Have you ever read a Stephen King Novel?

Step-brat was always a huge fan and I used to be impressed by the fact that he could devour a thousand page novel in a matter of days. And to tell you the truth I have surprised myself by getting through this one in a fortnight, considering the fact that the first few pages made me want to hurl it across the room.
Have you ever had an excited teenager tell you about the film they have just really enjoyed? Well that is Stephen King's writing style – irritating beyond belief!

Yes, he can tell a great story and has a wonderful imagination, the films that have been made of his novels are testament to that: The Green Mile, The Shawshank Redemption plus a great many more that are not to my taste: Carrie, The Shining.

But the book is practically a screenplay, leaving very little to the reader's imagination: violence, injuries, blood-spurts and stains all described in minute detail as though the reader were the camera operator on set and permission to view the scene from any other than the prescribed angle is denied.

While the story is high-adrenaline, the words-to-story ratio is low, meaning that it is necessary to turn more pages to discover what happens next, which results in late nights and reduced time spent enjoying blip. He's definitely writing for schoolboys.

What has kept me engaged, apart from being shut indoors without anything else to read, is the fact that the storyline has tremendous similarities to current affairs more recent than the publication date of this book. It was published in 2009 and describes family members going to visit relatives who are trapped behind an enormous window – they can see but they cannot touch. It also describes a tin-pot dictator getting out of his league, and, spoiler alert,


a blast spookily similar to the one in Beirut on 4th August 2020.

Don't worry, the library has found me another book to read now.