I found myself disappointed by Stephen King's From a Buick 8. When King is really On, his stories hook into you and pull you along. From a Buick 8 completely lacks immediacy. The reader is too aware that 95% of the book takes place in the past and that you already have a good idea who survives. The very structure of the book distances you from the characters. It doesn't help that I didn't find Curt or Ned Wilcox at all sympathetic. The plot has a few jolting moments. Just a few. There's not much that's really scary in here.

Unlike most of Stephen King's novels, this one doesn't take place in Maine. While it had some fun moments of nostalgia for me because I went to college near the Short Hills, Pennsylvania area, there are times when the PA and PA statie (state police) trivia gets to be too much and intrusive. Okay, Uncle Stevie, you did your research. We get it already.

The underlying theme of the novel is that a lot of things in life disappoint you and never get a satisfying explanation, but the book itself embodies this a little too well.

People probably figure that From a Buick 8 is a retread of Christine given that a lot of it also has to do with a young man's obsession with a somewhat sentient evil car, but Christine was a hard-hitting, gripping, scary read, while From a Buick 8 is not.