Name & Author: Joyland by Stephen King
Publisher: Hard Case Crime
Release Date: June 4th 2013
Genres: Fiction, Mystery/Crime, Horror
Summary:
Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. Joyland is a brand-new novel and has neverpreviously been published. -Goodreads
My Thoughts:
This isn’t a typical Stephen King novel. The book doesn’t have the horror factor and isn’t over 800 pages long. But like his other books this one is beautifully written and Stephen King really has the gift of telling stories and keeping the reader reading on.
I think that many readers picked this book up expecting something completely different, I did. I was expecting a horror story, then a crime thriller (it is at parts) but the book is really a coming of age story.
Devin Jones is a 21 year old University student who gets a job at an amusement park after his girlfriend dumped him. There he hears the story of Linda Gray. Four years previously she was murdered and left in the Haunted – House Ride at Joyland, the amusement part Devin works at. Devin gets fascinated by the story and often wonders what really happened to Linda Gray.
Most of the story is about Devin’s life, his ex-girlfriend and his work. During his stay at the amusement park he grows up. He saves a child’s life during one of his 15 minutes shift as Howie the Happy Hound and meets lot of really grate people.
It isn’t until the end that the reader gets to know what happened to Linda Gray, who murdered her.
This book was a surprise and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4/5 stars!
DiljaReads 