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Duma Key

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 40,035 ratings · 3,042 reviews

No more than a dark pencil line on a blank page. A horizon line, maybe. But also a slot for blackness to pour through... A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and E...more

ebook, 624 pages

Published January 22nd 2008 by Scribner Simon & Schuster (first published January 1st 2007)

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Sep 16, 2010 Alex Telander rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2008

DUMA KEY BY STEPHEN KING: Most Stephen King fans will admit that the last couple of novels by the international bestselling author, while selling well, have been somewhat lacking coming from the renowned horror writer; one might even go so far as to use the term “mediocre,” and don’t get me started on Cell. Thankfully, with the arrival of Duma Key, the slate has been wiped clean and the master of horror is back! King’s first novel set in his alternate home of Florida weighs in at over six hundre...more DUMA KEY BY STEPHEN KING: Most Stephen King fans will admit that the last couple of novels by the international bestselling author, while selling well, have been somewhat lacking coming from the renowned horror writer; one might even go so far as to use the term “mediocre,” and don’t get me started on Cell. Thankfully, with the arrival of Duma Key, the slate has been wiped clean and the master of horror is back! King’s first novel set in his alternate home of Florida weighs in at over six hundred pages, and while it reveals a more laid-back and matured author, with the terrifying days of The Tommyknockers and It perhaps over; Duma Key is nevertheless an incredibly well written novel with some wonderfully deep and complex characters, and a world that is just as complicated but in many more ways real.

Enter Edgar Freemantle. An entrepreneur who started a construction company and developed it into a multi-million dollar business; loving husband of two adult daughters; until he is involved in a freak on-site accident that should’ve killed him, but leaves him missing his right arm, a couple of slowly healing broken ribs, and a damaged mind that results in outbursts of anger and violence. The strain becomes too great and Freemantle’s marriage falls apart, leaving him an angry, empty shell. Seeking escape, he leases a beautiful house on the island of Duma Key. While watching the breathtaking sunsets, Freemantle decides to try his hand at some artwork, having sketched a little throughout his life. He discovers the more he works, the better he gets, soon switching to paints and canvasses; he also discovers that painting satisfies the seemingly insatiable itch in his missing right arm. Freemantle’s work is of the sunsets and the beautiful coastline, along with the occasional abstract object added in to offset it; he is eventually tagged as an American Primitive, but as more and more people discover his work, they are amazed by it and at his first gallery showing all works listed for sale are sold.

But beneath the art, there is a sinister plot at work, because this is after all a Stephen King novel. Freemantle discovers a psychic ability in his work, painting items he should know nothing about, as well as the eventual power to paint events that come to fruition: whether it be the restoring of blindness, or the forced suicide of a serial killer. And then there’s something wrong with the sold paintings: death follows them. The plot thickens, deepens, and becomes darker as the enigmatic history of Duma Key is discovered. It seems Freemantle isn’t the only person in its history to come to the island with a fragile mind and a special ability expressed through art. Then there’s the south side of the island which has become an overgrown and seemingly impenetrable jungle. The last time Freemantle and his daughter, Ilse, took a trip headed in that direction, Ilse immediately felt nauseous and horrible sick, while Freemantle felt the insatiable familiar itch that grew to an unstoppable buzzing; upon driving back north, they mysteriously found their ailments disappearing. Clearly something evil and powerful doesn’t want them getting to the south of the island.

Duma Key is not just a novel for the fans, but a cathartic response from King over his near-death accident in 1999; no doubt he relived his agonizing recovery while writing about Freemantle, and yet it is because of this firsthand experience, that Duma Key feels much more personal and empathetic. Also being King’s first foray into his new sometime Florida home, one might think his fellow Floridians a little unhappy on this introduction, or being Stephen King, they may feel the opposite and expect this. Regardless, Duma Key is a welcome return of the great horror writer, with an extra development of character and setting that King seems to have discovered in his later years, making this book one of his best, and one of my personal favorites.

For more book reviews, and author interviews, go to BookBanter.(less)

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Mar 25, 2010 Books Ring Mah Bell rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How jacked up is it that I'm going to say I find Stephen King comforting?

Yep. Pretty jacked up.

Then again, I've been reading him since I was a pre-teen (or tween, I think that's the proper term for it these days). Anyway, when the R.L Stine and Christopher Pike seemed a bit immature, (no offense to those authors, I LOVED them as a kid!) I turned to King.

He's what I know.

(insert joke about my psychological issues here)

After all these years, he still manages to weave a fantastic tale.

So, to not g...more

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Apr 14, 2008 Howard rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: never-finished-comma-sucked

Awful. Cloyingly sentimental, forcedly folksy, sloppily written. At first I was hoping that he was doing this on purpose, using the unrealistic dialogue and the instant bonding of the characters to turn it around on us, make us look back and see it as creepy eventually, but it's just bad writing. The characters don't act like people, they act like characters in a Stephen King novel. When they develop psychic powers, nobody even blinks, and everybody immediately understands how they work...becaus...more

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Mar 03, 2008 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Just about anyone

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I suppose firstly, I should admit that Stephen King is the man who has shared my bed the most after my husband. That got to the point where, right around "Black House" hubby made a complaint about having to share me in bed with Mr. King and I never brought a book to bed again unless I was all by my onesies. Since I was a preteen Mr. King has always been there for me in his own weird existential way. Through marriages, births, deaths, moving, depression, great highs of life and everything in betw...more I suppose firstly, I should admit that Stephen King is the man who has shared my bed the most after my husband. That got to the point where, right around "Black House" hubby made a complaint about having to share me in bed with Mr. King and I never brought a book to bed again unless I was all by my onesies. Since I was a preteen Mr. King has always been there for me in his own weird existential way. Through marriages, births, deaths, moving, depression, great highs of life and everything in between he's been right there sitting on the shelf or on my lap. The silent witness to everything I've ever experienced. Always ready and willing to offer me an escape when I needed it just like a good pal should.

The title of the book; for those of you wondering what kind of a key that is….it's one off the coast of Florida. As in the Florida Keys. Not a special key to a spooky door or something like that. It's the masterfully told story of Edgar Freemantle, one-time construction company owner turned artiste. It's also the story of Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, two very wonderful characters. Edgar and Jerome have more than just a shading of Red and Andy in them and I love that.

