August 28, 2009

Insomnia

Title : Insomnia
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 28 Aug - 5 Sep 2009

Book Summary of Insomnia.
In 1993, 70-year old Ralph Roberts is stricken by a extremely bad case of insomnia after the death of his wife, Carolyn. As Ralph resolutely avoids the doctor whom he blames for misdiagnosing Carolyn's cancer, he continues to try one folk remedy after another without much avail. As the months pass, Ralph continues to wake earlier and earlier from his sleep. Even worst, Ralph starts to wonder if he is losing his mind when he starts to see auras and strange little bald doctors.

It is only a chance conversation with long-time neighbor Lois Chasse who has also been stricken with the same kind of insomnia and hallucinations which finally puts his mind at ease. Upon realizing that what he and Lois sees are real, Ralph also starts to have strong suspicions based on previous remarks made by 2 other neighbors of his, Edward Deepneau and Dorrance Marstellar, too have this ability. This relevation worries Ralph as Ed Deepneau has become unhinged and abusive towards his wife, Helen. Even more worrisome to Ralph is the realization that he and Lois are being manipulated like pawns in a game between 2 opposing forces. Ralph's suspicions are confirmed when he and Lois meet up with 2 of the little bald doctors.

These 2 beings explain that they are the agents of the Purpose while the third doctor Ralph saw is an agent of the Random. All of them serve a Higher Purpose, even the Random. However, the Random sought to change this somehow by using Ed, who is among a very few which belong neither to the Purpose of the Random. The 2 bald doctors whom Ralph calls Clotho and Lachesis explains that Ed has somehow been shanghaied by the forces of the Random. Through his actions, Ed will cause the deaths of those gathered for political activist Susan Day's speech at Derry's Civic Center. The true interest of the Purpose however is a young 4-year old boy, Patrick Danville who must not be allowed to die before his time. Patrick's early death would have repercussions on all levels of life. Ed as a wild card, is among the few who could cause his early death. As the agents of the Purpose, Clotho and Lachesis cannot interfere directly with Atropos, the third doctor. Clotho and Lachesis triggered Ralph and Lois' insomnia to allow them to see the world of the auras.

Ralph agrees to help Clotho and Lachesis. He even succeeds and lives a happy life for the next 5 years, marrying Lois in 1994. In 1998, Ralph dies saving Natalie Deepneau, Ed and Helen's 6-year old daughter. Nat's life actually belonged to the Random and Atropos intended to kill her for Ralph's interference. In exchange for saving her, Ralph had struck a bargain with the Higher Purpose.


Book Review of Imsomnia.
It is a mark of Mr Stephen King's extraordinary writing that he can turn a couple of golden agers into the hero and heroine of his book and not bore his readers. Insomnia starts off slowly enough even opening with a confrontation with a mad man, and the only reason to read on is that you can't help but like the main character. Ralph Roberts may be 70-something but he makes a believable and likable protagonist. Where Insomnia is concerned, the events in the book is not as important as the choices and reactions of its characters. How Ralph and Lois treats their fountain of youth and why Dorrance refuses to interfere in Long-time business are certainly interesting questions. Even the ending is about Ralph's choice. His choice not to sacrifice 1 child for 2000 lifes or sacrifice strangers for a loved one.


Links to other Stephen King books.
  • Mike Hanlon, one of the main characters of IT makes an appearance. Some of the incidents which occurred in IT such as Adrian Mellon's murder and the flood after the destruction of IT is mentioned as well.
  • Some familiar names and concepts from the Dark Tower includes the Crimson King, ka-tet, Roland and the Dark Tower.

Related Posts.

August 26, 2009

The Dead Zone

Title : The Dead Zone
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 25 Aug - 28 Aug 2009

Summary of The Dead Zone.
Prologue.
The protagonist 6-year old John Smith gets a bad knock on his head when he goes skating in 1953 while antagonist 22-year old traveling salesman Greg Stillson tortures and kills a farmer's dog in 1955.

Part 1
In October 1970, Johnny ends up in a coma due to a car accident. He awakens more than 4 years later in May 1975. Not long after his awakening Johnny realizes that he now possesses some other power, one which enables him to sometimes see someone's past, present or future with a touch. The only limitation is his difficulty with streets, addresses and numbers which he calls his Dead Zone. When the rumors start to spread after Johnny warns his physical therapist of a fire at her house, Johnny finds himself at the center of unwanted attention. The situation worsens when he helps Sheriff George Bannerman to solve the Castle Rock Strangler murders. Johnny chooses to leave his hometown in hopes of regaining normality in his life.

