The Bachman Books / Thinner / The Tommyknockers

So let's talk Bachman.

1 [Rage] - I know Stephen had this one pulled from publication and I totally understand why he did it. I wouldn't argue with that at all. But, I will say, if you can find it... read it. It's excellent. Briefly we tag along with an adolescent who takes a classroom at his school hostage. Not the only time King has written about something like this, but I think this is the best. We really do get to ride in the mind of the shooter. Seeing and hearing and feeling the things he sees, hears, and feels. It's not a story that makes him sympathetic, but of the few stories I've read in this vein it feels the most real. The least sensationalized if that makes any sense. 4.5/5

2 [The Long Walk] I wasn't sure about this one when it started. It has this weird Wily Wonka/Hunger Games thing going on that I wasn't sure about. Thankfully we don't spend a lot of time with that and we get to the Long Walk, which is a literal Long Walk. If you step out of line, stop, or a handful of other things, you don't make it to the end. It's a story about relationships and, I dare say, about growing up. 4/5

3 [Roadwork] - I wasn't sure what to expect with this one. I heard someone once describe it as a Twilight Zone episode and I can't say I agree. Alfred Hitchcock Presents maybe though. Let me explain. Our hero isn't really very heroic. He's an every man that's kind of tired being an every man you could say. His house is going to be torn down to make room for a new road and he's got some plans to keep it from happening. We learn about his job, his family life, how he plans on getting this road stopped, it ends up with a stand off with the police. 3.5/5

4 [The Running Man] - If you're thinking that the Arnold movie was taken directly form this story. Well you should really know better. If they'd made the movie based on this I'd have liked it a lot more. The Arnold version is a little action movie. This doesn't feel like an action movie. It's more drama, it's more thrilling, it's less explosions and more cloak and dagger. Essentially the idea is the same, a man has a bounty put on him and he's got to evade capture/death for X hours and he wins. Except in this game, the house always wins. Or does it? It's excellent. 4/5

5 [Thinner] - Oddly enough this is one of the Stephen King stories that made it to the big screen with very little editing. If you've seen the movie, you know the story. But if you haven't an opulent man, named Bill, accidentally kills an elderly woman with his car. The father of the woman places a curse on Bill which causes him to physically waste away. Bill wants to stop this curse, obviously, but he doesn't go about it in a nice redemption arc kind of way. 3.5/5

6 [The Tommyknockers] - Stephen has said that he doesn't really like this one anymore. I happen to enjoy it quite a bit. I remember seeing the made for tv version of it when I was a kid and it kind of always stuck with me. Probably the rhyme, you know the one. The book tells the same story of course but it almost feels like parts of It and Salem's Lot. One thing I enjoyed in both of those other stories is that the places, the towns, are characters. They live and breath and effect the story and are effected by the story. As this story goes on it really starts to feel the same to me. It's a little different as it's not the town itself but the people in it, but the vibe is the same and I love that. It is a little heavy handed with the metaphor. In fact I'd go as far to say that it's not a metaphor at all. If you every wanted to read a Stephen King anti nuke text... here ya go. 4/5