If you've never read a Stephen King book before start with this one, if you've read them all get this one because you'll love it even more. It's not King at his terrifying horrifying best. Not the King that keeps you up all night wondering what's going to happen and worst of all, what's that moving in the corner of the bedroom? As I said, more like the King who wrote "Shawkshank Redemption", "Green Mile" and "Stand by Me" (a/k/a "The Body" original short story title). That's not to say it doesn't have its creepy parts, most of it is pretty creepy/odd/weird but not overly so not like, say, Pennywise or Cujo. This is a really good Camp Fire Story—not that I'd know, I've never been camping, but had I at least once sat around a camp fire and heard a tale spun out for me, I imagine it would be a lot like this one…but shorter. It's like…it's like…it's like walking out a local convenience store and seeing someone you haven't seen in years sitting there smiling at you, as though they knew you were there and they were waiting for you to come out. When you do he slings an arm around your shoulders and says; hey, long time no see. How the hell are ya? I know it's been a while but look, I got something to show ya. You're gonna love it. C'mon walk with for a little bit, it's just up the road, right up there and around the corner…in the dark.

I have to say that I love him most when he tells a story that involves one of two things or both; 1- an creative person as the central character; a writer or as in Edgar's case a budding painter and 2- a child/children as main player(s). He's always good for having kids in his stories and I think he uses them masterfully because no matter how bad it gets, how scary or creepy or outright gross! That underlying air of innocence always remains it is there just as surely as the crazy clown, rabid dog, and pets raised from the dead are there. The juxtaposition is genius and he uses it better than anyone I've ever read.

Back to that first one; the writer, the artist, the creative individual. I love those characters best because I identify with them and not just because they're a writer but because he puts so much of himself and the Creative Process into the character. Only someone who truly gets way far into the Zone can know what that's like. Only they know the hunger, the absolute ravenous hunger that comes after. Only they know the bone tiredness of it that settles over you with the crash. He talks about them openly. Sort of like I do here from time to time. The Truth, my friends and neighbors, the Truth. Above everything else, no matter how hard it gets or how ugly it becomes always tell the Truth of the story or paint the Truth of the picture. You will be greatly rewarded in the end. This is a major lesson I have learned from him over the years and which was reinforced in this latest novel with such ferocity and tenderness that it often brought a tear to my eye as I read or I found myself nodding my head saying; yep, you got it, Steve, you got it. Over the years there have been many times when I swore he looked into my head, plucked something out, said; that looks interesting, and put it into a story. Then I realize I'm not unique and neither is whatever the experience was, it's probably just something we've all gone through in one way or another, something that binds us all together as human beings. Good old Common Ground. That's another he's great at finding and weaving into the tale he's telling.

There are a few things that are hard for the Reader to take in this book but then again Life is full of bitter little pills that we have to swallow, like it or not. It seems that no one is more acutely aware of this than my old buddy, my pal. With most he does a very good job of preparing the Reader beforehand…kudos, Steve especially where a certain daughter is concerned. Even though you know its coming and you don't have to experience it.—he's kind enough to spare you that and just tell you about it after it happens—it still stings, a lot. I kept hoping he was going to find a way to reverse it even though after all these years I know that's not really his style.

Hope is a dangerous thing, so sayeth Red, so sayeth we all.

Then, of course, there's the last little twist of the knife. It's only about six words long but I bawled my eyes out at the end of this story and I'm misting up now just thinking about it. Ah, the hallmark of a well told tale; the emotion lingers long after the second cover has been closed. I sat there with it, hugging it tightly for a while and thinking about all the characters I'd just met and the things I'd gone through with them.

As with most King stories there is also that last little ray of hope, that glimmer, that shimmer, in the dark that tells you no matter what happens, no matter how hard or how bad it gets it will get better, the sun will shine again eventually and we'll all be ok in the end.

I learned a new saying with this story and I kinda like it. Do the day and let the day do you. I might adopt that as my new attitude.

What more can I say except….read this book! Don't wait for the paperback. Go. Now. Get it. Read it. What are you waiting for?(less)

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Aug 22, 2008 John Wiswell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Stephen King fans, surrealist readers, magical realism readers, modern Fantasy readers

Recommended to John by: Flea

If Stephen King had died fifty years ago and left all these books for us to read whenever and in whatever order, I wouldn’t have placed this one in the twilight of his career. This would have gone in the “good and thoughtful” pile. I guess being hit by a car helped him write Edgar, the man who lost an arm, mangled a leg and lost part of his mind to a construction accident. Edgar is our sympathetic narrator, who stumbles out of a marriage that couldn’t survive the accident even if he did, and mov...more If Stephen King had died fifty years ago and left all these books for us to read whenever and in whatever order, I wouldn’t have placed this one in the twilight of his career. This would have gone in the “good and thoughtful” pile. I guess being hit by a car helped him write Edgar, the man who lost an arm, mangled a leg and lost part of his mind to a construction accident. Edgar is our sympathetic narrator, who stumbles out of a marriage that couldn’t survive the accident even if he did, and moves to a quiet beach in Florida (the eponymous Duma Key). It's a place that draws broken people – not fixing them, but empowering them. Giving strange abilities to the physically or mentally handicapped is a theme in King’s fiction, and it’s one of the most fascinating. It never levels the playing field, rather making the game much more interesting to watch. Mixing the pure supernatural with a real medical condition like phantom limbs makes this one of the more interesting cases of the theme in his fiction.

There is nothing urgent about this book, and that’s going to break it for a lot of readers. It has more of a premise than a plot. We come in after the accident, and are served with a hefty recap of the things that happened before our boy moved to Big Pink (his house on Duma Key). Things happen, our one-armed painter develops, and the nights pass as they may. King might spend the next five pages talking about walking on the beach, or he may use them to experiment on whether Edgar can see the future in what he paints, or create the future by painting it. This is great to me, and will be to anyone else who enjoys King's sense of voice. It’s been years since I demanded authors, even those I go to primarily for entertainment, throw buckets of plot across my deck or rush me from action scene to action scene.

Few books have helped me unwind this much, and it’s in part because of that lack of urgency amongst so many interesting things. Edgar is proper parts sympathetic, amusing, humble, confused and struggling, and with King giving him a voice, he's a pleasure to sit down with even for the most trying anecdotes.

