Joyland

Apparently we are on a pretty hard Stephen King binge here at Whiskey Before Breakfast. It's summer after all and although I wouldn't put King's novels in the "Beach Book" category, he's nonetheless a Big Mac and fries kind of author (he said it himself, look here). Somehow McDonald's and summertime reading are related. Aside from that, both Spence and I share a slightly disturbing love for this man's work and of the macabre he chooses to write on. So, without further ado, I give you Stephen King's newest novel, Joyland.

If you were to climb back into the depths of our blog you would probably uncover a couple more Stephen King reviews lurking behind a pile of cat skulls or eating the remains of that black ooze leaking from the post above it. Yet, with all the hotel hauntings and broken ankles that King has forever burned into our mortal memories, this time around he's decided to pursue the longtime niche genre of Hard Case Crime, a brand of novels that were huge when King was younger. Joyland is part mystery, part Hardy Boys, part coming of age and small part ghost story (just to reminded the reader that it's Stephen King writing after all).

It's a novel that centers around the twenty-one year old college student, Devin Jones, who takes up a summer job at the carnival/amusement park Joyland in the summer of 1973. The story takes place in Heaven's Bay, North Carolina, which, to any die-hard King fan, knows this is surprisingly outside the normal setting the author usually deals with. Don't worry though, Devin is from Maine so it's not completely without ties to the homeland. When the novel opens, Devin has just taken up residence at a local beach-side accommodation where he learns of the legendary murder of Linda Gray, a girl who was visiting Joyland four years before with her secret lover, only to have been murdered in the classic carny attraction, Horror House. This is where you would think the novel would barrel headfirst into a Mystery Gang search for the killer and put whatever is haunting the Horror House to rest, but much of this is shoved to the side as the story of Devin takes over.

This work is very much the story of a young man confronting heartbreak and the effects that follow along with the ebbs and flows of hardship that every life seems to bring. A central theme would be "coming-of-age" much similar to that of King's short story "The Body", except with a slightly older crowd. The reader learns the carny lingo, otherwise known as the Talk, as well as what "wearing the fur" means (which, to be honest, didn't turn out as horrific as I had imagined). Devin grows up and changes as the novel progresses and the reader does right along side him. But, because this is a King novel, much of the book is spent on developing character and character relationships. I would say this was the one downfall of the work because not much happens until the last twenty pages or so. This isn't to say that the novel is a bust or not worth your while, but it was somewhat jarring when I hit page 250 and was suddenly thrown back into Hardy Boy mode. All in all though, the ending is a solid one and will pull at those heart-guts and leave every reader satisfied.

I'm usually not one for mystery novels (in fact, I hate them), but because my boy Stephen King is such a great writer I am throwing this one up on the Summer Reading List for you guys. But, in light of it not being a true "horror novel", some of you may actually brave a King novel for the first time, and to that I say, "about time!" So, don your detective caps and break out those family photos from the 70s (you know, the ones that Nickleback likes to sing about) and settle in for a good summer read.

-- Zach