Greg Stillson who is now Mayor of Ridgeway aims to be named a congressman for New Hampshire. And has no compunction in using whatever means necessary including blackmail and threats.

Part 2
In 1976 while Johnny tutors 17-year old Chuck of the Chatsworth family, he meets Greg Stillson. Drawn to the man since first seeing him campaigning to be elected as a congressman on television, Johnny is horrified when his strange talent shows him that Greg Stillson will become the president of America sometime in the future and precipitate a nuclear war. While still deliberating on what is to be done about Stillson, 2 events of important to Johnny occurs. The first is another one of his glimpses of the future. At Chuck's graduation in June 1977, Johnny forsees and warns Chuck not to attend the high school graduation party the students have arranged at Cathy's. Though disbelieving, Chuck and some of his friends heeds Johnny's words and are saved. The second is Johnny's realization that he is dying from a brain tumor and has very little time if he is to stop Stillson. Finally in January of 1979, Johnny chooses to act and assassinate Congressman Greg Stillson before he can go on to wreck the havoc Johnny saw in his vision. Johnny fails to kill Stillson but in his dying moments finds that he has somehow changed the future.

Part 3
Greg Stillson's career is over as he used an innocent child as a shield while trying to escape from Johnny and this act was captured on camera by an amateur photographer.


Review of The Dead Zone.
Reading this book always makes me sad. From the time that Johnny awakens from his coma and demonstrates his new gift, there is a sense of impending doom to the story. What Johnny does, he does not for gain but to help. All he wants is a normal life but again and again he is treated as a freak and a monster to be avoided even by those he helps. His final act probably sealed him as a mentally deranged or dangerous man in the eyes of the people he was trying to save. How is that for justice ?


Links of Interest.

August 21, 2009

Four Past Midnight

Title : Four Past Midnight
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 21 Aug - 25 Aug 2009

Book Summary of Four Past Midnight.
This is an anthology of 4 horror stories by Stephen King published in 1999.

The Langoliers.
Near the start of The Langoliers , 10 passengers on American Pride's Flight 29 from Los Angeles to Boston awaken and realize that they are the only 11 people left on board. All its crew and most of the other passengers seems to have disappeared in mid-flight leaving their assorted belongings behind. Luckily enough for them, 1 of the passengers left behind is Captain Brian Engle, a pilot also employed by American Pride, who happens to be hitching a ride. With the help of Nick Hopewell, a man of rather strange talents, Brian breaks into the cockpit. When their emergency hails are not answered and they realize that Denver has somehow mysteriously disappeared, Brian opts to divert their course to Bangor International Airport.

The 10 survivors finds that BIA is as completely deserted as the other cities they have flown over. Through deductive reasoning, Robert Jenkins who is an author of numerous mystery novels, theorizes that they have somehow flown into a rip in time into the past. The reason the other passengers have disappeared is that they were somehow vaporized when flying through the rip. Only those passengers who were asleep survived their crossing over. And in order to find their way home, they must retrace their flight through that same hole.

As the passengers prepare to refuel their plane and fly again, they find themselves racing against time as well. Unhinged by recent events, Craig Toomy severely wounds Dinah Bellman, a young blind girl and kills Don Gaffney, another fellow passenger. However, the other survivors find that they do not have time to deal with Craig as creatures that Dinah dubs the Langoliers, after Craig's personal boogeyman, appear to destroy the "old" world they are in. Dinah somehow uses Craig to buy them time for the plane to takeoff before dying herself.

Just as they find and approach the rip, Bob Jenkins realizes a mistake they have made. If they are to survive their return, they must be asleep. But if everyone is asleep, who is to fly the plane. In hopes of redemption for his past deeds, Nick sacrifices himself so that they others may safely fly through the rip. The rest arrives safely back in Los Angeles, and even arrive early enough in the future to see how a new world is created every day.

Secret Window, Secret Garden.
The second tale in the book, Secret Window, Secret Garden starts with writer Morton Rainey being accused of plagiarism by a stranger calling himself John Shooter. Mort is currently alone in his summer house in Tashmore Glen after being recently divorced from his wife, Amy whom he found in bed with another man. Mort finds that Shooter's story Secret Window, Secret Garden bears an uncanny resemblance to one of his earlier short stories, Sowing Season. Believing Shooter to be unhinged but determined to handle things his way, Mort sets about requesting an original copy of the magazine where his story Sowing Season was published to be delivered to his summer home.

