'From A Buick 8' probably isn't the best place to start with Stephen King: when reading a book in an unfavoured genre, usually only the best will do, and 'Buick 8' isn't the best.

Pennsylvania's state troopers find themselves in possession of a mysterious object that looks like an old Buick but in fact is a portal to another world. Over 20 years a few things go one way and a few the other. That's it, pretty much. No explanation, very little conflict and no resolution.

It's a tribute to King's writing skills that he can be engaging for several hundred pages of mostly flashback in which nothing much happens. His characters are sympathetic, well-drawn and distinct, but they're all too sympathetic. They're all 'good cops' with the usual array of problems, except for the carboard cut-out bad boy who appears and then quickly disappears half-way through. Where's the conflict?

The structure is a procession of chapters where a different cop takes up the story of how an object that looks like an old car but is in fact a portal into another world found its way into Shed B. The listener is Ned, son of Curt, who has recently died in the line of duty. The way King often switches narrators and chapters in mid-sentence is a nice touch, but it gets tedious to listen to the old cop again talk about how good a cop Curt was and how much is son reminds him of his departed colleague.

Ultimately, this is a pleasant enough way to fill some idle hours, but we learn nothing about the car or the paranormal, and even less about the human condition. All pretty sterile really.