Joyland

Held my interest. Kept me glued to my e-reader. Brought back memories of what life was like in the 1970s when I was young. Stephen King and I were born in the same year. Many of his books have given me a bitter sweet look back at a time that is no more. Thank you, Mr. King.

"Joyland" is my favorite of the short novels Stephen King wrote for Hard Case Crime. In fact, I liked it so much, that I might suggest it to anyone new to Stephen King's work as a comparatively painless and accessible introduction to his literary world.Many of King's recurring themes - an alienated Yankee protagonist, nostalgia for the late 60s/early 70s, precocious children, psychic flashes, an attraction to low-brow pop culture, a ghost story out of an urban legend, repeated references to New England - are all here. The amusement park/carnival setting, as well as the mid-Atlantic location of the main action, help to set this one apart as does the relatively streamlined storytelling. This is a book you could easily complete in a weekend and, as such, it's certainly more accessible an entry point than trying to tackle "The Stand" or "It."I make no claims that this is classic King. The novel is at its best when it indulges in a memoir-like feel and the insider lingo that comes from the behind-the-scenes setting of the Coney Island-like Joyland. I enjoyed the novel far less when it finally segued into more of a mystery direction, because King is not particularly strong at writing mysteries. I expected this because this is a Hard Case publication, but that doesn't mean I was thrilled with it. Nevertheless, even when the characters start playing amateur detective, I was compelled to keep reading to see what happened on the next page.Be forewarned - Hard Case has some of the most misleading cover art in the business. Despite what you might think from the cover art and the blurb, this is not a slasher novel about a stalker!

I want to start my review by copying/pasting a post I wrote in the amazon discussion boards in response to all the complaints about there not being an e-book for this novel available at this time. This also goes out to everyone posting a 1 star review for the same reason. Also I use the words TRUE FANS in my review title because real and true fans of Stephen King could care less about the publication form and collect his works because there are few authors who can write the amazing novels/short-story collections that are so imaginative and descriptive and in so many genres as SK does. I understand that there are some readers who need e-books for reasons of eyesight, arthritis, etc. I have enough faith in SK that he will eventually put this novel in other forms besides paperback like he has in other publications that were released in only one form to start with.SK has a long history of publishing his stories/novels only in certain formats for the express purposes of creating an atmosphere. The ones that come to mind are The Mist, The Storm of the Century, the joint publications of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer and Rose Red, and finally UR. The Mist was originally published as a "3-d sound" audiobook. In the hopes of enhancing his readers imagination this short story was made into an audiobook with a unique 3-d sound stereo effect. With the background noise, excellent voice actors, 3-d stereo effect, etc. the fear and panic the characters feel was geniusly portrayed (if you can find it I highly recommend this to all). This was eventually published in a short story collection, adapted into movie format and can also be purchased individually. The Storm of the Century was published as a "novel for television." SK did this not only because the larger cast of characters would make this almost impossible to publish it in just one book in written form, but in order to portray the immensity of the storm. Once again this was eventually released in written form (the script was published in paperback). I have both the script and the movie and I love to read the script while watching the movie to see the differences. Another concept SK tried in order to enhance the atmosphere intended was the joint publication of the book The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer and the movie Rose Red. Under the pseudonym Joyce Reardon SK published in paperback form The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer in order to provide a more detailed background into not only the characters, but also the house (a character in its own rights) Rose Red. The cover of the book has a note for readers to watch Stephen King's Rose Red. Publishing the book before the movie once again helped to enhance the readers (or in this case the watchers) imagination and create the intended atmosphere. Last on my list is the more recent UR. Because of the theme this was originally published in e-book format. You definitely would have not shared the characters feelings if this was first read in paperback form. Hence SK decision, once again, to publish this in only one form at first (this can now be purchased in audiobook form.on to my actual review. this novel was as much of a great read as all his others are. I don't want to go into any detail of the story and ruin it for other readers with spoilers, so here is a small description. the basis of the novel is about a college student who gets a summer job at an amusement park, makes friends with others that are both living in the same boarding house, but also on the same "work team" at the park. at the park learns about the local legend regarding the funhouse's history and the resultant haunting. from there it just gets better and better as only Stephen King can do. the story's main character, Devin, is now much older and is narrating the story through flashbacks. at times while trying to tell about a certain part that happened during that summer the character seemed to get sidetracked with other side stories. at first I found that annoying. but, I started to think that that is what people do in real life so why is that not portrayed as much in novels. So I actually found that feature to increase the realism of the story for me. yes, I know this is fiction, but we all read books with our imaginations flowing as if the story is happening for real.in conclusion I encourage anyone who is a fan of mystery books to give this a try. Even if you aren't a fan of SK I think you would enjoy this novel as his descriptions aren't as "hard core" as some of his longer books. some have stated they dislike his work if he gets too descriptive with violence and/or sex for their taste to handle. that is not the case here so I think you could take a chance with this one.

Parts of it were a little drawn out but I enjoyed it. My favorite author is Dean Koontz, I guess I'm more use to his pace in writing. I would recommend this book to others.