In the meantime, several mysterious incidents including the burning of Mort and Amy's house in Derry occurs. Although unsure why he is doing so even though he himself suspects Shooter, Mort plays down his suspicions and even lies to those around him to prevent them from suspecting a connection.

It is only towards the end that Mort realizes that Shooter exists only in his imagination. The arson and the murders that Shooter committed, was actually done by Mort during the times when he believed himself asleep. Mort tries to kill Amy when his Shooter persona takes over, but is killed instead. Once Amy recovers from her ordeal, she surmises that Mort did once steal someone's work and Shooter was his way of punishing himself for the crime. More than that, Shooter might have in some way become real because she found a note from him after Mort's death.

The Library Policeman.
When the acrobat who is supposed to give the talk on Junction City Rotary Club's Speaker's Night has an accident, Sam Peebles reluctantly agrees to be the stand-in. Determined to do his best, Sam acts on Naomi Sarah Higgins suggestion and goes to the library to look for some books to enliven his speech. There he meets the strange head librarian, Ardelia Lortz who suggests The Speaker's Companion and Best Loved Poems of the American People. Before checking out the books, Ardelia reminds Sam to return the books on time lest she sets the Library Policeman on him.

The speech is a success, but it is only after receiving a call from Ardelia that Sam realizes he has forgotten to return the books on time. He soon realizes he has lost the books but when he goes to the library to apologize and compensate the loss of the books, he finds the library changed, the head librarian a different person and none of the library assistants seem to know who Ardelia is. Furthermore, those who have heard of Ardelia Lortz reacts badly when he asks who she is. Sam quickly realizes that he somehow met a ghost but before he can investigate further, the Library Policeman pays Sam a visit. Sam is given until midnight to return the lost books.

Believing his only hope is to find out more, Sam seeks out Naomi and Dirty Dave Duncan. Naomi seemed to recognize Ardelia's name when Sam mentioned it to her before and Sam recognizes some of the posters he saw in the ghost library as Dave's work. Dave reveals to Naomi or Sarah as she is known among her Alcoholics Anonymous group and Sam that Ardelia is a vampire who feeds on fear. The townspeople believe that she killed herself after murdering 2 children, but Dave knows that she merely went to sleep. She is now awake and is apparently targeting Sam. Furthermore, Ardelia will kill Sarah and Dave as well since Sarah knows about her now and Ardelia has an old score to settle with Dave.

Dave suggests that if they are to beat Ardelia at her game, Sam must return the lost books and remember his personal Library Policeman since the Library Policeman must be based in part on Sam's memories. Sam and Sarah fly to Des Moines to purchase copies of the lost book. On the way back, Sam dreams of his past and remembers that he was raped as a child by a man claiming to be exacting a fine from Sam for not returning his library books on time. Armed with this knowledge Sam defeats Ardelia but Dave is killed in the fight.

The Sun Dog
The story starts with Kevin Delevan getting a Sun 660, a Polaroid camera for his 15th birthday. Only there seems to be something supernatural about the camera which seems to take pictures of a dog no matter where they point the viewer at. Hoping to discover more, Kevin takes the camera to Reginald "Pop" Merill, owner of the Emporium Galorium selling used goods. After trying out an experiment suggested by Merill, Kevin becomes convinced that the Sun Dog is dangerous and it would be better to destroy the camera. Merill who intends to sell the camera to rich eccentrics with a taste for the supernatural tricks Kevin and his father, John into believing that the camera is destroyed.

In time Merill finds that not only is he unable to sell the camera, but that the camera has somehow taken possession of him and is actually making him continue to take pictures of the Sun Dog. Kevin who has been plagued by nightmares where he visits the world of the Sun Dog, realizes that Merill has tricked them and pleads with his father to help destroy the camera. They arrive too late to stop the Sun Dog from killing Merrill but manage to trap it again with another Polaroid camera. However, on his 16th birthday Kevin receives a message telling him that the Sun Dog has escaped and is very angry at Kevin.