That's not to say crazy things don't happen. Edgar is a one-armed painter whose art predicts the future, after all. But does it predict, or can it force things to happen? Is Duma Key a strange attractor for such phenomena? It’s an odd coincidence that the half-blind man down the beach claims to have visions, and that the woman he cares for, stricken with Alzheimer’s, sometimes babbles things she shouldn’t know. Beyond the paranormal, Edgar’s relationship with his daughter (he has two, but only one plays a substantial role) is touching. She’s a great character for this type of story, made up of many stripes, including all of these we see in her mother, but also many more. That half-blind potential psychic, Wireman, is also a great balancing character – funny, philosophical, so suited to letting life and a book wash away on a beautiful beach, and giving perspective to the things Edgar experiences. That the majority of our handicapped cast have some positive nature about them (not always sunny, but at least given to moments that are utterly loveable) helped my spirits as I spent the last week struggling through some physical therapy. But better than sympathetic characters are the relationships. You see Wireman with his profound, pseudo-parental, pseudo-husbandly love for his charge. Edgar and his daughter have a clearly complex relationship. Like in Salem’s Lot, the setting itself has a character with a provocative relationship to anyone who stays. There’s plenty to ruminate over in this book if you have the patience.

One level this book works on very well is that of the mythological. Edgar was an architect, someone who took drawn plans and built physical reality out of them. Here, almost detached from time, reality seems to be forcing his pencils and brush, reversing his talents. It’s things like this, especially as they carry out experientially through the book, that make it spiritually engrossing – even if the deepest Mr. King forces his characters to speak is in guessing that maybe there is an afterlife or humorously paraphrasing Nietzsche. It’s the substance, not the style.

King uses the wandering prose to play more literary tricks than usual. The most common are Edgar’s mis-speeches. His accident took an arm and damaged a leg, but it also damaged his brain, taking some memories (though from some of the things he remembers and some of the things he can’t, one wonders how much was lost by chance and how much was lost by unconscious desire to be free) and leaving his speech habits broken. He’ll say the wrong word or the wrong phrase in a blend of oral typos and Freudian slips, in the middle of perfectly fluent sentences. Sometimes they’re pathetic, but other times they reflect on his character development, such as when he intended to tell someone, “I’ll never be even,” but instead says, “I’ll never be Heaven.” Word flips like that touch on things he’s thinking or truth about this story as well providing a quirk to dialogue. Sometimes this leaks into his first person narration, like saying he bore someone “no anus” instead of “no animus.” As neat as they would have been if such word flips arose in retelling his most emotionally sensitive scenarios, these last seem to have been random.

That kind of spirit bleeds into other things, as we slowly realize the saying, “God punishes us for what we can't imagine” doesn’t mean the Almighty attacks us for reasons we can’t understand, but that ignorance and lack of foresight gets us into trouble.

And those kinds of tricks lead to a certain way of thinking about his characters, which King had to have intended. We find that Edgar’s house was once inhabited by Salvadore Dali – for three weeks. The area might be magical, so has his newfound talent come from there? Later we learn he used to draw beautiful picture books for his daughters when they were sick – but he can’t remember it. Did the talent come form there? Despite being much longer, much less funny and of a wholly different tone and intent, the book throws several Nakokov Pale Fire scenarios at you, where you’ll have to figure it out for yourself, and your conclusion really is just as good as your professor’s.

This kind of wordplay is indicative of a greater attention to diction than normal in King’s infinitely readable casual prose. It fits the world of quirky characters, where the normal people only visit and curious conversations are legion. King plays with clichés and platitudes as always, but there’s more literal dueling going on here – and thankfully none of it gets in the way of a damned good tone. I don’t even know why I picked up the book that first day, but after three pages I knew I was going to be sitting for a while.(less)

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Feb 10, 2008 Jake Kern rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone who's ever been broken.

Shelves: fantasy, favorites

Every single page is like a lover touching my cheek...sometimes it's a caress, and sometimes it's a slap...but every page, every word, has a profound impact upon me. I'm in the middle of the book, and I'm terrified to finish it, but I can't stop turning the pages...

...Just finished it. I heard one reviewer state that it was the best book King had ever written. While reviewers have short memories and liberal use of hyperbole, I must admit that this was one of his best he's written. While not epic...more Every single page is like a lover touching my cheek...sometimes it's a caress, and sometimes it's a slap...but every page, every word, has a profound impact upon me. I'm in the middle of the book, and I'm terrified to finish it, but I can't stop turning the pages...

...Just finished it. I heard one reviewer state that it was the best book King had ever written. While reviewers have short memories and liberal use of hyperbole, I must admit that this was one of his best he's written. While not epic like The Stand, It, or The Dark Tower, it is powerful, insightful, and terrifying. Also, the fact that the book is not epic is one of its greatest strengths. One of King's self-indulgences in the past couple of decades has been his ability to use 1000 pages to write a 500 page story. Remember that Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption and The Body were both just novellas. In Duma Key, King uses each of the 607 pages with power and efficiency.

Another of King's self-indulgences has been his treatment of Bryan Smith, the man who hit him during his walk and nearly killed him. That same man died a year later from a prescription drug overdose. I remember being especially uncomfortable of King's incorporation and depiction of the accident as a key element in one of his stories. (I HATE spoilers, so either you know what I'm talking about or you don't.) It got to the point where I really started to dislike the man, Stephen King. I mean, c'mon, let the dead rest.

But in this book, King delves into the aftermath of being broken and how being broken made him act and say things that simply were not of his character. Noticeably in this story, King only refers to the crane that causes the accident that crushes Edgar Freemantle and sets everything in motion, and he never once speaks of the driver. Later in the story as Edgar tests his newfound talents, the test results in the death of a child molester. Now, while the bastard certainly had it coming to him, Edgar is overwhelmed with a sense of power, horror, fear, and guilt. In this narrative, I believe that King is trying to work through the aftermath of his own brokenness and how it changed him, most noticeably in his treatment of Bryan Smith. And an interesting thing happened...I found that I had forgiven King's spite and nastiness during this period of pain and healing.

Finally, King puts to words so well what it is like to be broken...what it's like to not be yourself and be the monster and victim at the same time...and what it's like to look back on the wake of relationships that will never be the same again. Having gone through this myself (and I'm not out of the woods yet) I found myself weeping in sections where King's script perfectly put to words the hopelessness, frustration, and loneliness of a broken person. In this book, I found a bit of my own healing realizing that I'm not the only one to have dealt with this and coming to terms with the fact that it's not my fault.

