Krishna
Stephen King is one of the favourite authors we review. He has written many stories including supernatural and the other King Queen Fairytale called The Eyes of the Dragon which we have reviewed earlier. He has, of course written many others we have met before, for example, From a Buick 8. Let us dive into this story. Starts as a modern social story but takes a turn midway.
The story is narrated by Charlie. His mother is killed one freak day. The Sycamore Street bridge, which was wooden, was re-done in steel since the bridge was considered unsafe. The family of the narrator lived on Sycamore street and his mother said that she will walk across the street to the opposite side where the Zip Store was selling groceries (and chicken) and died that day.
The father, who was a moderate drinker started drinking heavily from that day on.
One day, when Charlie is cycling he is near the ‘spooky house’ owned by an old man and who lives alone with a dog. He hears the dog whining and he goes in, climbing over the fence, to see what the matter is. He sees the old man Howard Bowditch, down on the ground with a broken leg. He helps the old man to the hospital and gains a friendship with the dog Radar. He, Charlie, gains slowly the trust of the old man and comes to love the dog.
There is a long section about the growing bond with the dog, which is clearly old and does not have a lot of time to live, with Charlie. Also a growing trust between Howard Bowditch and Charlie. He even trusts Charlie with financial matters where Charlie gives some gold pellets for sale to fund the hospital stay of Bowditch. Howard pays him a weekly salary for all the work done, but admires that he was willing to do it all for free.
Meanwhile, there is a mysterious thing in the shed which bangs the doors – lightly at first but later with increasing violence.
It freaks out both Radar and Charlie, but Howard is unfazed and says ‘he will go and handle it’. He goes in, shoots at something and then comes back out.
By the way, the person who helped exchange gold was murdered – Charlie saw the news in the back pages of a newspaper accidentally and wondered briefly if Howard’s life is in danger.
Soon thereafter, he has a heart attack and dies in the hospital. Contrary to expectations Radar outlived him. He has met his attorney, as Charlie learns. The hospital wants an ID of Bowditch.
‘Even an expired license would do’ says the physiotherapist Melissa. Before Howard died, he said that everything Charlie needs is under the bed. Charlie finds a wallet, a gun and a cassette tape and for the time being, keeps it all – except the wallet – a secret from even his own dad. He also does not talk about the gold pellets.
The dog of course, cannot be left at Howard’s. He brings Radar home. After the funeral, Charlie and his dad are completely stunned to learn that Howard had left everything he owned to Charlie.
When he goes back, alone, to the house, he finds that it has been vandalized (The gate is open and the back door has been forced open).
The safe was ‘safe’ and the thieves were unable to get to it. Coming back, Charlie plays the tape and the unbelievable tale is surprising. First Howard claims that he is one hundred and twenty years old. He came back as his own son in order not to arouse suspicion.
Based on the (sparse) description, and mainly motivated by a way to extend Radar’s life, Charlie goes alone down the hole. He glimpses the giant cockroaches but no rabbits. He goes towards the light and sees three big spires in the distance – and a cottage that he decides not to investigate. But sees shoes hanging out to dry. He meets an old woman who collects shoes and makes friends with her.
When he comes back, he is confronted by a little man who killed the gold trader and is on to him. After a fantastic scene he overpowers him and gains control of the gun.
He then decides to take Radar to the place to extend the old dog’s life. He meets the shoe lady in the cottage, whose face is melting, then he meets Goose Girl who has no mouth and later meets a man in a cottage who asks him to hurry. That man is blind. Then he meets the final sister, who has no ears and cannot hear.
He tells how to get past the evil Hansa and the story really takes on a fairy tale hue. You need to go through her house but when you see her eating. You should get inside a wagon with no front wheels before dark. After using the sundial, you should come back while Hansa is still sleeping. And so on. All of it is extremely fascinating in the hands of the master storyteller Stephen King.
They restore the youth of Radar but on the way back, the imp whom Charlie had offended (while he was torturing a red giant grasshopper) takes his revenge my washing all the marks of AB made by Adrian.
He almost reaches the gate when he is captured by the Night Soldiers but has Radar escape! He is thrown in the dungeon.
The problem with this is that it seems like another story where the thirty two prisoners are trained first and then set one against the other in random order until one of them is dead. After the first round, Charlie devices a plan to take them out. After taking care of the Night Soldiers who have an electric like aura that paralyzes on touch (inspired by a hair dryer wielded by Leah in his dream), and aided by both the Red Grasshopper he saved from an evil imp and by a message from friends, he manages to escape, killing Hanna’s daughter, who is the consort of the Flight Killer, in the process.
After reaching safety, in the company of friends he had made, he finds that he needs to go back and stop the evil Flight Killer from releasing the biggest monster of all. Armed with some of his friends, the Red Grasshopper and Radar, he goes back in!
See? The story does not hang together like most stories. It wanders into subplots and back, which can be confusing if you are not paying attention and annoying if you are.
Let us assume that it still makes a lot of sense, especially it comes back to the old friends Charlie had and their final assault to free the Kingdom. Still, the way they got rid of the biggest evil of all (Yes, there are multiple layers of monsters here) is thoroughly disappointing, right up there with the ending of the other excellent book, Under the Dome, which we have reviewed earlier.
Which is why I will give this book just a moderate rating, even if the ending of the book is satisfying (and the only logical ending possible).
6/10.
— Krishna