Category Archives: Thriller

Misery

04 Thursday Jul 2024

Posted by in Horror, Psychological, Reading, Thriller

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Misery by Stephen King
1987 / 454 pgs. (110,565 words) Psychological-Horror-Thriller

Misery, a classic by Mr. King. It grips you from the start and does not let go. Paul Sheldon, author of the Misery Chastain novels wakes up from a confused and drugged out haze. As he gathers his wits and surroundings, he feels agonizing pain from his hips and below. He meets his savior, Mrs. Annie Wilkes, not only a former nurse, but also his number-one fan. Also, he realizes that he is not in a hospital being cared for by trained professionals but held against his will at Annie’s house. However, with two shattered legs, he is not going to be leaving anytime soon.

Annie loves the Misery books and really does not care for Pauls other works. As he has heard and read from other fans, please, just write those wonderful Misery books –signed, your number-one fan. His latest manuscript was in the car that Annie pulled him from. She reads it and finds it horrible, his worst writing ever. She did mention that she was waiting for the latest Misery book, Misery’s Child, to be released in paperback. What she does not know yet is Paul killed Misery. He despises Misery Chastain, as he feels he can write a lot more than just romance novels that swoon all of his fans. Once Annie has Misery’s Child in hand and devours it, she is terribly upset, and blames Paul for murdering Misery.

With the help of a BBQ pit, Annie demands Paul to burn his latest manuscript, the horrible book called Fast Cars. Once that is complete, she brings him an old Royal typewriter and has him author a book just for her, the greatest novel he has ever written, Misery’s Return! That, dear readers, is the first fifty pages of this masterpiece, for it only gets worse for Paul, much worse as he drafts the only book that will keep him alive.

Annie Wilkes, I believe is one of Mr. Kings greatest antagonist. She is one of the most polarizing characters because you are not sure what she will do at any given moment. This effectively makes the narrative an on-the-edge of your seat experience. The conclusion is incredibly satisfying with frightening consequences.

This novel, I felt, was a narration of frustration from Mr. King as he feels like Paul in various interactions with fans that have played out over the years. Considering, Mr., King received backlash from fans after the release of Eyes of the Dragon. Many fans just demanded him to continue writing horror books. I would imagine it was the same feeling that Tom Clancy received when Red Storm Rising was published, which was not a Jack Ryan novel, and readers demanded another Ryan book. I could imagine many authors reading this novel and stating, “that is how I feel”. Geroge R. R. Martin faces this all the time with his fans demanding for the author to sit a write Winds of Winter and do nothing else until it is complete.

Would I recommend this book, oh yeah! It is a great read and did not disappoint.

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and a delightful book!
Lopaka

Rage

13 Saturday Aug 2022

Posted by in Psychological, Reading, Thriller

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Rage by Stephen King
1977 / 211 pgs. (54,176 words) Psychological Thriller

This was the first book King published under Richard Bachman. An interesting fact about this specific novel is it is out of print by request of Mr. King himself. Why did he do this? The following narration should clearly define the answer to why.

Charlie is a senior in high school who is called into the principal’s office to discover his fate after attacking a chemistry teacher with a pipe wrench. Once the verdict is read, transfer to Greenmantle Academy, Charlie mouths off to the principal and is immediately expelled from school. After arriving at his locker, he takes the gun and extra rounds he brought, sets the rest of the contents on fire, and closes the door. While smoke billows out of the slots in the locker door, he walks into a classroom, shoots the teacher in the head, and takes the class hostage. He kills another teacher who bursts into the classroom, wondering why they do not evacuate while the fire alarm is going off.

After the fire is out, the principal, a psychologist, and the local sheriff talk to Charlie over the intercom system, asking him to release his fellow students. He refuses and plays mind games with the adults while talking about “Getting it on.”  Much of the novel is about Charlie and his fellow students talking about challenges that many youths take on during their most impressionable years, High School. From the physically challenged to the jock who is a cowered inside and uses his aggression against others to hide it. Even sexual, or lack of, experienced is shared in the classroom while police and others wait outside the school for Charlie’s next action.

Naturally, I do not want to give away the ending. As one can deduce from the narration, why Mr. King asked his publisher to stop printing the book. After several school shootings, one of which reportedly Rage was in the locker of one of the shooters, Stephen King stated he no longer wanted the book in circulation for obvious reasons. 