Was this Stephen King's best book? I honestly don't have an answer. All I know is that it has had a bigger impact on me than any other work of fiction I've ever experienced.(less)

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Feb 25, 2013 Jackie rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-read, 2012-tbr-challenge, audiobooks, books-i-own

I’ve always been a coward when it comes to reading Stephen King. Seeing his name on a book cover automatically makes me turn around and run away. It’s nothing personal against King. It’s just that I tend to shun anything with horror…from movies to haunted houses to books. King being “The King of Horror” automatically puts him on that list. The thing is I have a few GR friends that are King aficionados who kept insisting that King wasn’t scary at all and that he’s great and blah, blah, blah. So f...more I’ve always been a coward when it comes to reading Stephen King. Seeing his name on a book cover automatically makes me turn around and run away. It’s nothing personal against King. It’s just that I tend to shun anything with horror…from movies to haunted houses to books. King being “The King of Horror” automatically puts him on that list. The thing is I have a few GR friends that are King aficionados who kept insisting that King wasn’t scary at all and that he’s great and blah, blah, blah. So finally when a group of them decided to read the Dark Towers series I decided to put my Big Girl Panties on and try it out. Turns out King wasn’t so bad and I liked his writing. I made it part way into The Waste Lands before putting it to the side though. Unfortunately, life got in the way and I wasn’t in the right mind set to continue.

Anyway, a year or so later I started getting better about the whole horror thing and decided to branch out a bit. That’s when I came across this book waiting for me at a library sale. I shelved it in my bookcase till I had the time and fortitude to tackle the behemoth. That time finally came and although I was excited I was a bit apprehensive. What if it was too scary? What if I started getting nightmares? Who was going to protect me? *gnaws fingernails* My GR friends assured me that it was all psychological; King is not scary, yada, yada. Putting my Big Girl Panties once again I ended up plowing through this sucker. I loved absolutely every minute of it! I even listened to the audio, which I highly recommend. It’s rare for me to listen to an audio and then go back and read what I just listened too, but that is exactly what I did. I didn’t want to miss a single word King wrote. I wanted to live in the experience again and again. I felt like I was in an Herbal Essence commercial every time I opened this book “Yes! Yes! YEEEEESSSSSSS!” *smokes cigarette*

So yeah, I highly recommend either reading this one or listening to the audio or better yet doing both. While there were some moments that stopped my heart for a second it was not scary. Parts of it were creepy. I knew I was being lured in by King, but I totally didn’t mind because the journey there was so damn good.

I’ll leave you with a quote that touched me to the very core because I swear I had a moment in my life where I felt this way, but didn’t have the words for it:
"I told myself there was time. Of course, that's what we always tell ourselves, isn't it? We can't imagine time running out, and God punishes us for what we can't imagine."(less)

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Apr 23, 2013 Oscar rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: misterio-suspense, terror, míos

¡Me gusta la pizza, que le voy a hacer! Un cocido, un bistec o una paella están muy bien, es comida sana, sin duda. Pero reconoced conmigo que de vez en cuando no apetece una buena pizza, con su queso fundido, su mozzarella, su atún, bueno, lo que sea. Pues lo mismo me sucede con Stephen King, que cada cierto tiempo me apetece leer alguna de sus fantásticas historias.

Pero, ¿es Stephen King un buen escritor? La respuesta es un rotundo y merecido sí. Aparte de se aportación a las letras norteameri...more ¡Me gusta la pizza, que le voy a hacer! Un cocido, un bistec o una paella están muy bien, es comida sana, sin duda. Pero reconoced conmigo que de vez en cuando no apetece una buena pizza, con su queso fundido, su mozzarella, su atún, bueno, lo que sea. Pues lo mismo me sucede con Stephen King, que cada cierto tiempo me apetece leer alguna de sus fantásticas historias.

Pero, ¿es Stephen King un buen escritor? La respuesta es un rotundo y merecido sí. Aparte de se aportación a las letras norteamericanas, y yo diría que mundiales, esto es obvio, su narrativa es muy buena, sabe contar historias y crear personajes creíbles, es capaz de dotarles de una personalidad y psicologías propias mejor que muchos pseudo-escritores-intelectuales que están subidos en su propio pedestal de autosatisfacción. No voy a dar nombres, dejémoslo así.

Lo primero que llama la atención de ‘Duma Key’, si es que se ha seguido parte de la trayectoria de King, es que su prosa es más templada, y eso no es malo, pero echo de menos esa chispa que caracterizaba sus obras de los 80. La obra se desarrolla sosegadamente. King va desvelando la trama y sus misterios como el que va tirando de un hilo suelto en un tapiz, sin apresurarse. Aquellos que esperen fuegos artificiales no los van a encontrar aquí. La historia está contada por Edgar Freemantle, que tras un espantoso accidente, pierde su brazo derecho y su memoria se ve afectada. Su mujer no resiste más y pide la separación, entonces su psicólogo le recomienda un cambio de aires. Y aquí empieza la verdadera novela, cuando Edgar se muda a Duma Key, Florida, a Big Pink, una casa rosa junto al mar. Nada más llegar, se siente atraído a dibujar casi de manera compulsiva. Edgar, y el lector, se dan cuenta de que algo pasa en la zona. No es bueno contar más, sobre todo en una novela de King, aunque el último tercio del libro es puro King.

Para terminar, he de decir que ‘Duma Key’ es un libro muy bien escrito, posee esa “facilidad” para leerlo tan difícil de conseguir. Es pura literatura.

¡Y qué demonios, me encanta la pizza!

(less)

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Jul 28, 2008 Trevor rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Artists, Loyal King fans, and anyone who has time to become a loyal King fan.

Recommended to Trevor by: King's reputation

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. The experience of horror is relative to each individual experiencing it. Whether it’s clowns with razor-sharp teeth plucking little boys’ arms off, or a rabid dog spraying foamy spittle all over the windshield of a broken-down car as a mother and child cower inside, or even the American landscape in the aftermath of a pandemic, Stephen King has probably scared each of us in some form or fashion. After all, he’s good at scaring us. He’s also evolving, and some enthusiasts of his early work are he...more

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Feb 02, 2008 Salma rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king

So I finished this today. (Feb 2). Wow. This reads like some sprawling, wrenching Greek tragedy. Just when you think nothing can get worse for the narrator...it does. The tale is of an ex-tycoon named Edgar who's been damaged, wrecked both emotionally and physically in an accident. Marriage breaks and he sets off for Duma Key in Florida. Spending time there recovering, making friends with Jerome Wireman and Elizabeth Eastlake, who've got disturbing secrets/stories of their own, Edgar discovers a...more

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Jan 25, 2008 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: anyone

I've finished the book -- I think it's one of the best he's done in a long time. King blends a ripping good supernatural story with what must have been his own experience in recovering from a horrific accident. It felt very personal without being self-indulgent. I think King is getting some distance from his accident, but he's seeing clearly.

