Desperation [NOOK Book]

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Overview

There's a place alone Interstate 50 that some call the loneliest place on Earth. It's not a very nice place to live. It's an even worse place to die. It's known as Desperation, Nevada...
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Overview

There's a place alone Interstate 50 that some call the loneliest place on Earth. It's not a very nice place to live. It's an even worse place to die. It's known as Desperation, Nevada...

Editorial Reviews

Entertainment Weekly
King is at the top of his game.
Publishers Weekly

From the vault of horror master King comes a terrifying tale of Desperation, Nev., a place ruled by a maniacal man in uniform and haunted by deadly secrets. In true King fashion, the story features a small cast of likable yet deeply flawed protagonists that may or may not make it to the final page in one piece. Narrator Kathy Bates, who won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the film adaptation of King's Misery, takes the reins and holds listeners rapt from start to finish. Bates has the inherent ability to make anything, no matter how over the top, sound realistic and immediate. A Signet paperback. (Feb.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Publishers Weekly
If the publishing industry named a Person of the Year, this year's winner would be Stephen King. Not only is he writing the first modern novel to be serialized in book form (The Green Mile), but with the publication on Sept. 24 of The Regulators (Dutton; Forecasts, June 17) and Desperation, he becomes the first bestselling authormaybe the first author everto issue three new major novels in one calendar year. And there's more. With this astonishing work, King again proves himself the premier literary barometer of our cultural clime. For if The Regulators is a work of secular horror, this is a novel of sacred horror (King's first), and explicitly so. Like the second panel of a diptych, Desperation employs, with one major exception, the same characters as The Regulators, and the same source of horror: an evil force named Tak. (The novels aren't sequential, however; people who die in one can live, then die, in the other.) The exception is David Carver, 11, who, with a handful of other passers-through, including a major writer who's recently embraced sobriety, is trapped in the desert mining town of Desperation, Nev. There, Tak stalks them by possessing humans and turning them into homicidal maniacs, and by unleashing armies of coyotes, spiders and scorpions. The terror is relentlessthis is King's scariest book since Miserythough the storytelling is looser than in The Regulators to allow room for spiritual themes. For united against Tak are not only David and his pals, but also God, who moves through the boy. King's God is the God of Job, implacable, beyond human ken. As the savageries inflicted upon David and others multiply, they must discern: What is God's will? And, how can God's will be done, when it seems so cruel? Near the story's end, the writer muses that horror "isn't the sort of stuff of which serious literature is made." King knows better, and so will anyone who reads this deeply moving and enthralling masterpiece of the genre. 1,750,000 first printing; BOMC main selection; simultaneous Penguin Audiobook. (Sept.)
Library Journal
"Classic Stephen King," reports the publicist, nicely wrapped in a 1.75 million-copy first printing. Here, a sheriff in the far reaches of Nevada kidnaps travelers along his stretch of highway.
Ray Olson
King's third new yarn this year is as pell-mell an action thriller as any he has written and one of his sweetest performances. It has several links to his new Richard Bachman opus, The Regulators; for instance, it has some characters with the same names and occupations, though not personalities, and the same vaporous alien antagonist at the bottom of the same mine. The alien force is loose in Desperation, Nevada, and, having occupied the bodies of a succession of citizens (it needs to pass from one human vehicle to another because its vigor is so intense that its host hemorrhages to death within hours), has gruesomely slaughtered everyone else in town. Now in the body of a patrolling cop, it is picking up people motoring by on U.S. 50. Foremost among those are burned-out novelist Johnny Marinville and 11-year-old David Carver, who barely a year ago underwent a serious religious conversion and occasionally hears the voice of God. It is God--the God of the Christian Bible, both Testaments--Who eventually saves Johnny, David, and the rest of those who survive Desperation, but saves them only by means of their own free will and their own heroic and gory exertions. If King wants to show how to inject religion honestly and effectively into the normally crass horror genre, he succeeds beautifully.
San Francisco Chronicle
A double dose of ghostly horror. Desperation is pure King, a rollicking good tale skillfully told of repugnance and godliness doing high-screech battle.
Washington Post Book World
Desperation builds to a climax reminiscent of The Stand.
Kirkus Reviews
An astounding fall season for King unfolds with three new novels: the wind-up of his Signet paperback serial The Green Mile, and same-day dual publication of Desperation from Viking and The Regulators from Dutton (as Richard Bachman—see above). Desperation, while mystifying if read after The Regulators, is fabulous storytelling that avoids the slovenly glee that corrodes the grand fantasy of its mirror novel.

