A Face in the Crowd [NOOK Book]

Disappointed

While the story was entertaining, and in classic King style, it would have been nice to know before I purchased it that the actual ebook was just 32 pages with the remaining pages being previews of two books I have already read. I love Stephen King's work, but in this case, I feel cheated. Even at $2, 32 pages is just not enough reading.

19 out of 19 people found this review helpful.

Eh

This is a short story (and not a very intriguing one at that), followed by advertisements for future books. This should have been disclosed in the overview.

14 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

Disappointed

Bought this because it had the Tampa bay rays of which I am a fan. Story was super short, and was disappointed when I got halfway through the book and realized the second half was previews of other books. Not worth the $1.99

6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Stephen King has experimented with novella e-book-only releases

Stephen King has experimented with novella e-book-only releases before,
the first being Riding the Bullet in 2000, long before the medium had
matured with the sophisticated e-book devices like Kindle, Nook or iPad.
A Face in the Crowd (Simon and Schuster Digital, $1.99) is in the same
vein, available in e-book (multiple formats) and audio book, but not in
print. Not yet, anyway. King shares the credit of this short story with
Stewart O’Nan, as he did in 2004 on Faithful, and I was pleased to see
them collaborating again, this time on a baseball-related ghost story.
King is one of the rare authors who can shift seamlessly between writing
full length novels and short stories, and anytime I indulge in reading
his work, I am richly rewarded with effortless, colorful prose and
compelling characters doing something utterly fascinating. I’m less
familiar with O’Nan, but did enjoy Faithful, about the Boston Red Sox.
The story follows Dean Evers, an old, retired widower who's taken to
watching baseball on lonely nights to distract himself from the absence
of his wife, who died from a stroke a few months earlier. The games are
supposed to be a diversion from his mind wandering back into memories he
would rather not revisit, but they prove to be just the opposite. As he
watches the games on TV, a cast of characters appears in the seat behind
home plate--people Evers recognizes, people he thought he'd never see
again. I found the story and the character of Dean Evers interesting
enough and I loved the baseball lingo and references to familiar
players. I was a bit surprised with the ending. Not because it was
shocking, but because it was an average finale for such accomplished
storytellers. I didn’t find the expected, classic King twist, but maybe
my expectations were too high. The story stopped more than it ended;
typical of the shorty story format, and while I didn’t find it a
memorable read, it didn’t annoy me, either. This is a short story,
clocking in at about 32 pages. They added excerpts of the upcoming
novels, Blackhouse and Talisman, putting the total page count to 60, but
they are only a few pages of much larger stories. If you like King’s
style and you dig baseball, A Face in the Crowd is worth your while, but
it’s not the best either of these talented wordsmiths is capable of.

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Quick read

This is only a short story with previews of two other books taking most of the content. It was a predictable story line filled with baseball references. The plot was average.

4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Awesome as usual

Half way thru the story now and completely absorbed. No one can make a character come to life like Mr. King can in less than one full page.

Recommended highly.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Well written, as always with Mr. King.

This is a short story about an old man watching baseball on the T.V. Sounds boring....hardly. I really enjoyed this little story. I was hooked after the first few paragraphs. If you are a King fan, I believe you will enjoy it. Only Stephen King can make watching baseball on television creepy.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

This book sucks!!! I don't know what happened to King, he used

This book sucks!!! I don't know what happened to King, he used to write GREAT, now his books are really BORING!

2 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

Not out today as promised

Says out on August 21? Its almost 6am and still not in my library. How do i get a refund?

2 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

not one of kings better stories

was disappointed in the ending. i have read everything king has written and this is not one of his better stories. kind of predictable characters and story line.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Twilight Zone type slice of fiction with a melancholy end

I'll admit it. As much as I'm a huge fan of Stephen King AND the game baseball, I have never read his first collaboration with Stewart O'Nan, Faithful . . . and likely never will. It looks like an interesting read, but the Blue Jays fan inside me just will not allow me to indulge nearly 500 pages of Red Sox rhetoric. :)

Fortunately, with A Face in the Crowd they have turned their attention away from the Sox, and away from the realm of fan-based non-fiction. Instead, they've written a short little Twilight Zone type slice of fiction about an elderly widower, banished by retirement (and his dearly departed wife) to the land of the Tampa Bay Rays.

The concept here is pretty simple. Basically, each night, as he sits down to watch the game on TV, Dean Evers spots somebody from his past sitting in the same premium seat behind home plate. The problem is, each of them is well and truly dead, passed on before his time. The prospect of watching another game begins to fill him with dread, as each face brings back painful memories, but his efforts at mental distraction do nothing more than delay his viewing by a few innings. Where the story really begins to get interesting is when his phone rings . . . and the woman behind the plate motions for him to pick it up.

It's a fun story, written with the baseball fan in mind, full of names and stats that definitely anchor it in the current season. Dean Evers is your typical King character, a nice guy with flaws, who is haunted by regrets and past indiscretions, but you do feel for him. There are 2 nice twists to the story - the phone call, plus one other - and an ending that's definitely a bit melancholy, but fitting.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Nice quick read for the King fan!

Enjoyed the very short story. Somewhat predictable, but is a good read.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Good Book

This one will make you think. Think about how death arrives....does it happen quickly, or merely silently take place...... a good read.

great story

well written page turner

Good, quick read.

This very short story was good. Although I prefer Stephen King writing solo, the idea was interesting.

I LOVED this story! Reminded me a little of Duma Key. The detail

I LOVED this story! Reminded me a little of Duma Key. The detailed backgrounds given, and the premise was very attention-holding. Again I wished it's been longer and it too would make an awesome movie!!!

<3 <3

<3 interesting <3

Bummer

Rip off.
Great story line in the traditional King style but the instant you're into the story it is over. A whole 32 pages dedicated to "A Face in the Crowd" the remaining 28 pages promoting 2 other King books.
The story line for " A Face in the Crowd" was so good, wish it hadn't ended.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Classic King

You never know where you are going until you get there.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Hi

Hay hi how u doin this is hannah

0 out of 9 people found this review helpful.