★★★☆☆ | Mystery-Suspense | Audio | Borrow | StoryGraph | Goodreads
I listened to this on audiobook and was put off by the strong Maine accent of the narrator — too heavy to be understood at first — but it slowly grew on me.
This is one of Stephen King‘s Hard Case Crime books (Joyland and Later were the other two and I’ve read them both). I’ve wanted to buy a slew of books of this mystery/crime series just to have on the shelf for when I need a quick read. I still might.
Spoiler follows …
The mystery here was well told, but the ending was unusual. Unlike most stories like this, there was no solution, no resolution. It’s rare that a story is left hanging in the air, but Mr. King did so for a purpose, to say that life itself rarely has neat and tidy endings, so why should these stories? I think he’s breaking a cardinal rule of storytelling that his fame has allowed him to pull over on the reader. I cry foul.
Still, it was educational for me to hear the master talk about what makes a story a story and complements the other story book I’m reading right now — Storycraft by Jack Hart.