The ABC’s Of Stephen King : Ace Merrill

Ace was one of the first Stephen King villains I was introduced to. And the interesting thing is that he is likely known mostly for the portrayal of him by Kiefer Sutherland in the film adaptation. As for the novella, The Body, he actually has very few appearances as the book is told in the first person. In a movie, you can take certain luxuries with that device and go outside the narrator’s perspective every now and then but as for the book, the only way we were going to see Ace is if Gordie was also there. As it stands though, he still manages to make an impression, even when he only appears in the imaginings of the other characters.

Ace is also one of the more enduring characters in the King universe. There are at least two other stories where he pops up, in one of King’s later novels, Needful Things. He is also referred to in the short story, Nona, which can be found in the collection, Skeleton Crew. I actually stumbled across some sites centered around Ace Merrill fan fic recently. Not going to go into to much detail there, other than to say that it made me feel a little dirty.

I see Ace as kind of an early version of Henry Bowers, the smug, self-obsessed bully who dominates his peers with fear and intimidation, someone who lives and dies off of his reputation and how he is perceived by others. Like John Coffey, this is another example of a character for whom I will only ever be able to see one face. Kiefer Sutherland may be forever associated with Jack Bauer but for me, he’s always going to be Ace Merrill.

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