Book Review of Four Past Midnight.
The first time I read the Langoliers years ago, I thought it to be 1 of the best short stories by Mr King that I'd read. While I still enjoy it this time round, I find myself wondering about the ending. How are these people going to explain to the authorities what happened ? If they were to tell the truth, would anyone believe them ? I doubt it and yet how else could the authorities explain a crashed plane suddenly appearing in Los Angeles Airport.

As for Secret Window, Secret Garden, knowing the ending lessens the impact. When I read the story the first time around, sharing in Mort's believe that Shooter is plotting to drive him crazy and then finally realizing that Mort is Shooter was staggering. But once you already know the ending, like any magician's illusion, the glamour simply loses its hold. Not a bad story, just not as interesting when you know how it'll end. I wonder though why the movie makers of Secret Window chose this particular story to make a movie rather than the other stories in this book ?

I liked the Library Policeman more for its characters than its storyline. Sam goes from a likable but lonely man to a courageous one while Sarah goes from being a mere secretary to an angel. And it is not that the character transforms throughout the story, but more that we learn more of the characters as we go along. Still waters run deep and as the characters learn more about each other, we too learn more. Who could have expected that the reason for Sam's isolation was the shame from a rape he no longer remembered. Or that staid Naomi was also the "Angel" who kept Angel Street's Homeless Shelter afloat.

The Sun Dog starts out rather slowly and does not really catch my interest until the last few chapters when Kevin realizes that he has been tricked by Merrill. It is interesting that Kevin saves both his father's life and his by acting upon the hints dropped in his dreams. It struck me then that Mr King used dreams in all 4 of the short stories. Captain Brian Engle too acted upon his dreams in The Langoliers in the final solution which saves their lives. Mort was plagued by restless dreams in Secret Window, Secret Garden. Sam remembered his past in a dream in The Library Policeman.

My favourite stories in this book is in this order : The Langoliers, The Library Policeman, The Sun Dog and Secret Window, Secret Garden. There isn't a story that I hated in this collection, just varying degrees of like and enjoyment.


Links to other Stephen King books.
  • Kevin in The Sun Dog dreams of Oatley, where Jack Sawyer once stopped in The Talisman.
  • There is a mention in events in Cujo in The Sun Dog.

Related Posts.

Links of Interest.

August 12, 2009

IT

Title : IT
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 11 Aug - 20 Aug 2009


Book Summary of IT.

The story is set in Derry, Maine with events starting when the main characters are mere children.

1957
The cycle of deaths started in October 1957 with a creature referring to himself as Mr Bob Gray or Pennywise the Dancing Clown luring 6-year old George Denbrough to his death. In time, the protagonists would learn that this cycle of death has continually repeated itself almost every 27 years since Derry first existed, and that IT itself was there before Derry existed.


1958
The formation of the circle of 7 friends which would be responsible for ending IT's reign of terror in 1958 started on the first day of summer vacation. While attempting to escape from school bullies Henry Bowers, Belch Huggins and Victor Criss, fat Benjamin Hanscomb unwittingly leads those 3 to stuttering William Denbrough and ashmatic Eddie Kasprak who are attempting to build a dam in the Barrens of Derry. A friendship is formed when Ben offers to show Bill and Eddie how to build their dam. This friendship includes Richard "Trashmouth" Tozier, who is already best friends with Bill, and young Jew Stanley Uris whom Richie invites along. Their circle continues to widen when Richie, Ben and Beverly Marsh face off against Henry's bullies. And closes with the final addition of black Michael Hanlon, when the 6 friends helps him fight off Henry's gang. Unintentional though it may have been, Henry Bowers and his friends served as the instrument to bring the 7 11-year olds together to defeat IT.

As each of the friends recounts their own supernatural or near fatal encounter with a creature able to take on the appearance of their worst fears, they come to realize that the perpetrator of the recent child mutilation murders is not human, but a monster living within Derry's underground. Driven by Bill Denbrough's need to avenge his brother's death and guided by an unseen counter force to IT, the 7 members of the Losers' Club, goes into the sewers and defeats IT. After severely wounding the monster, the children makes a promise to come back should IT ever returns.

1984
The deaths start anew in July 1984 with what appears to be the murder of Adrian Mellon by 3 teenagers. And yet, in 2 separate accounts, a clown was reportedly on the scene of the crime.

