9.04.2011

Stephen King MILE 81 Book Review


Another e-book from Stephen King. But if you don't have a Kindle then don't worry, because you're not really missing out on much. Being such a huge King fan it really pains me to say this but I was very disappointed with this story. Not only was it way too short (around 50 or 60 pages), but the actual story itself just seemed like a mash-up of King's previous work. If you've read Christine, From a Buick 8 and The Raft, just imagine mixing them all together and this is probably what you would get. I was really looking forward to MILE 81, I preordered it and read it all as soon as it was released. But by the time I finished it, I wasn't very satisfied.

10 year old Pete is too young to play with his older brother and his friends, so to prove to them how tough and daring he is Pete decides to explore the abandoned rest stop along the nearby Mile 81. After looking around the decrepit building, he drinks a little too much vodka and falls asleep on a filthy mattress. While he is asleep, a mud covered station wagon pulls up in front of the rest stop. The door opens but nobody steps out.
A good samaritan driving a Prius sees the wagon parked out the front of the rest stop and decides to see if there's anybody in need of assistance. He doesn't see anybody nearby, so approaches the car instead. I won't tell you what happens next, but let's just say that he doesn't live very long.
Another considerate person then sees the station wagon and the Prius and decides that maybe she can help.
This happens repeatedly until there are quite a few cars out the front of the rest stop.
Eventually Pete wakes up from his drunken slumber and of course saves the day, in a bit of a disappointing finale.

That's about it. The writing is top notch as always, but the story is not great. It's basically a short story which Stephen King has pieced together using recycled pieces of his previous work. Kind of like Frankenstein's monster, all it needs is a brain.

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