Krishna
OK, the book was officially written by Richard Bachman but by now we all know that Richard Bachman was an earlier pseudonym for Stephen King, so I credit the real name instead of the abandoned pen name. If he was still writing as Bachman it would be one thing but if he himself stopped writing with that name, then I think we want to give him his due. (And look at the book covers of the story now too!)
And Stephen King is also one of the most often reviewed authors here earlier. See for instance, our earlier looks at his Under The Dome or 12/23/63.
This is a nice, short book, but a very interesting one at that. It has an unlikely villain who is not very smart and is lost without directions but he wants to manage a huge heist by kidnapping the child of a very wealthy man so that he can claims ransom and retire for good. He planned this heist with the brain behind the scheme, George, his close friend and partner in crime. This man is a giant in physical form and a child in mental abilities. His nickname is Blaze.
Blaze is asked by George to hot wire a car – for the first time. We quickly learn the back story. Blaze is the stupid one and George the mastermind. He has plotted with Blaze to kidnap a wealthy child for ransom so that they never have to do any criminal activity – or work of any kind – for life. However the ‘George’ who instructed Blaze to hotwire and steal a car is already dead and Blaze has him in his mind. The child they plan to kidnap is in a house whose alam system was set up by George who worked for the security firm by day. Now Blaze decides to go through with it alone anyway.
Now Blaze was born big, named Clayton Blaisdel Jr. He lost his mother early but was very bright and well read, even though he was large for his age. Father’s abuse made him a moron and gave him the name Blaze.
Blaze tries (“as per the advice from mental George”) a small robbery to see if he is capable but then ‘forgets to put on the stocking over his face’ revealing his features to everyone present there. When he spends all the money on baby supplies he robs the same bank again.
Once he was sent to a family who took him only because he was big and can do chores around the house. But he was only good at splitting logs and when he killed a dog and broke some equipment, they ‘returned’ him to the orphanage. John, a boy he was protecting from bullies was happy to have him back.
Bumbling and fumbling, Blaze nevertheless manages to kidnap the rich man’s baby. The story alternates between old and new where Blaze earlier manages to run away with John to Boston after finding quite a bit of money in a purse. He is amazed at Boston’s size and bustle.
When they blow up the cash and come back, John drops dead of an illness within a couple of days.
Blaze slowly learns to care for the baby. He vacates his house for the boarded up orphanage just two hours ahead of police reaching his house, without knowing it.
In the back story, Blaze goes to a farm where a kind man gets people (young violent offenders including Blaze) into the farm to teach them skills so that they can be lured away from crime. Seeing Blaze drive the tractor with skill, he offers to keep him permanently in the farm. Just as Blaze had his hopes high, the man fell down, dead of a heart attack and Blaze had to return to Hettie House.
He makes another bumbling attempt to collect ransom through a public phone, even giving his real name and just went a short time before the police came to that phone. Due to a snow drift, he was lucky that all his traces were obliterated.
His back story is explained. How he moved from small cons and honest work to bigger cons when he met George and became his partner and how they played all harmless cons until George went to jail and got the idea of ‘one big con – kidnapping a baby for ransom’ so that they can get out of the cat and mouse game with police all the time and retire in a foreign land. How he got roped into it, how George pushed a dangerous man too hard in a card game and paid the price.
The affection Blaze develops for the baby Joe IV, is beautifully told and how he learns to care for it.
His final attempts to hide in a cave and increasingly panicked reaction when the FBI and police spread their dragnets, is also convincingly told. It is very sad to see his get deeper and deeper into trouble even though you instinctively know he is not a bad man by nature.
The ending is touching and you have the satisfaction of having read an unusual and beautifully told tale.
8/10
– – Krishna