Book #11: Desperation by Stephen King
Desperation by Stephen King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I read this book many years ago, but after being told that this one forms a "pair" with Stephen King's book, "The Regulators" (written under the Richard Bachman pseudonym), I felt I had to read it again. I don't know if there is any specific reading order for the two books, but I did notice that this book once again had Tak as the villain, and I recognised a couple of other names from The Regulators.
This book is described as "apocalyptic" and bears comparison to The Stand, in that it involves a group of characters forced together in a weird horror/sci fi/fantasy scenario. In this case, they all end up meeting because when they attempt to pass through the town of Desperation, the police arrest them on faked charges, and throw them in the police lock up together. When they do manage to escape, they find that almost everyone in town is dead. Tak is able to possess dead people, and apparently control animals, as he attempts to keep all the travellers in Desperation, and the book also hints at what his origin may be.
Reading this again, I found it a little difficult at times; first off, there are a lot of flashbacks, particularly as the characters are introduced, so I found myself having to pay attention, particularly as the narrative felt a bit long-winded at times. I'd forgotten almost everything that happened, so it was good to read the book again, and it wasn't too difficult to follow. I noticed that there was a heavy focus on religion. One of the more interesting characters is a boy called David who witnessed his friend being mysterious healed, and so is constantly putting his faith in God to save them, a faith that ends up being shaken throughout the course of the book.
Overall, I was glad I took the trouble to re-read this, and I think I got more out of it on the second read.
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