I'm old enough to have read Stephen King's first novel, Carrie, when it first came out, way back in 1974. Since then I've devoured many of his books, and consider him to be one of the greatest contemporary writers out there (and he's literally quite often 'out there'). He has a phenomenal imagination, and creates some wonderful, memorable characters, whom he brings magically alive within the pages of his novels. However, even I sometimes get frustrated with some of his over-blown offerings, and believe some of his huge doorstep novels could easily be edited down by a good hundred pages. So, for those who want a 'less than 300 page' Stephen King novel (and one that's not HORROR) then you may well enjoy this book that is written for the Hard Case Crime series.I thoroughly enjoyed Joyland. The protagonist within this story is college student, Dev Jones. To earn some money to fund his studies, he decides to get himself a summer job at a fairground called Joyland. Dev gets the opportunity to learn all aspects of the 'carny' life, and even surprises himself when he gets to excel at 'wearing the fur' - and to find out what that term means, you'll need to read the book folks! Dev makes friends with Erin and Tom, fellow students who are also working at Joyland. As time goes by, Dev finds out that in recent times a girl had been murdered whilst on a ride through The Horror House - you know, the kind of place where you'll see a spiders web-encrusted sign reading: COME IN IF YOU DARE! So, while Dev works hard, and has his coming-of-age experiences, he also has a secret desire to solve a murder. This is storytelling of the highest order, and I relished every moment I spent with Joyland. Highly recommended reading material. Thanks for checking out my review, I hope you found it of use. 📚📖=😊

Before I begin this review, I’m going to start with “Wow! What a read!” Hopefully that pulls you in for the rest of my review!There’s a few things to say about King - Firstly, he’s entirely type-cast as a horror author. This book refutes that. Secondly, he sets scenes and builds character like no-one else in the game. Thirdly, he writes tales of youth and nostalgia so cinematically it’s impossible not to be immersed in the action.On a podcast the other day, I heard it said about King - “He writes places and characters so well, that when he writes something into the narrative like a psychic child, or a ghost, or something paranormal, you can accept it because of the realism of everything else going on. The craziness becomes plausible because of the normality of the world he’s created”.This book is not gorey. It’s not remotely scary. What it is, is a tale of a man looking back on the summer he grew up, how he overcame his first lost love (which unless you married your high school sweetheart, we’ve all been through!), and interwoven was a couple of sub-stories which actually allowed this book to have a decent climax.Not a word was wasted in this book, the prose entirely beautiful and nostalgic, the tales funny, witty and charming. And then, in the rarest of rares, Stephen King finished a story perfectly, and second rarest of rares, I had tears streaming down my face.As I read this book, I had my review in mind, it was headed for a solid 4-star from very early on, but that last 10% had me standing up and applauding.This is King at his best. Struggling off the “slasher” tag and taking us on a beautiful emotional journey. This feels like a shorter, warm-up for 11/22/63, which is a must read if you loved Joyland!

I went into this book not knowing what to really expect, just hearing mixed reviews about it, with people either liking this book, or simply saying that it's not one of King's best books. I obviously had to buy it and read it for myself, with it being one of the books of his I have been wanting to read for a while, simply because it has been one of the ones I know the least about and one I see popping up everywhere. How does that work?I will admit that I went into this book with low expectations, that way they can only go up, and I honestly wouldn't have been able to tell that King had written this book for the first third of the book. That's not necessarily a bad thing because I was still enjoying, but I was expecting something weird to happen throughout that time, apart from the carny fortune teller. I actually really liked the pacing of this book and although you do get some King elements thrown in, with supernatural sprinkled throughout the latter two thirds, I liked the overall mystery crime element of this book.I was drawn in to the mystery and I wanted to discover who the killer was, along with the characters. It is a slow burn and then everything seems to happen and conclude all at once, but I didn't feel like it was too rushed. It's not his worse ending of a book! I liked how the characters were developed throughout the book and I soon started forgetting that this book has NO CHAPTERS! My biggest pet peeve, why?? Overall, I actually enjoyed it, and was a great break from The Stand by Stephen King, which I'm also currently reading.

This book is deceptive in its simplicity. The plot is fairly straightforward, and there is plenty in there for the Constant Readers out there. There are nods to Tolkein and King's own past as an upcoming writer. We meet Devin much in the same way we meet the 18 year old King in the preface to the Dark Tower. Full of hopes and dreams, but painfully naive, just like the rest of us. There are a few heavy handed tropes in the opening paragraphs to pull you in, but nothing cringe-worthy, and you just glide along with it. I have to admit to being a massive King fan, so it's not hard to drag me in to one of his books, but even for the uninitiated, this books is beautifully written.From there we start to learn more about Joyland, and the people behind it. Although it's billed as a horror story, there isn't much blood, and the horror is contained in the 'dark ride' and the fragility of human life. The suspense and anticipation comes from the idea that this horror could be released somehow. This tension builds throughout and the ending will not disappoint.I don't want to write more and risk spoiling the plot, but this book touched me and stayed with me. The last few pages were read through teary eyes. You will find part of yourself in this book, the part of you that you lost years ago and can never get back.

A short one by Kings standards but a memorable one - this one of his best. Great story and characters and the pacing was just right. A great coming of age story of a young man who works at an amusement park. The story follows the protagonist, his friendships and moving from kidulthood to adulthood against a backdrop of a heinous murder in one of the fairgrounds rides.This is a massively underrated King novel that seems to have flown under the radar of King fans and critics