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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.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.
Anonymous
Posted August 25, 2008
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.frederickSS
Posted April 19, 2009
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.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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Posted November 2, 2007
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted March 14, 2007
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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Posted June 11, 2001
'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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Posted March 12, 2012
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!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Kari11
Posted March 3, 2012
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted February 9, 2012
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!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 22, 2012
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 19, 2012
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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Posted January 16, 2012
Im a big Kijg fan and this book is in my top five favorite books! Intense read with great plot! Looovvee!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 6, 2012
Ties with Pet Sematary and It for my favorite books by King!!!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 28, 2011
Absoletly could not put down! Loved this, read before "the regulators"!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.wmusico
Posted August 29, 2011
Another great
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.9166042
Posted July 26, 2011
Defintely a page turner ! I couldn't put it down!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted June 28, 2011
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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Posted June 20, 2011
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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Posted June 11, 2011
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.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.LeOxLoVe810
Posted May 19, 2011
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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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...