Stephen King's Duma Key - Review

Duma Key Duma Key by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A neo-gothic chiller that burrows down to your soul.

In recovery from an accident that robbed him of an arm, ended his career, and marked the beginning of the end of his marriage, Eddie takes a lease on a beach home on the Florida island of Duma Key.

While Eddie begins to heal, he discovers a talent and passion for painting. As he becomes consumed by creative spirit, the ghosts of Duma Key begin to stir.

Within his artwork, Eddie discovers messages from the past and the future, and through them a power he would have never believed possible. But an entity both dark and malignant is restless, and through Eddie's work wishes to reach back into the world.

'Duma Key' is a supernatural suspense novel by Stephen King. Part tragedy, part ghost story, part character epic, the novel explores and plays on themes both gothic - the isolated location, abandoned and decaying property, the past haunting the present, and 'madness' and mental illness approached from the dual perspectives of Eddie's trauma and Elizabeth's dementia; and those that have become Stephen King's own staples - the artist replacing the writer as the creative soul at the story's heart, an exploration of psychic phenomena, and a group of characters uniting to combat a monstrous and evil enemy.

As always with King's novels, we delve deep into the minds of the core characters and their relationships, how their backstories and family histories entwine and impact the current events of their lives. Eddie makes for an endearing, yet troubled and flawed, protagonist, as he tells us his story, taking us back to the aftermath of the accident that almost killed him and left him mentally and physically maimed. We gain an insight into the process of his healing and how he begins to build a new life, forming new friendships with his neighbours Wireman and Elizabeth. His family and past relationships also form a key component of the story, most notably that with his youngest daughter Ilse, while perhaps his most significant relationship is that with his art, full of frenzy and passion and something otherworldly.

So many things in this novel spoke to me - most of all its coastal setting and the discovery of the healing nature of creating art. Blending elements of horror, gothic, suspense and thriller into one slow-burning narrative created an entirely immersive experience – complete with moments of chilling unease; vivid and atmospheric scenes – particularly evocative were those on the beaches and deep in the jungle that grew around the ruins of Elizabeth’s former family home; and bursts of action and adventure, coiled within an unravelling mystery, coalescing into an enthralling and emotionally resonating narrative that has the feel of a piece of artwork in prose.

Haunting and nightmarish, 'Duma Key' is an excavation of the human soul and an escape to an idyllic paradise that is never quite what it seems.



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Published on May 10, 2023 08:55 Tags: gothic, horror, stephen-king
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