1985
Mike Hanlon, is the only one of the 7 friends to stay on as Derry, and also the only 1 who still remembers some of the events of their childhood. After seeing a message written in the latest victim's blood "come home come home come home", Mike makes the dreaded calls to his childhood friends in May 1985 to summon them back to Derry and hopefully end this terror for all time. Of the 6 friends who left, only 5 returns. Unable to bear the weight of his returning memories, Stan kills himself. Once reunited, the 6 friends realize that they are in a desperate race against time, both to remember all that happened before and to reform a new smaller circle, if they are to defeat IT once again.

Unknown to them, IT has drawn both enemies old and new as well as family to be used as weapons against the 6. Their childhood nemesis Henry who is mentally ill, Beverly's abusive husband Tom Rogan and Bill's wife, Audra has been drawn into the battle in Derry as well. Henry severely wounds Mike, before he is killed by Eddie. Meanwhile, Tom kidnaps Audra and brings her to IT.

With Mike hospitalized, only 5 of the friends enters Derry's underground labyrinth. In the end, the friends defeats and destroys IT. But unlike the last time when they all escaped, Eddie sacrifices his own life to save Bill and Richie's. As the friends bid goodbye before returning to their homes, they realize that as before they are forgetting the events in Derry again. And this time unlike before, there will be none left to remember their friendship.


Book Review of IT.
I like IT but I can't love it. There are 2 reasons mainly. The first is the tendency for the story to ramble at strange junctures. I suppose some of it is necessary in order to give a certain flavour or tone to the story. It is in these ramblings that we often find out additional clues or information regarding "unseen" links between events in the past and present. However, after a time, I tend to skip over some over some of these parts.

The second is the ending. The best part of the book is the friendship and camaraderie these 7 friends share. The love and trust which allowed the friends to follow Bill into the sewers when they were barely children to defeat a monster. That same shared history which would bring them home for a promise almost all of them barely remembers. To know that in the end, that the price for defeating IT is their memories and love robs the "good" from the story. Not only will these friends forget each other, they will forget their lost friends as well. How can there be justice in forgetting the sacrifices these friends made for each other ?


Memorable Quotes from IT.

  • 'I mean ... can't you guys just let a story be a story ?'

Links to Dark Tower series.
  • References are made to the Turtle, one of the 12 guardians of the Beams in the Dark Tower.
  • The use of a riddling contest to defeat one's enemy is similar to the contest in which Roland's ka-tet defeated Blaine in The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass.
  • The same ditty 'Bean beans the musical fruit ...' appears here and in The Gunslinger.
Related Posts.



Related Links.

August 11, 2009

My Gal Sunday

My Gal SundayTitle : My Gal Sunday
Author : Mary Higgins Clark
Reading Dates : 11 Aug - 11 Aug 2009


About the Author.
Mary Higgins Clark, hailed as The Queen of Suspense was born on 24 Dec 1927 in the Bronx, New York. The author was the second child of Nora and Luke Higgins. She married Warren Clark on 26 Dec 1949 and had 5 children : Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Her first husband passed away in 1964 of a heart attack. The author graduated summa cum laude in 1979 from Fordham College with a B.A. in Philosophy. In 1996, she married John Conheeney. Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark is also a suspense writer.
The first short story the author sold 'Stowaway' was rejected 40 times before being bought by a Chicago magazine for the sum of 100 dollars. The author's first mystery novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought by Simon & Shuster in 1974 for the sum of 3000 dollars. To-date, the author has published 33 novels. She is also the #1 fiction bestselling author in France and was chosen by Mystery Writers of America as Grand Master of the 2000 Edgar Awards.

About the Book.
My Gal Sunday, published in 1996, is a collection of 4 short stories based on the husband-and-wife team of sleuths, former American president Henry Parker Britland IV and his Congresswoman wife Sandra O'Brien also known popularly as Sunday.
In A Crime of Passion, the 44-year old ex-president and his bride of 8 months attempt to proof the innocence of Thomas Shipman, Henry's long-time friend and former Secretary of State, who has been accused of murdering his ex-fiance, Arabella Young. Next, Henry races against time to rescue Sunday who has seemingly been kidnapped by terrorists while on the way home after a session in Congress in They All Ran After the President's Wife. Henry and Sunday then solve the 3 decade old mysterious disappearance of Costa Barria's Prime Minister Garcia del Rio from aboard the Britland family yacht in Hail, Columbia! In the last tale, the husband-and-wife team reunites a kidnapped young boy with his family on Christmas day in Merry Christmas / Joyeux Noel.

