Desperation by Stephen King

Description

Several cross-country travelers–including a writer, a family on vacation, and a professor and his wife–end up in the little mining town of Desperation, where a crazy policeman and evil forces force them to fight for their lives. 1,750,000 first printing. $1,000,000 ad/promo. BOMC Main.

Editorial Review

A notice to those who feel that Stephen King has lost his magic touch: Desperation is the genuine goods. The ensemble cast of ordinary Americans thrown together by chance, including a disgruntled alcoholic writer and a child who is wise beyond his years, may be a bit too familiar. But the nearly deserted Nevada mining town with an enormous haunted mine pit and an abandoned movie theatre where the survivors hang out makes for a striking battleground, and the grisly action rarely flags. Best of all, though, are the characters of Tak, the ancient body-hopping evil who emerges from the mine, and of “God”–whom the New York Times describes as “the edgiest creation in Desperation. Remote, isolated, ironic, shrouded behind disguises, perhaps 'another legendary shadow,' this deity forms a sly foil, and an icy mirror, to Tak.”