The twin rulers of the dual novels are God the Cruel (Desperation), who speaks only to David Carver, a very well-spoken 11-year-old, and the Great God Television (The Regulators), a rotten god made visible through the mind of an autistic six-year-old, Seth Garon. The two books share characters but offer distinctly different spins on their personalities: The heroine of The Regulators is a big threat in Desperation. Also on hand in both are the evil entity Tak and the heroic but burnt-out novelist John Marinville, a recovering alcoholic. While speeding through empty Nevada spaces, Peter and Mary Jackson are stopped and arrested by a gigantic cop from nearby Desperation, a small mining town. At the jailhouse, the nutty robotic giant shoots Peter dead. Then the giant arrests Marinville, who is trying to recover his reputation by crossing the country on his motorcycle and writing a Steinbeckian Travels with Harley. The cop's body, we find, houses Tak, who constantly needs new bodies to live in because his superhuman heart batters them to pieces. He has already murdered the whole town and is now planning to house himself in the still-alive Audrey Wyler, a mining specialist who has been investigating the nearby China Shaft where "the unformed heart" of Tak bubbles evilly. Then into town rides Steve, whose heart is pure, in a Ryder truck . . . .

Knockout classic horror: King's most carefully crafted, well-groomed pages ever.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9781101137994
  • Publisher: Penguin Group (USA)
  • Publication date: 8/1/1997
  • Sold by: Penguin Group
  • Format: eBook
  • Pages: 560
  • Sales rank: 13,099
  • File size: 564 KB

Meet the Author

Stephen King
Stephen King
Few authors have tapped into our secret fears as adeptly as Stephen King, Master of the Macabre and one of the most widely read novelists writing today. With his trademark blend of fantasy, horror, and psychological suspense, this prolific and immensely popular contemporary writer continues to remind us that evil is still a potent force in the world.

Biography

Fiction powerhouse Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947. As a student at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, became active in political causes, and met his wife, the former Tabitha Spruce. In the early years of his marriage, King augmented his meager teacher's salary by selling short stories to men's magazines. Then, in 1973 he hit pay dirt: his novel Carrie was accepted for publication, and a major paperback deal provided the means for him to leave teaching and concentrate full-time on writing. Since then, the prolific author has never looked back.

Dubbed the Master of the Macabre for his domination of the horror genre, King has also written bestselling thrillers, mysteries, fantasies, novellas, and short stories, many of which have been turned into blockbuster films and miniseries (A partial list includes Carrie, The Shining, The Stand,, Misery, It, The Shawshank Redemption, The Langoliers, Stand by Me, and The Green Mile). He also has two works of nonfiction to his credit: a gorgeously crafted memoir/scribbler's how-to (On Writing) and Faithful, a chronicle of the Boston Red Sox' stellar 2004 season, cowritten with Stewart O'Nan. In 2003, he received the National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters.

In between books, the indefatigable King performs in the Rock Bottom Remainders, a rock band that includes among its rotating personnel fellow authors Dave Barry and Amy Tan; attends as many Boston Red Sox games as is humanly possible; and contributes with his wife, Tabitha, to many local and national charities.

Good To Know

Don't believe everything you read about Stephen King. Among the gossip circulating about the scribe is the rumor that he is going blind. King assures his fans that while he is genetically predisposed to a disease called macular degeneration, which could result in blindness, he is not actually going blind.