The parts of the book where Edgar talks about the artistic process are beautifully written and insightful. King's written about the artistic process before,...more

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Apr 29, 2008 Imogen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

More literal magical negros than we usually mean when we use that phrase (although this one shows teaches white people things too), more classic-rock-oriented tragic heroes than you see in Sophocles, and arche/stereotypes so predictable and effective that you're totally sucked in even as you're laughing at the dialogue and the plot twists: you know when you are reading Stephen King.

I'm glad I started reading him when I was little and I liked everything, instead of now that I am old and I hate e...more

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Feb 18, 2008 Brandy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008reads, speculative-fiction, family-drama, library, adult

Eleven thousand "literary" books waiting and I pick up the latest Stephen King tome. Eh, c'est la vie.

Irony alert: in this lengthy review, I accuse King of writing far more than necessary!

On balance, this is a pretty good book. I'm not sure I'd give it a full 4 stars if it weren't Stephen King--this is a 4-star book for him, definitely, but I'd probably be a little more harsh about its flaws if it were (say) an unknown, or someone whose style I didn't enjoy. As a King book, this suffers his usua...more Eleven thousand "literary" books waiting and I pick up the latest Stephen King tome. Eh, c'est la vie.

Irony alert: in this lengthy review, I accuse King of writing far more than necessary!

On balance, this is a pretty good book. I'm not sure I'd give it a full 4 stars if it weren't Stephen King--this is a 4-star book for him, definitely, but I'd probably be a little more harsh about its flaws if it were (say) an unknown, or someone whose style I didn't enjoy. As a King book, this suffers his usual flaws (overwriting) but still has his usual flairs (character- and scene-building).

The overwriting is the biggest problem I have: if all the extraneous sentences were taken out, all the little details that never come back to mean anything (in many cases I can see the parallels he was drawing but he never bothered explore them, really), we could probably trim this book a good 150 pages. But even with all that extra writing, none of it feels like clutter. For someone so verbose, he writes reasonably tightly--all the extra narrative sets up characters and scenes, really pulls readers into the world he's created. The words don't feel wasted.

Because this is Stephen King, and it does eventually turn into a ghost story (more or less), I'm flagging this as speculative fiction--but he could have easily chopped out the whole ghost portion, the memories of the past and supernaturally-guided painting, and turned this into a 350-page family drama. (I was more interested in that part, anyway.)

Lastly, King has been in pretty good form lately. Lisey's Story was still better than this, but this is on par with Bag of Bones. Arguably, it's a very similar book--a man escapes to a deserted beach area to come to terms with the sudden life changes (death of a spouse/accident + divorce), is haunted by ghosts and the weight of local history, and has to come to terms with what that history means to him. King isn't blazing any new ground here, but he's still doing better work than I'd have ever expected in the Rose Madder days. Thank god those days are behind him, and let's hope they stay that way.(less)

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Mar 19, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Stephen King, Duma Key (Scribner, 2008)

Once a decade or so, Stephen King goes through a terrible writing slump, and I inevitably find myself wondering if King is finally past it. It happened in the early eighties (Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, et al.), the early nineties (culminating in the grandly awful Insomnia), and the late nineties (in which he went from the brilliant The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the... not at all brilliant... Bag of Bones). In the midst of this last batch came the acci...more Stephen King, Duma Key (Scribner, 2008)

Once a decade or so, Stephen King goes through a terrible writing slump, and I inevitably find myself wondering if King is finally past it. It happened in the early eighties (Christine, Cujo, Firestarter, et al.), the early nineties (culminating in the grandly awful Insomnia), and the late nineties (in which he went from the brilliant The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon to the... not at all brilliant... Bag of Bones). In the midst of this last batch came the accident, a couple of announcements of retirement, and a bunch of mediocre writing-- but then came “Blind Willie”, perhaps the best story King has written, and the final two Dark Tower novels, which heralded a possible return to form. Now, there is Duma Key, and it looks like King is back on his feet. Not that Duma Key is one of King's deathless novels like The Stand or Misery, stuff that should be pressed on visiting alien races as examples of what we do down here, but something that is solid and worth reading. In other words, it's King's best standalone novel since The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

The story centers on Edgar Freemantle, a building contractor from Minnesota who loses his arm in an accident with a crane, and soon after loses his marriage. His therapist suggests a change of venue as a possible cure, and he resettles on Duma Key, an isolated island off the Florida coast, where he discovers a previously unknown talent for art and some rather odd characters. Soon he realizes, with the help of the island's doyenne, that his art may be something more than he had at first taken it for...

One thing that King always does well, even in his bad periods, is characterization. King is one of the modern masters of drawing a character in a few broad strokes and having the reader know as much about the character as is necessary (and, frequently, a great deal more). When he's on his game, his characters are some of the best to be found in modern fiction. And while Edgar Freemantle himself is, surprisingly, a pretty stock character from the King arsenal-- you could pick him up and drop him whole into any number of King novels and he's be right at home-- it's the supporting cast who really make this book tick. Freemantle's younger daughter Ilse is fantastic, as is Elizabeth Eastlake, the senile landlady who, in her moments of clarity, gives Freemantle and his (equally wonderful) friend Wireman all the necessary clues to figure out what's going on with Freemantle's blossoming talent. They alone would make the book worthwhile. And there are times when they have to carry it-- King's depiction of Freemantle and his ex-wife's fumbling in the dark toward some sort of post-marriage understanding comes off as, at worst, horribly manipulative (and at best nothing more than a demon loosed to advance the plot)-- but when the book is on, it's on. King is also fantastic (when he's not dropping the ball, as in the relationship above) at setting things up without the reader realizing those things are being set up, and much of the book works in this vein; King, who has repeatedly stated in interviews that he starts his books without much idea of where they're going, has either changed the way he writes or has allowed his subconscious total control when writing, because the setup starts in the first few pages and never lets up; half the fun of reading any King novel is in getting through a big revelation and saying “hey, that scene back on page twenty-six...”. You know the drill.

