Joyland

I enjoyed this Stephen King novel as much as any I have read of his in a long while. King captures the life of a 21 year-old in 1973. At the center of this novel is an unsolved murder on one of the rides at an amusement park, Joyland. Some claim that the ghost of the murdered woman comes out at times. King drew me in to the time and place, and I liked the fact that there was just a small supernatural twist to this. Mostly, it\’s a college student and his friends enjoying their summer and trying to solve an old murder on the side. I found myself caring about the main character and the subplots. It\’s a short, fun, fast-moving novel. The reader is good. Overall, it was a 4.5 star book to me. It\’s a perfect summer book (light, escape fiction), with a good ending that made me round my rating up to a 5.

For those of you, like my wife, who think that Stephen King is \”just a gross horror writer,\” I ask you to read this book. I tell my wife, at least once a year, Mr. King is so much more than what you accuse him of being. She points to old movies and say\’s there\’s no character development and only blood and scary stuff. To my wife and to everyone else that consider his books no more, I offer you \”Joyland\” as proof that your wrong. Joyland is a well written story about a young man\’s life in the 1970\’s. He is losing his first true love to another man, so he tries to lose himself in work at an amusment park. Helping him stay there are good friends, life lessons, and the promise from a palm reader that he will save a life or two if he stays longer. While there he finds an unsolved murder mystery that he tries to solve. It is a \”who done it\”, wraped in a \”realistic scary story\” that\’s rolled up with \”great characters.\” It is shorter than most of his past works, so it shouldn\’t scare off too many readers that fear long books. At around 8 hours I got a great read. One last thing, for me, keeping a horror story realistic, keeping me entwined in solid characters, is better and much more scary than making it based on a bunch of blood and guts. Thank you Stephen King!!!

I have had a love/hate relationship with Stephen Kings writings over the years; I either loved or hated many of his books and TV miniseries. In this case Mr. King takes us back to the 1970s in a mystery/horror tale about a young college student struggling to come to grips with the loss of his first love. Mr. King\’s 70s are a bit anachronistic as he mentions things that either were not prevalent or hadn\’t been heard of in 1973. Devon Jones, is a bit too sensitive and effeminate for my tastes as the big hero of the piece, and the carnival talk he learns as he works at the Joyland Amusement Park sounds a bit clichd\’. I really couldn\’t decide if this was supposed to be a mystery, a horror story, or a coming of age story. We have the usual King potboiler cast of characters, the sensitive youth, psychic handicapped child, a somewhat lack-luster psychic who goes around giving Devon dire warning that he doesn\’t heed, and the ghost of a murdered woman who lives in the haunted house of the park. The performance of the reader was very good and I certainly don\’t fault him for my mixed emotions about the story. If you are expecting big chills you\’re bound to be disappointed, but the mystery part of the tale is entertaining without the help from the paranormal part of it. Final analysis: Joyland is somewhat of a hodge podge of the types of things you\’ve come to expect in a King novel–if you like his usual stick, you\’ll like this, if you\’re kind of over the formula than skip it. It rather fails as a mystery novel or a supernatural one–it\’s a book that didn\’t know exactly what it wanted to be when it grew up.

I can\’t say what it is about this book, but there is something that makes it painful to stop listening. I never wanted to stop. If you take a step back and think about the plot it really isn\’t very interesting and yet I could not get enough. Not sure if it\’s the characters or the writing, but King really draws in readers (or listeners). Definitely recommended.

Stephen King has penned his first hard crime novel in Joyland, the tale of a serial killer in a amusement park. College student Devin Jones takes a job at a amusement park one summer. It will be a summer he won\’t forget as he recovers from a broken heart, learns what life is like as a \”carny\” and tries to solve a murder. I\’m a big mystery reader. I have a whole bookcase dedicated to the greats and the more recent releases. So when I heard Stephen King was writing a mystery I was intrigued. I have loved everything King has written and I was really interested in seeing if he could pull off a mystery, without it turning into a horror \”slash-em\” novel. Well let me reassure die hard King fans – he can!! For me Joyland was more than just a murder mystery. It was a cold case murder mystery combined with a coming-of-age story that was possibly the sweetest coming-of-age story I\’ve ever read. Well if you take away the creepy-serial killer-at-a-amusement-park thing! I really enjoyed the story from Devin\’s point of view. He is young, in love, and later nurses a broken heart. His year at Joyland was the year that he grew up and learnt so much, and this comes across so clearly in both King\’s writing and Michael Kelly\’s narration. It\’s a story of heartbreak, sorrow and death. It was a story that I am so glad I read, and one I will never forget. Joyland is a intriguing mystery and a coming-of-age story all rolled into one. I highly recommend it to both King fans and mystery fans alike. Michael Kelly\’s narration was fantastic, as he tells of the highs and lows of the summer.

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