Bag of Bones - Softcover

King, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 034071820X ISBN 13: 9780340718209

Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks, 1999

Synopsis

When bestselling crime writer Mike Noonan's wife dies, he suffers from writer's block. Until he is drawn from Derry to his lakeside retreat, Sara Laughs - a house once inhabited by a famous singer. It's a community run by rich, tyrannical, wheelchair-bound Devore and his terrifying, skeletal female bookkeeper. Devore is hell-bent on getting custody of his grandchild. Three year old Kyra and her young mother, Mattie, turn to Mike for help - and Mike, besotted by Mattie, is powerless to resist. But there are others at Sara Laughs determined to prevent Mike's success - and Kyra can feel them too....

About this title

Review

Bag of Bones is partly inspired by Daphne du Maurier's classic Rebecca, but there's more than homage in this novel of horror and romance. Like du Maurier's Manderley, King's scary old place (on the shore of Maine's remote Dark Score Lake) is haunted by the late lady of the manor. There are many gory ghosts afoot though: men, women and wailing kids. The hero, a thriller novelist, stirs up hell's angry shades while investigating his wife's death. It turns out she either had a dark secret herself or was onto some dread scandal lurking in Dark Score Lake. As in King's previous book, Wizard and Glass, the fabric of reality is thin and nosy narrators are in peril of plunging right out of this world and into a rather hostile otherworld.

Bag of Bones is a writer-haunted book, too. The spirits of Herman Melville and Ray Bradbury are deeply felt, and so are the tale's two romances (the hero muses on his marriage and falls for a young single mum with a marvellous psychic daughter). There is also good- humoured satire of the real bestseller book world--the hero complains that "the publicity process is like going to a sushi bar where you're the sushi." In its deep concerns with love, sprawling families, the writer's life, endangered children and good old-fashioned storytelling, the book resembles a John Irving novel. It is also absolutely classic Stephen King, packed with nifty turns of phrase, irreverent wit and lurid ghouls who grab you from beneath the bed while you cower under the covers. --Tim Appelo, Amazon.com

Review

Accomplished...unputdownable...his mesmerising best (Robert McCrum, Observer)

BAG OF BONES
'A spooky gothic romance from a writer brave enough to build the suspense over time. As a storyteller King is unbeatable' - Mirror

'the novel's strengths - especially the vivid, claustrophobic dream scenes, and the stormy climax - should guarantee its success' - Time Out

Splendid entertainment (Frances Fyfield, Express)

Will make perfect holiday reading (Daily Mail)

'convincing when dealing with the supernatural world; the fringe magnets that spell clues of their own accord or the bell around the next of the moose over the fireplace that rings in answer to Mike's thoughts. These are the creepy touches that have sent a million shivers down as many spines' - Independent on Sunday

'the characters are well drawn...the process of writing is explored well, as are the relationships between all the protagonist's. There are some nice action sequences and an effective climax to be enjoyed - Starburst

An incredibly gifted writer...so fluid that you often forget that you're reading (Guardian)

'Accomplished demonstration of unputdownable hocus-pocus by the master of modern horror is King performing at something close to his mesmerising best' - Robert McCrum, Observer

'The past bubbles horribly into the present in a classic revenge lot. It chills as it creaks as it reads' Mail on Sunday

About this edition

• Publisher: Hodder Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 034071820X
• ISBN 13: 9780340718209
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 672