Roadwork by Stephen King
1981 /410 pgs.  Thriller

Barton, oh poor Barton Dawes.  The world is falling all around him.  Due to eminent domain laws, his house and the surrounding neighborhood are scheduled to be torn down for a highway extension.  Also, the very business that he worked at and knew the founders, an industry laudrey center, is being torn down for the same reason.

Barton needs to find a new house for him and his wife while negotiating for a new warehouse to move the laundry business.  However, not all is sane for Barton.  He has been talking to his son, his dead son, Charlie (he calls Freddy).  The death of his son, which was only a few years prior, haunts him.  He never got over it.  His wife moved on, yet Barton didn’t.  In his head, Freddy still talks to him, arguing with him about right and wrong.  For Barton, the very place that Charlie died can’t be torn down, not for a highway extension.

Being guided by forces that he doesn’t understand, he purchases guns for an unknown plan.  He can’t explain why he got them.  He is determined that the city is not going to get his house.  He was very loyal to the laundry company founders. They paid for his college and took care of their people; he feels the corporation that runs it now only cares about the bottom line and not the people.  He doesn’t want any change, yet it will come.  What happens? What will happen when the highway comes?

Roadwork is the third Richard Bachman novel.  It went in a direction that I wasn’t suspecting for three-quarters of the book.  It made it an exciting read.  Once the plot starts to roll out, the rest is just reading to see how it plays, predictably out.

Not on top of the King list, nor really in my recommend list.  Not a bad read, though.

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and an excellent book!

Lopaka