King is probably one of the most easily recognizable authors alive, and it's not just because of his string of bestsellers. King has appeared in a number of films based on his work, including Pet Semetary, Thinner, and The Stand.

If you've ever wondered why Stephen King has written several books under the pseudonym Richard Bachman, there is actually a very simple explanation: King is so prolific that he felt it necessary to create an alter-ego so that he could publish more than one book a year. The name was a hastily hobbled together combination of writer Richard Stark (ironically, a pseudonym for Donald Westlake) and Randy Bachman of rock group Bachman-Turner Overdrive.

    1. Also Known As:
      Richard Bachman
      Stephen A. King
      Stephen Edwin King
    2. Hometown:
      Bangor, Maine
    1. Date of Birth:
      September 21, 1947
    2. Place of Birth:
      Portland, Maine
    1. Education:
      B.S., University of Maine at Orono, 1970
    2. Website:

Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 338 )

Rating Distribution

5 Star

(183)

4 Star

(92)

3 Star

(46)

2 Star

(14)

1 Star

(3)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 338 Customer Reviews
  • Anonymous

    Posted August 25, 2008

    King takes his writing to the next level.

    Everything seems normal for the various people travelling through Nevada on the U.S. 50, that is, until a cop with strange eyes pulls each of them over for no apparent reason. Mysteriously, each of the novelâ⿬⿢s characters are charged and arrested for crimes that they are almost certain they did not commit. One individual finds drugs in the back of his car and has no clue where they came from another is ushered into the back of the police car after all four of his tires were punctured by an inconveniently placed piece of police equipment. All of these individuals are taken to a small town in Desperation, Nevada, an area with a name that sets the mood for the novel. The plot takes an ugly twist almost immediately when the now erratic and seemingly insane cop kills off one individual and throws the rest into holding cells. From there, the main characters of the novel, which are surprisingly well developed, despite the large amount of them, try to break out of the copâ⿬⿢s prison (complete with a guard wolf), and escape from the twisted and plagued town which prays upon the fears and weaknesses of each individual, undermining their every move in an attempt to supply hosts for a greater, primal entity. While it may seem that Kingâ⿬⿢s novel is a bit out there and much too unbelievable to contain anything beside a fun read, this is not so. In fact, one of Desperationâ⿬⿢s most appealing factors is its in-depth analysis of the human psyche, which, as a real world application, presents a satisfying contrast to the novelâ⿬⿢s fantastical (Although I stress that it is darker and more twisted than the typical fantasy tales) plot. Combine such an intriguing, thought provoking story with Stephen Kingâ⿬⿢s writing, which describes every horrible moment of the novel in such a way that the reader can picture the scene perfectly. Desperation is the only book that I have ever read which was able, through such descriptive writing and a captivating, yet revolting (in a good way), tale, to make me paranoid for a while after putting it down at night. Thus, I give Desperation a full five star rating and label it as one of my favorite books.

    6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted April 19, 2009

    best ever

    This is my favorite Steven King novel. I dont have any descriptive words on why other than I simply could not ever put the book down. As if I was living the story.

    2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted March 26, 2009

    more from this reviewer

    Desperate!

    I started reading Stephen King as a teenager. Back then he could throw anything at me and I ate it up. As an adult, he actually goes places I'm not sure I like him going and I'm totally horrified! He's still a masterful writer and if you love having the tarnation scared out of you, no one will do it better.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 2, 2007

    Best of Everything, Tak!

    I think this book is classic Stephen King, and it represents the best of Stephen King. I loved this book for the same reasons I love The Green Mile and The Stand. The novel contains a well proportioned mix of fear, humanity, and spirituality. What made Desperation different from The Stand and The Green Mile was that the scare factor was much larger in this novel. There was a lot more violence, suspense, and thrill to it. However, the undertones of the story, i.e. the spirituality of it, was what really made it impossible for me to put down. I read it in less than a week, which is unprecedented for a slow reader like me. Don't listen to the nay-sayers. This book is VERY worth reading and I suggest you give it a try if you are feeling on the fence about it.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 14, 2007

    Tak!