I liked this one a bunch. It's good to see that Mr. King is back again and firing on all cylinders, even if one or two miss now and again. ****
(less)

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Jan 25, 2008 Meg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 52booksin52weeks-07-08

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I powered through this in just under 3 days, and MAN. I was all, "one last chapter" last night, and I literally had to keep a light on when I was going to sleep because I was actually really creeped out. AWESOME. When I was describing it to one of my customers, I called it a slow burn of a ghost story, and it is in a way. Stuff builds and builds and builds and then King takes the top of the pressure cooker and the last 175 pages or so is a whirlwind of awesome. The thing is, in those first 400+...more I powered through this in just under 3 days, and MAN. I was all, "one last chapter" last night, and I literally had to keep a light on when I was going to sleep because I was actually really creeped out. AWESOME. When I was describing it to one of my customers, I called it a slow burn of a ghost story, and it is in a way. Stuff builds and builds and builds and then King takes the top of the pressure cooker and the last 175 pages or so is a whirlwind of awesome. The thing is, in those first 400+ pages, King is also doing some really excellent stuff with his characters. He's got 4 main characters or so, but a pretty large cast of people that are important to Edgar in some way, and King never short changes them. His 4 biggies though, Edgar, Wireman, Jack, and Elizabeth are all fantastic, and my love for them reminds me of how I felt reading Cell.

And a bit of space before the spoilers:

**

**

**

**

**

Here be spoilers:

* Dude, I am so excited Jack got to live. I was SO not expecting him to make it out.
* According to Bookgasm, there's something around 450 pages in that you'll either accept or you won't. It's right around the time that Tom has been taken over by Perse and is on his way to kill Pam... is that what is hard to accept? I totally buy that Edgar's paintings/sketches have a certain sort of sway, or rather, act as a conduit for Perse. I *really* liked that Mary Ire was the one to kill Ilse.
* As much as I didn't like the lead-up to Edgar walking in the house when the twins and the brother-in-law have appeared and left footprints and YEAH THIS PART WAS SO CREEPY AND AWESOME, when I turned the page and saw that scrawled "where our sister" I literally stuck my bookmark in, turned on 3 more lights, and then went back to reading. I'm not sure what it was about this one scene, because I think King has written scarier stuff, but it freaked me out and I loved it.

To sum up: It might not end up as part of the "canon" like Salem's Lot and The Shining and The Stand, but it holds up to his earlier work and it's about 8 million times better than Lisey's Story. So: A++, you go Stephen King, you go.(less)

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Feb 05, 2008 Mike rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: my 13-year-old self, who was perhaps a more patient reader

Just started this. I think I keep reading King the way I keep buying Bowie albums. May often enjoy for more nostalgic than new reasons . . . but so be it.

400 pages in and pretty much out of patience. The stuff I've always dug--the sense of dread in the every day--bubbles up now and again, and I am pretty fascinated by Edgar's barely-contained rage following his accident.

But I've always hated when King's characters banter. (I don't want everyone to sound like 13-year-old boys being clever unless...more

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Apr 11, 2008 Sacha rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Stephen King has grown. The characters in this novel are fleshed out, deep, and poignant. The story is compelling, but the real triumph here for King is character over plot. As he enters a mature phase of life, his writing is just better than ever. he is underrated by the literati and Duma Key is his best effort in decades.

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Jul 16, 2011 Felina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, star-5, audiobook, favorites, own-kindle, own-nook

"The thunder heads stacked up, huge flat boats, black on the bottom and bruise purple through the middle. Every now and then lightening would flash up inside them and then they looked like brains filled with bad ideas."

I love this quote. Brains filled with bad ideas is so perfect when describing a mounting thunder storm. This quote actually moved me...seriously it did. I remember rewinding my iPod at least 10 times because the writing was just stunning.

As far as the story goes...I really don't...more

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Jan 19, 2009 Alan rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It must be nice to be Stephen King. Everything you write is automatically a bestseller -- no editor or publisher will ever tell you "no." But the flipside of such omnipotence is also evident in this book.
A building contractor from Minnesota has an awful accident in which he loses one arm and also suffers brain injuries from which he slowly recovers. His wife leaves him so he moves to an almost deserted Florida key and begins painting strange works of genius. It turns out that evil has awakened i...more

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Nov 06, 2008 JP Seabury rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, but my entire family is -- especially my Aunt Joanie. I thought this book was "ok", but it really dragged in the middle. It's more than 600 pages, and I think that's about 200 page too many.

My reviews always include the section of the book where I said, "Ok, I'm gonna like this book". For Duma Key, that didn't happen until p.204. Edgar is trying to prove to his ex-wife that he has developed psychic powers, through his paintings and drawings:

"Hi, Pam, it's me ag...more I'm not a big fan of Stephen King, but my entire family is -- especially my Aunt Joanie. I thought this book was "ok", but it really dragged in the middle. It's more than 600 pages, and I think that's about 200 page too many.

My reviews always include the section of the book where I said, "Ok, I'm gonna like this book". For Duma Key, that didn't happen until p.204. Edgar is trying to prove to his ex-wife that he has developed psychic powers, through his paintings and drawings:

"Hi, Pam, it's me again."
"I don't want to talk to you any more, Edgar. We finished what we have to say."
"Not quite. But this will be short. I have an old lady to look after. She's sleeping now, but I don't like to leave her long."
Pam, curious in spite of herself: "What old lady?"
"Her name's Elizabeth Eastlake. She's in her mid-eighties, and she's got a good start on Alzheimer's. Her principal caregiver is taking care of an electrical problem with someone's sauna, and I'm helping out."
"Do you want a gold star to paste on the Helping Others page of your workbook?"
"No, I called to convince you I'm not crazy." I had brought in my drawing. Now I crooked the handset between my shoulder and my ear so I could pick it up.
"Why do you care?"
"Because you're convinced that all this started with Ilse, and it didn't."
"My God, you're unbelievable! If she called from Santa Fe and said she'd broken a shoe lace, you'd fly out there to take her a new one!"
"I also don't like you thinking that I'm down here going insane when I'm not. So ... are you listening?"
Only silence from the other end, but silence was good enough. She was listening.
"You're ten or fifteen minutes out of the shower. I think that because your hair is down on the back of your housecoat. I guess you still don't like the hairdryer."
"How --"
"I don't know how. You were sitting in a rocking chair when I called. You must have gotten it since the divorce. Reading a book and eating a cookie. A Grandma's outmeal cookie. The sun's out now, and it's coming in the window. You have a new television, the kind with a flat screen." I paused. "And a cat. You got a cat. It's sleeping under the TV."
Dead silence from her end. On my end the wind blew and the rain slapped the windows. I was about to ask her if she was there when she spoke again, in a dull voice that didn't sound like Pam at all. I had thought she was done hurting my heart, but I was wrong. "Stop spying on me. If you ever loved me -- stop spying on me."
"Then stop blaming me," I said in a horse, not-quite-breaking voice. Suddenly, I remembered Isle getting ready to go back to Brown, Isle standing in the strong tropical sun outside the Delta terminal, looking up at me and saying, You deserve to get better. Somtimes I wonder if you believe that. "What happened to me isn't my fault. The accident wasn't my fault and neither is this. I didn't ask for it."(less)