This book is just more than just teens talking in a classroom. It is also about how many teens feel growing up in High School. It is a deep dive into youth’s challenges in school as they grow up, build an identity for themselves, and determine where they will go next on this fascinating journey called life.

I enjoyed this book. However, given the subject, for many, this could be a very challenging or not disturbing book to read, especially with the school shooting at the beginning and the hostage situation in the classroom. It is not an easy book to find. Since I am reading all of King’s novels, it would not be a complete list without Rage.      
 
Enjoy a good cup of coffee and a delightful book!

Lopaka

The Black Widows

20 Sunday Feb 2022

Posted by in Military and War, Reading, Thriller

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2021 / 364 pgs Military Thriller

1st Lt Ian Archer, USAF, an F-15C fighter pilot, is cocky and flamboyant; however, he does have a heart that doesn’t appear too often. Grounded is a dreaded word for any flyer. A simple meaning, his flying days are over. From his USAF Academy days to flying the vaunted F-15C, all that he worked for is gone in a flash. What is going to happen next? Is his career finished? Not only is Archer grounded, but he is also ordered to report to a missile base in Montana to sit in silos waiting for World War III.

After arriving, he discovers that he is not there for the Missile assignment. He joins a highly classified squadron, the 13th Fighter-Intercepter Squadron, the Bulls, that fly the F-23 Black Widow. The leadership is unconventional, and Ian has to deal with unusual rules and the mission profile of an aircraft that officially was retired after the ATF program. As his training goes south in this military thriller, he starts to question himself and his abilities.

In the beginning, it’s hard to get into as Ian is a cocky-arrogant flighter pilot that can’t do wrong. However, the narrative starts to chip away at Ian’s armor over time. The narrative gets exciting once the reader pasts the ego of Archer.

I enjoyed the challenges that Archer had to take on both as an officer and individual. For the last 145 pages, I couldn’t put it down because I was so curious to know what was going to happen. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a fighter pilot-oriented story. This book is a Tom Clancy meets Ian Fleming. The technical military thriller style of Clancy and the center-focused character of Fleming.   I truly enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading what is next for Archer and “The Bulls.” 

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and a good book!

Lopaka

Frankenstein

06 Saturday Nov 2021

Posted by in Classic, Reading, Sci Fi, Thriller

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Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
1818 /240 pgs.  Classic/Thriller/Sci-Fi

No castle, no digging up bodies and putting them together, and no lightning!  Igor is not even a character in the story. Don’t allow all this to fool you; this is a thriller, and when it was written, it could also be a horror story or even a gothic novel.

Victor Frankenstein had visions of a possible future as he was creating the experiment. He wanted to cure all diseases and even cheat death.  Studying pseudoscience and current scientific theories of the time, he discovered how to reanimate flesh.  He worked long and created his man, and when he brought it to life, he realized the horror of his creation.

The entire story is told as a dictation.  First, a ship’s captain letters to his sister in the U.K. and his current status of ship and crew stuck in the ice for the winter.  Then, after witnessing a very large man on a dog sled going past his boat and following was a very frail man.  After sickly Victor boards the boat, the captain proceeds to listen to his tale.  In the middle of Victor’s story, the creation of the monster and the death of Victor’s young brother, William, Victor then reviews the tale that the demon tells Victor, a narration of a narration.

The tale continues, and Victor at first complies with the request of the monster to create a mate.  Victor continues with philosophical thinking and internal debates that cause him to destroy the monster’s mate before she is complete, which, naturally, causes the monster to go in a rage.  Then he exacts his revenge against his creator.  Victor finishes his narration of the nightmare that the monster causes, and then the final words are from the captain to his sister.

Not what I was expecting.  Although, it was a very delicious read.  It doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat and is a little predictable in places, and I was still curious about how it would end.  I would definitely recommend this for a good read.  A final note: Frankenstein is the name of the creator, the thing that we know as Frankenstein is called the demon or monster in the book. 

Enjoy a good cup of coffee and an excellent book

Lopaka

Roadwork

08 Friday Oct 2021

Posted by in Reading, Thriller

≈ 1 Comment

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