Thoughts on the Book.
I've always loved this book and wished that there were more stories on the husband and wife team. The stories itself are interesting but the attraction for me has always been the combination of Henry and Sunday. The strong, smart and funny Sunday is just the match for her Renaissance man.



Related Links.

August 8, 2009

Wolves of The Calla



Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)Title : Wolves of the Calla
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 8 Aug - 10 Aug 2009


Dark Tower Series. Wolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. The books in the series includes :
  • The Gunslinger
  • The Drawing of the Three
  • The Waste Lands


  • Wizard and Glass
  • Wolves of the Calla
  • Song of Susannah
  • The Dark Tower
Wolves of the Calla Book Summary. Roland Deschain and his companions arrives at Calla Bryn Sturgis which is in need of their help. Every generation, the Wolves out of Thunderclap kidnaps 1 half of every set of twin children. This time, some of the folk have decided to fight back. With barely a month until the attack, Roland and his companions sets about finding out as much as they can and garnering the support they will need to defeat the Wolves. At the same time, the gunslingers realizes that The Rose and The Dark Tower is in jeopardy. And if they are to stop or delay its destruction they must travel to New York of Jake's time. Luckily, they find Donald Callahan, another traveller from Earth who holds in his posession, Black Thirteen which will allow them to travel to other worlds. In the end, Roland and his comrades wins the day against the Wolves but loses Susannah to Mia. Mia, a new personality created within Susannah when she was impregnated by a demon, has taken over Susannah's body and fled to New York with Black Thirteen in order to give birth to the demon's child. At the end of the book, Roland agrees to help Eddie find another means to travel to New York and find Susannah.
Wolves of the Calla Book Review. This book is interesting for many reasons. For one, we find links to other Stephen King works here. There is Father Callahan from Salem's Lot, Richard Sayre of The Talisman and the low men from Hearts In Atlantis. For another, we see truly for the first time the gunslingers doing the tasks which they were meant to do if Gilead was still around. We saw glimpses of this in the past few books, but not as fully here when they use their skills to observe, learn, teach and finally lead the people in Calla Bryn Sturgis in their final confrontation with the Wolves. And last but not least, is Roland's decision to risk failure than to abandon Jake to the Wolves. Given the chance the Roland in this book might still choose to let Jake fall to his death as he did in The Gunslinger, but then again he might not.

August 3, 2009

Wizard and Glass

Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4)Title : Wizard and Glass
Author : Stephen King
Reading Dates : 1 Aug - 7 Aug 2009


Dark Tower Series. Wizard and Glass is the fourth book in The Dark Tower series. The books in the series are listed below :
  • The Gunslinger
  • The Drawing of the Three
  • The Waste Lands


  • Wizard and Glass
  • Wolves of the Calla
  • Song of Susannah
  • The Dark Tower

Wizard and Glass Book Summary. The story continues immediately from The Waste Lands as Roland and his ka-tet attempt to stump Blaine the Mono with a riddle and thus win their lives. Unexpectedly, it is Eddie Dean who saves the day with his joke-riddles. As they continue on their way, Roland tells them one part of his past starting with his early test of manhood at the age of 14. Although Roland succeeds, his father still sends him away to Mejis with 2 of his closest friends, in order to protect him from the machinations of MartenBroadcloak. Unfortunately, Mejis is no longer the safe haven of his father's younger days. The men charged with the protection of Mejis has betrayed their vows and are in a secret pact to supply the rebels with weapons they will need to destroy the Affiliation. Though Roland and his friends manage to take down most of the traitors, there is a high price to be paid. Roland's first love, Susan Delgado is captured and falsely murdered by the common folk of Mejis for treason. Worse still, Roland is tricked into accidentally killing his mother when he attempts to hide his mother's part in the assassination attempt on his father. At the end of his tale, Roland and his companions once more find themselves on the path of the Beam and continue on their quest.

My Reviews. Wizard and Glass is not my favourite of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, but there are some interesting and funny scenes. Such as the first confrontation between Roland's and Eldred Jonas's group. That Mexican standoff is both funny and reminiscent of Westerns. Roland's stories as Eddie declares are always Westerns. Perhaps the reason I have always found this particular book disappointing is I have never understood why Susan and Roland fell in love. Susan Delgado is supposedly Roland Deschain's great love but Susan's attractions for Roland seems to be more physical than anything else. Still, this book answers some questions on Roland's past if not all.


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