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Aug 01, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In preparation for doing this review of Stephen King's latest, I did some poking around and read some other reviews on the 'net and was surprised to find that a lot of people like it. I, despite being a King fanboy, didn't care for it that much. It's gotten to be that King barely writes what you can fairly call horror books anymore. That's his prerogative, of course (roaring, scarcely imaginable success has its privileges), but between this, Blaze, Cell, Lisey's Story, and The Colorado Kid it's...more In preparation for doing this review of Stephen King's latest, I did some poking around and read some other reviews on the 'net and was surprised to find that a lot of people like it. I, despite being a King fanboy, didn't care for it that much. It's gotten to be that King barely writes what you can fairly call horror books anymore. That's his prerogative, of course (roaring, scarcely imaginable success has its privileges), but between this, Blaze, Cell, Lisey's Story, and The Colorado Kid it's just not been the King I grew to love.

Look, it's not that Duma Key is a bad novel. In fact, it's pretty well written and refreshing in its setting. Instead of yet another everyman cum hero from a xenophobic town in rural Maine, Duma Key tells the story of a successful building contractor from Minnesota named Edgar Freemantle. Our hero is maimed in a work site accident, and when the resulting physical and mental damage wreck his marriage, he retires and moves to a small island in the keys of Florida to recuperate. Part of his therapy involves taking painting up again, and he turns out to be very good. Supernaturally good, in fact. The stuff he paints is very surreal, and the paintings seem to have sinister lives of their own that are tied to an old and evil somethingoranother on the island. It's the kind of "artist/creator as a magician or god" ground that he's covered in other works, like later Dark Tower books and the short story Word Processor of the Gods, but here it's pretty fresh in its presentation.

And King does a good job of what King often does well: He builds character. Edgar Freemantle and the friends he makes Duma Key are interesting, nuanced, complex, and flawed. They're good literary characters, in short, not Mary Janes or cliches. The thing is, though, that the book is ALL character development and setup, to the point where it languishes over those actions. We get to know a lot about Edgar Freemantle, but honestly, I thought I had ENOUGH after a couple hundred pages and was ready for the plot to develop. Instead, we get long scenes about beach walks, art shows, and father-daughter chats that are nicely done except that there are too many of them and they drag.

Then, literally in the last 100 pages of the 600 page book, King seems to remember that he's got to do something that makes the book fit in the "Horror" section of the bookstore and drags out some extras from the first Pirates of the Carribian movie. Dead, squishy sailors walk in from the surf and oh yeah there's some kinda monster in the woods that Edgar and his ka-tet (to use The Gunslinger's term) have to figure out how to best. That part was cool, but it felt forced and like it was part of another book.

I know I'll keep buying new King books as long as he makes them, but I think I'm gonna have to go back to some of the older stuff to remind me why he's one of my favorites for a good old fashion page turner.(less)

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Apr 13, 2009 Becky rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, stephen-king, 2009, fantasy, horror, mystery-and-thrillers, reviewed, favorites, highly-recommended, leg-hump_worthy, blog_osga

I've read a lot of King. I read a lot of King, and this is among his best. I know some people feel that after his accident he lost his touch for the creeping horror that made him famous, but I assure you that is not the case. This book proves that King not only still has it, he's still improving.

I listened to this on audio, and I'm sure that lent something to the suspense, but I'm very glad that I did. (I downloaded from Audible, and each part was preceded by music that is creepy on its own. I'...more I've read a lot of King. I read a lot of King, and this is among his best. I know some people feel that after his accident he lost his touch for the creeping horror that made him famous, but I assure you that is not the case. This book proves that King not only still has it, he's still improving.

I listened to this on audio, and I'm sure that lent something to the suspense, but I'm very glad that I did. (I downloaded from Audible, and each part was preceded by music that is creepy on its own. I'm not sure if the audio CD's are the same way.) Listening to this made me pace myself, and made sure that the build-up was properly built up. I have a tendency to speed-read when I get excited, when I know I hold something great in my hands and want to experience it as quickly as possible. I couldn't do this with the audio, and so the anticipation piled up until I had to finish, regardless of the fact that it's now 4:19a and I have to work tomorrow.

John Slattery's reading was just about perfect. He had this great tone, a feeling for the story, and a subtle way of lending personality to the characters that makes them come alive. King obviously gives him a lot to work with and build on, but I don't know if another reader would have done the book justice the way Slattery did. I could tell exactly who was speaking at all times, even before he got around to telling me who it was, yet he didn't make the characters HIS characters, if that makes sense. He just gave them life. His reading of Perse (this is how I'm assuming it's spelled, as I haven't seen it in print) gave me goosebumps, and I think will haunt me for a long time.

This book contained more than a few of the things that creep me out the most. But I couldn't stop listening. I loved the aspects of Elizabeth's childhood history. That part of the story fascinated me. I also felt that the book brought back pieces of other books that King has written, making it a part of the larger universe that links his stories together.

-Perse's red robe, and the mentions of red throughout the story brought the Crimson King to mind. Could she be the Crimson King's consort, maybe?

-Perse speaking to Ilsa from the drains and toilet obviously brings IT to mind.

-Edgar's ability to create (and uncreate) through his art. King does this with every story he writes, but I kept thinking specifically of Peter Rickman from Kingdom Hospital and Patrick Danville from The Dark Tower series and Insomnia.

-Edgar's accident and injuries acting almost as a muse/catalyst for his artistic ability, as Peter Rickman's did, as King's own did, if you consider the shift his stories took after his accident. How the ability seemed to flow through him, but was not invented BY him. (Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but these are the things I was thinking of...)

-Wireman not only mentioning that he's a gunslinger, but actually being a gunslinger, if only temporarily. I have no doubt that had he made his way into that section of the SK Universe, he'd have found 5 missing members of his Ka-tet.

Anyway, I found much to love in this book, and I have a feeling it will become a favorite. I would highly recommend it. (less)

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Apr 22, 2008 Joe rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stephen-king, top-20

This has become my personal favorite.
Many of King's fans have been upset with some of his later work because of the lack of true terror. Others were pleased because there was a bit more variety or literary quality. Me, I feel that I can't say his books ever got better or worse.

