4.5 out of 5 Stars
I have to say that I loved this book. I had a copy of this on my shelf for years and never read it. Eventually I decided it was time to let it go since I seemed to never have the desire to pick it up. So by happenstance I was at the library and looking for another King book, sadly that one was unavailable but this one was there and I realized now was the time. I am glad I did so because I have been missing out on a good book for a long time.
The books begins with the history of Thad Beaumont and the tumor that was removed from his head at 11 years old. Yet the tumor turns out to be his twin growing inside his head. The tumor has an eyeball and is moving. It scares a nurse and the surgeon decides to never tell the family what was found in their sons head. Thad recovers and goes on to become a published author.
Well just like a lot of authors, especially the author of this book, Thad creates a pseudonym after publishing his first book, a vile man named George Stark. Stark becomes the author of his best selling books about a violent criminal named Alexis Machine. yet after a few best selling novels Thad and his family are being threatened by an ambitious individual who forces Thad to reveal himself as George Stark. Figuratively killing him in the process. George Stark is not ready to die and he comes back with a violent vengeance.
This could have been a book that chronicled Thad’s early years and went into more detail regarding the creation of George Stark and the reason Thad and his wife Liz have such strong feelings towards him when he “returns” but it doesn’t do that other than in a couple of exposition dumps that quickly get you to the present day without dwelling to long on the minor details of the in between stuff. A thing many authors have been known to do is dwell on that in-between for a long time and draw out the backstory. King himself has been known to do this but he barrels through this story and keeps the pacing going the whole time.
King himself has said he wrote this book as a reflection on his relationship to his pen name Richard Bachman. I also think this is one of those times that King branches out into a slightly different style of writing. Not full horror but more of a suspenseful horror. He has always had a level of suspense in his novels this one is probably the first one that moves like a suspense novel. In fact it is a book that reads like a King book but moves like another author all together. It may be that one author wrote the words but another one structured the book. This book also comes after years of addiction and feels like a new beginning.
I will say this the book he published right before this one was The Tommyknockers, which is wildly perceived to be his most ridiculous book and full of a lot of wandering and missed moments. So to come from Tommyknockers into The Dark Half feels almost crazy but I think this is the start of King really honing his craft. Not to say he doesn’t have true masterpieces published before this just that after this period he starts to be better at keeping the meandering from taking over the pages.
Overall this is a solid 4.5 out of 5 for me. Loved it and would recommend to friends and family.
The Fresh Persepctive 