Joyland by Stephen King
Published by Hard Case Crime on June 04th 2013
Genres: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction
Pages: 296
Goodreads
All I can say is what you already know: some days are treasure. Not many, but I think in almost every life there are a few. That was one of mine, and when I’m blue — when life comes down on me and everything looks tawdry and cheap, the way Joyland Avenue did on a rainy day — I go back to it, if only to remind myself that life isn’t always a butcher’s game. Sometimes the prizes are real. Sometimes they are precious.
From the stable of Stephen King comes a tale of a young sad heartbroken man, who comes into his own in the background of an amusement park, where he plays Howie the Happy Hound. He attempts to solve the murder mystery of a girl whose ghost is seen, surprise.. surprise.. in a Horror House.
This book has a slight element of supernatural which doesn’t interfere with the story telling. This book is about feelings and emotions. As usual with the King, he does some sound character building. 10 pages into the book and your heart aches for the protagonist who goes by the name of Devin Jones. King doesn’t really describe feelings, he actually pushes your ‘empathy’ button and makes you feel the pain and the misery felt by Devin.
Devin picks up a Summer job at an amusement park called ‘Joyland’ where he is introduced to a new world of carnivals. He isn’t ‘Carny from Carny’, though deep down I suspect he must be having Carny ancestors. While at Joyland, he hears about the Ghost of a young girl who is seen at the Horror House. The girl was murdered by her boyfriend, who dumped her body in the dark recesses of the Haunted house. He begins his own private investigation into the matter.
Classifying this book was a tad bit difficult.
Its presented as a Crime novel, but didn’t really feel like one. There’s not much of the King brand of ‘Horror’. If you’ve read 11/22/63 and enjoyed it, you will enjoy this one too.
Definitely recommended for both King and Non King fans..
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