Stephen King writes so many different kinds of stories that everyone is going to be happy with some and disappointed with others. For me this has had very little to do with when he wrote them. It was all about how he gain...more This has become my personal favorite.
Many of King's fans have been upset with some of his later work because of the lack of true terror. Others were pleased because there was a bit more variety or literary quality. Me, I feel that I can't say his books ever got better or worse.

Stephen King writes so many different kinds of stories that everyone is going to be happy with some and disappointed with others. For me this has had very little to do with when he wrote them. It was all about how he gained more and more fans over the years. What makes Duma Key one of those few that works for almost all of King's fans is that it had more of a balance instead of focussing on one end of the spectrum. And he was also able to keep both sides of the coin well polished in this one. The characters, plot, terror, themes, haunting scenes, etc. all had a unique, slightly different twist to them.

Duma Key could seem slow at times. Some people could complain about how slow the first half of the story is. However, it is not constant. There are many places where the pace picks up for a little bit to keep the reader interested.

The other complaint that I have heard is that it gets too weird at the end. Yes, I usually don't like King's weirder stories as much as the others, but in Duma Key the bizarre is never allowed to go too far. It had to go somewhere because of how the whole story was slowly building up to it. So give me a way King could have ended it without bringing a little more paranormal into the equation, and you will probably give me an entirely new book.

In the end, I found it to be amazing because of the characters. I've heard many say that they're more developed. I felt that the difference was in how well the reader got to know the protagonist. Most of King's characters are very complex or well developed, but it's when the reader truly gets to know the character that it stands out. For me, the one thing that puts it as my all time favorite is how personally I felt connected and similar to the characters and how closely I could compare the story to my life. This is not something that I can say everyone, or anyone, else will see, but that is when literature will be most significant.

(less)

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Feb 17, 2011 Sezin Koehler rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, spirituality, american-monsters-2-research

Feb. 17, 2011:

I have a real thing for stories about artists who make "live" paintings. Man, this book was creepy and not just because I'm scared of the water. I really enjoyed re-reading this one and it seriously made me want to paint more. :-)

May 24, 2008:

As ever, Stephen King's work is brilliant and insightful. It seems as if every new novel he produces becomes more and more spiritual, and I loved how the main character in this novel went through a horrifying trauma only to develop magical, ye...more

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Feb 19, 2008 Kealan Burke rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Stephen King fans

In many circles, Stephen King's last novel LISEY'S STORY is considered his masterpiece. I couldn't get past the 50 page mark, the gauge by which I judge the readability of a book. This is not to say that it isn't a classic. We've all put down books with a snort of disgust only to try again sometime later and realize them for the great works that they are (or, in some cases, are not.)

Before LISEY'S STORY came CELL, and while I found it entertaining and worth reading, I didn't consider it a good...more

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Feb 10, 2008 Bryce Wilson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

And Stephen King's late period roll continues. Fan's know that after his accident, King's books where well not at their best Dreamcatcher, A Buick 8, and side projects like Kindom Hospital seemed muddled and confused, but I think finishing The Dark Tower series cleared out some cobwebs for him and since then he's been playing ball, I know I'm in the minority but I thought Cell was a great bit of old school, Salem's Lot style, bit of no holds bar horror, and Lisey's Story is quite possibly his be...more And Stephen King's late period roll continues. Fan's know that after his accident, King's books where well not at their best Dreamcatcher, A Buick 8, and side projects like Kindom Hospital seemed muddled and confused, but I think finishing The Dark Tower series cleared out some cobwebs for him and since then he's been playing ball, I know I'm in the minority but I thought Cell was a great bit of old school, Salem's Lot style, bit of no holds bar horror, and Lisey's Story is quite possibly his best and certainly his most tender and mature work, Duma Key stands up well with both of them.

Creepy as hell, dark, poignant, and perhaps the saddest book King has ever wrote it's as good as anything he's ever done. It's the first book in a long long time that actually deprived me of a good night's sleep when a passage made me very aware of just how close my bed was to my staircase. I'm sure most people will say this particular visitation is just a rehash of a very famous bit of The Shining (and to be fair King has never been one to use a good gag once when he can take it out for a drive three or four times) but it struck a cord, a big one.

There is one touch that I thought was interesting, one of King's tricks has always been to fill his books with malapropisms, miss placed words, and mangled spellings, so it's interesting and a bit stupefying that he didn't use it before, that he here his main character can't help but speak and think that way. It makes for a good device as well as a creepy barometer in some scenes when the language starts to go you know the rest of the sane world can't be far behind.

King is always going to have a special place in my heart, he was after all my first "favorite" author, the one who taught me to love and seek out an author's voice (and what a great voice it is funny, smart assed, and ferocious I've always thought it'd sound like James Cagney if it could talk). Ever since I snuck into the adult section of the library on a fourth grade field trip and grabbed The Dead Zone, I've been a loyal fan, and the fact that he can produce something like this so late in his career has made that fandom a very rewarding thing indeed. I can't wait to see what he does next. (less)

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Feb 03, 2008 Shirley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Shirley by: Today Show, NYT Review

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 03, 2008 Cliff rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Finally finished Duma Key. It's an okay SK book. I held on till the end. The story is about a building contractor who's in a near death accident. The accident has left Edgar Freemantle minus one arm and a mean temperament which costs his marriage. Relocating to sunny Florida he rents a beach home and picks up his past desire to draw. The pictures he draws are great but hold a certain mystery to them. He befriends his beach neighbors and he learns the local history of the unfortunate Eastlake fam...more

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Feb 26, 2008 Mary Sue rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Steven King Fan Club

This is a big book that reads fast. Having dabbled in sketching and painting I was fascinated with the power of the muse in this book. Of course with Steven King it starts out amusing and then becomes exponentially terrifying. The author as always is a master about character sketches. I never have trouble visualizing his characters or the scenery. I love the new local, I have always liked the Gulf Coast of Florida and glad to see it through his eyes. He does it so effortlessly compared to the sl...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Kim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great one from the master of horror. The main character survives a horrible construction accident, loses an arm and moves to Florida to get away for a while. He begins painting to help deal with his anger over both the accident and his failed marriage. His talents grow at an alarming rate and he knows that his art is somehow being controlled by not only the key, but also the house he is living in. At some point he knows there will be a price to pay for his transformation into a successfu...more

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About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

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Trivia About Duma Key

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Quotes from Duma Key

“If I keep saying it, if I keep reaching out. My accident really taught me just one thing: the only way to go on is to go on. To say 'I can do this' even when you know you can't.” — 148 people liked it

“Talent is a wonderful thing, but it won't carry a quitter. ” — 139 people liked it

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