Rating: 
Summary: A slightly different King...
Review: Definitely the best book King has written in a while. I am mostly a fan of his "non-horror" books (dark tower, eye of the dragon, the stand) and this is the first one I have picked up that actually gave me the wiilies. His descriptive writing pulls you into this story and doesn't let go until the end. This book takes you for a ride. Read it!
Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: I have been a King fan for years, and I must say that recently I had been a bit disappointed with my favorite author. Novels like Desperation were mere retreads of earlier works like It and The Tommyknockers. But this one was amazing. It's different for King, a bit slow moving, but one of his best. As he did in probably his best work, The Shining, King takes the time to set up the situation and gives the reader time to really get to know and care for the characters. The novel casts an amazing spell over the reader, and putting down the story of Mike Noonan and Sara Laughs is near impossible. A must read, even if you're not a genere fan.
Rating: 
Summary: The best King book in a dog's age.
Review: This is quite easily the best book Stephen King has written in ten years outside of his Dark Tower series...since Tommyknockers, I would say. Back is his sharp characterizations, witty observations and gothic tones of terror. Like the highly dissapointing Insomia, this book deals with a man coming to terms with his wife's death, which has afflicted him psychologically...in this case, an incapacitating case of writers block. Here the protagonist is younger, a 40ish writer of V.C. Andrews-like thrillers. In order to literally face the ghost of his dear departed, he moves into their summer cottage, the place he always felt she was happiest. Amid spectral shenanigans like phantom voices and Ouiga-like fridge magnet messages, writer Mike Noonan becomes embroiled in a nasty child-custody case, the outcome of which will not be settled in earthly courts. King has mentioned Rebecca as an influence for this story, and damned if it doesn't have that epic feeling of doomed romance, even with the modern setting of the writer's northern Maine. With Noonan, King has created a character worthy of his past classics, an amiable man who's jovial exterior belies his great inner strength and penetrating observations of small-town Maine life. This is pretty much a one-man show, however, as the supporting characters fail to jump off the page with the same conviction as the lead character. The villians of the piece are especially weak, at least the ones in the present time-frame. The key to any story such as this is the mystery to be unravelled, and this one kept me turning the pages to its storm-charged conclusion. In a way, the haunted romance theme is a bit of a departure for King, but in another it is an exact, comfortable fit. In his hands the story has the epic feel of history, grounded by a modern pop-culture sensibility and surrounding. The fridge people rating? Gud red.
Rating: 
Summary: Hated It!
Review: I am a huge fan of S. King and usually love all of his stuff. This latest offering, however, stinks to high heaven. It started off very well but the story never really developed. I never really knew what was going on. By the end I had lost interest. I still love the King and will alway buy his books on their release date.
Rating:
Summary: LOVE TAKEN FOR GRANTED
Review: I bought this book some time ago. I haven't read a King book since The Green Mile. I guess I was burned out....I have read almost all his books. He was part of my life and I enjoyed the ride but I took him for granted. Just like Mike took Jo for granted and was unaware sometimes of her presence. But I enjoyed the book and couldn't put it down. The scene with the ghostly goodbye should effect anyone who has lost a loved one and wish to see them again...it was moving. I won't take King for granted anymore. I will relish our companionship as we both get older.
Rating:
Summary: Stevie King comes of age
Review: This book shows a novelist practicing for 20 years and finally getting it right. The book seems almost like a formula for a good read, but I think he discovered the formula for himself by hard work, not by going to some school :) The Bridges of Madison County comes to mind, Clint Eastwood coming of age. A 40+ novelist loses his novelist wife, then gets a 20-something cutie to go for him, and he is rich enough to afford both her and her cutie daughter. That much sounds like King himself letting his libido show. Then he grafts onto it a scary story about a haunted house, evil old men and women, drowned kids, laughing blues singers from the turn of the century, and scatters Maine lore throughout to keep you turning pages. The only criticism is that the first 100 pages are too slow. After that it picks up. People reading 300, even 400 of the 529 pages and quitting don't realize there is a great ending, so do finish.The satire on the publishing industry is an added bonus for aspiring novelists :)
Rating:
Summary: When will you resume your writing, Steve ?
Review: I hope there are other people like me out there, people who read all Stephen King's books, who where disappointed by most of them (especially at the end where obviously SK panicks about finishing his book with some kind of - usually missed - climax), yet who loved "Misery" and "Dolores Claiborne" because the only monsters were 100% human. Cujo was very good too. To these people, I advise to skip "Bag of Bones". Once more, SK puts in some useless "Fantastic" (a haunted house, can you believe it ?). Still, a few good kingisms (e.g. the CYBERSPACE SCARED ME SO BAD I DOWNLOADED IN MY PANTS sticker which made me laugh for about 2 days). Please Steve, keep them simple...
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good
Review: Bloated? Of course, this is Stephen King. But still it's one of his better books of the last 10 years or so, during which time even one of his short stories runs 40 pages. I don't think he could write a shopping list under 10 pages. But I digress. The book is good at 530 pages. At 400 pages, which Koontz could have done it in, it would have been excellent. At 350, which Bentley Little could have done it in, it might have been great
Rating:
Summary: Horrifically enchanting
Review: Although a different direction for King, his new work lives up to his reputation. I was not only scared, I was worried for some of the characters. I was even a bit upset at one point, but I could not put this book down. (I read it when I should have been studying!)
Rating: 
Summary: This book is trash.
Review: I wonder if Stephen King even wrote this book. It lacked all of the character development and realistic dialogue that he has made his trade mark. In terms of likeable characters, I could have lined all of them up by mid-book and shot them. There's not a likeable character in the book. In addition, this book was a complete cliche. Boo! Hiss!
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