    One of the only books over 500 pages to keep me hooked from start to finish. Some chapters, I'd say, were completely useless and therefor confuse the plot up a little. Great read, though, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes good old fashion horror novels.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 11, 2001

    Great book

    'Desperation' is the best book I ever read...A real page turner. Keep up the good work, King!

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 12, 2012

    Read this review :)

    This book is really good. It has alot of bad words, profane and related topics.. But very good. I would say ment for age 14 and up atleast. STORY AWESOME!!!

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  • Posted March 3, 2012

    A very good book to read. Parts were so detailed that it was ha

    A very good book to read. Parts were so detailed that it was hard to sleep at night. As always when finishing his books I end up wanting more.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 9, 2012

    Awesome!!!!!

    I love King's work and this book is definitely one of my favorites. If you're worried about the story starting slow like some of his others dont! Crazy things start happening almost immediately which makes it almost impossible to put down. I highly recommend this book!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 22, 2012

    so long winded

    Nothing even shocking inn this book. It starts off intriguing, but after a while i jusr wanted all of the characters to get killed off. Everyone knows that's not a good sign..

    0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 19, 2012

    AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! But beware

    I thought this book was amazing but if you are sqeamish your probaly not cut out for stephan king! My sister tried reading it and said " HOW DID YOU READ THIS? YOU ARE SICK! " i said " yup, just like stephan king! " lol so read it..... if you can that is

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 16, 2012

    Chilling...

    Im a big Kijg fan and this book is in my top five favorite books! Intense read with great plot! Looovvee!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted January 6, 2012

    Desperation-one of King's best!!

    Ties with Pet Sematary and It for my favorite books by King!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 28, 2011

    Desperation

    Absoletly could not put down! Loved this, read before "the regulators"!

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  • Posted August 29, 2011

    Another great

    Another great

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  • Posted July 26, 2011

    Awesome read!

    Defintely a page turner ! I couldn't put it down!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 28, 2011

    King delivers....again!

    I'd read many Stephen King books, I've been satisfied by nearly all of them, except for Roadwork which was kinda rubbish...but anywaus after I took a short hiatus from reading for some reason I decided to return to King. I went to the book store and saw the Desperation paperback lying there. I remembered watching the made for T.V movie and liking it so I picked it up. The first day of reading I read 120 pages...it was that good. The book itself is about 550 pages with small print. Anyways, I loved it. the characters (as in all of Kings writing) were spot on and realistic, the terrain was a nice change of pace from the usual Maine setting in most of his books. I liked it a lot. But as I kept reading I noticed that my liking for the terrian faultered a little bit. I just got tired of invisioning sand I guess. Any ways that's thats the only complaint I have of this book!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 20, 2011

    Mind Blowing! Worth buying.

    This is one of my first stephen king books, and definitely one of my favorites. All the characters were very interesting, and the story is amazing. Once you start reading, you'll never want to put it down. The book is attention gripping all the way through, and definitely a satisfying story! Stephen King did it again with this one!!!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 11, 2011

    Great Book

    Now, DESPERATION was the first King book I'd read at the time, after seeing the movie while flipping channels. It was a fantastic book on it's own, though, after reading more of his books, it's not my favorite, but still an amazing book. It seemed to drag on at times, but the charecters are very believable, and I really enjoyed the book.

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  • Posted May 19, 2011

    Mind-Twisting...GREAT.

    This is a great book and, if you like Dean Koontz books, this is similar to what he would've written. I? how he makes his characters feel so real. I cried during one part when a boy is talking about his best friend's near death. This boy, is very important to everyone's lives in this very GREAT book.

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