Bag of Bones - Softcover

King, Stephen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 067102423X ISBN 13: 9780671024239

Publisher: Pocket Books, 1999

Synopsis

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King, a powerful tale of grief, of love's enduring bonds, and the haunting secrets of the past. Four years after the sudden death of his wife, forty-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan is still grieving. Unable to write, and plagued by vivid nightmares set at the western Maine summerhouse he calls Sara Laughs, Mike reluctantly returns to the lakeside getaway. There, he finds his beloved Yankee town held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, whose vindictive purpose is to take his three-year-old granddaughter, Kyra, away from her widowed young mother, Mattie. As Mike is drawn into Mattie and Kyra's struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations and escalating terrors. What are the forces that have been unleashed here -- and what do they want of Mike Noonan? It is no secret that King is one of our most mesmerizing storytellers. In Bag of Bones, he proves to be one of our most moving as well.

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:

Anne Rivers Siddons

"Mademoiselle"

This is King at his clever, terrifying best.

"San Diego Union Tribune"

For those of you who think that Stephen King writes only horror fiction, think again....In "Bag Of Bones," King offers readers a rare blend of luminous prose, thought-provoking themes and masterful storytelling.

"Entertainment Weekly"

"Bag of Bones" is, hands down, King's most narratively subversive fiction. Whenever you're positive -- just positive! -- you know where this ghost story is heading, that's exactly when it gallops off in some jaw-dropping new direction.

Amy Tan

What I admire most about "Bag of Bones" is its intelligence of voice, not only the craftsmanship -- the indelible sense of place, the well-fleshed characters, the unstoppable story line -- but the witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination. It places both the ghost story and Stephen King in their proper place on the shelf of literary American fiction.

"People" magazine

"Bag of Bones" proves that King is as seductive a storyteller as ever, pulling readers along as he explores the hidden evils of small-town America.

"Newsweek"

Contains some of [King's] best writing...This is King's most romantic book, and ghosts are up and about from the get-go....The big surprise here is the emotional wallop the story packs.

"Minneapolis Star Tribune"

King has honed his talent into a unique American voice, broader and more ambitious than most of his peers...."[Bag of Bones]" has depth....It's a ghost story, a love story, a story about race and power...One more thing: Yes, it's scary. Of "course" it's scary.

"Atlanta Journal & Constitution"

It may be that after thirty-one novels, Stephen King is just getting started...."Bag of Bones" may be Stephen King's most ambitious novel ...the effort has inspired a new directness and maturity in his work....Very few writers can convey the passive terrors of nightmares better than King, and he crafts one amazing dream sequence after another.

"The New York Times Book Review"

Stephen King is so widely accepted as America's master of paranormal terrors that you can forget his real genius is for the everyday...This is a book about reanimation: the ghosts', of course, but also Mike's, his desire to re-embrace love and work after a long bereavement that King depicts with an eye for the kind of small but moving details that don't typically distinguish blockbuster horror novels.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pocket Books
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 067102423X
• ISBN 13: 9780671024239
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 752