electrifying; everything had already been revealed, no mystery, nor suspense. The last action of the book was the equivalent to taking a quarter and rubbing off the film on a scratch-and-win lottery ticket.

Despite that, i do recommend the book. It's an age-old tale of Frankenstein, and shed's some light on what we create, and how other's indulge in that creation. A great companion to Misery

Rating:
Summary: Just give me my Berol Black Beautys so I can write!
Review: If there was a 3.5 star rating I 'd like to apply it here. The Dark Half is a good, clean cut read, but it did not astonish me with the thought provoking cleverness of other King works. Dare I say it, this book was "fun"...

I actually got a kick out of the Stark / Machine character. His parts of this book read most quickly for me. The self contained parody of this point was humerous too - the hyper-violent Stark books were best sellers vs. Thad's own work, which failed to capture interest. What also humored me was the reality that this nasty thug of an antagonist just wants to write his own hyper-violent stories.- which sell!

I did like the generated suspense of Thad's completely UN-believable explanation and how he tries to clear it with the Sheriff. I found this element of the plot to be the most gripping and closest to achieving "suspense".

Sadly I thought the ending here was rather lame and predictable. There were also a lot of pages of mediocre action here, which felt like reading through particle board to get to the pine.

If The Stand is a Grand Slam home run a la SK, this one's a nice solo shot to center-field, though not necessarily a game winner.

Rating:
Summary: simplicity is bliss
Review: If you are a king fan but don't have a lot of time to read I highly recomend The Dark Half. King characteristically goes back and forth between many main characters which can get confusing. The Dark Half is very refreshing in that the plot is simple and he only follows the thoughts of the hero and the villan who's lives parallel because they are one another. King shows his talent by keeping this one basic rather than covering it with intricate writing. A quick edge-of-your-seat read.

Rating:
Summary: A darn good book
Review: I've read several Stephen King books, but by no means all, but out of those several i have read, this one is definitely one of the absolute best (and all of them are very good) but this was simply blew me away. i can't reaally find the words to describe how good it is...(don't you find that? whenever you really love a book, you really just cannot think of the words to express that love.)

Thad Beaumont has written four novels under the name "George Stark" but now he wants a change. so he "kills" Stark, and begins to write under his own name. BUt is Stark really dead? Of course not! this is a Stephen King book! the pseudonym miraculously comes to life, and goes on a killing spree, determined to gain revenge on all those who had a hand in his "death". His ultimate goal, however, is to force Thad into writing another novel under the name George Stark, so as to bring him back to life...

It's a stunning book. You should probably read this book and "Misery" back to back, as the two kind of compliment each other. "misery" is a novel about the fan's obsession with writing and the writer, and "The Dark Half" is about the writers obsession with writing and ultaimtely, their own inner self.

This is not exactly a scary book, but it is definitely Kings most tense and thrilling. The plot is taut and exciting, and it's full of some really likeable characters.

George Stark is evil personified...the scenes in which he viciously slays the people who had a hand in his "death" are so gorily described, they may well have your stomach churning.

But of course, it wouldn't be a Stephen king novel without a little something supernatural, and King provides that in the form of the sparrows. I shan't elaborate any further on that point, apart from just to say if you thought ravens were supposed to be jarring, you aint seen nothing yet.

This book is excellent all the way thorugh. Some of Kings books tend to be a little slow to start (which is understandable, because every plot needs decent groundwork) but this one just leaps straight in after about 20 pages, and the relentless pace never lets up. i raced through this book. couldn't put it down.

The book is exciting, tense, well written, chilling, creepy, and Kings best work, i expect. I severely doubt that i will read anything better by Him, as this book has surpassed all my expectations...