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Desperation (Magill Book Reviews)

At a glance:

Stephen King has produced numerous horror classics, including CARRIE (1974), MISERY (1987), and INSOMNIA (1994). In 1996, he boldly published three novels. The first one to be published during the year was the serial novel THE GREEN MILE. In September, both DESPERATION and THE REGULATORS were published, THE REGULATORS being published under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. THINNER (1984) was the last novel where King had employed this pseudonym. Some of the same characters appear in both DESPERATION and THE REGULATORS. The same evil force also appears in both. The novels cannot be considered unified, though. Characters who die in one novel may live on in the other novel and die at a different time and place.

DESPERATION is set in a Nevada mining town of the same name. It is the bad luck of the people who happen to be driving through Desperation that they are stopped by the policeman, Collie Entragian. Unfortunately, Entragian has been taken over by the evil force known as Tak. King understands the fear that all travelers have of running into a rogue cop who thinks that he is God. In addition to the cop, the town is patrolled by such creatures as coyotes, scorpions, buzzards, spiders, and rattlesnakes.

One of the vehicles stopped by Entragian contains the Carver family. It turns out that eleven-year-old David Carver is to be the hero of the novel. Although his sister is murdered and his parents seem to self-destruct under the pressure of the situation, young David is up to the task of doing God’s work.

There is a definite religious theme to DESPERATION. The demonic force can be successfully fought only with God’s guidance. King has once again taken the reader on a spine-tingling roller-coaster ride, where carnage abounds and evil is eventually defeated.