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Joyland

Stephen King (Goodreads Author)

3.91 · Rating details · 126,118 ratings · 12,344 reviews

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Joyland is a brand-new novel and has never previously been published.

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Paperback, 283 pages

Published June 4th 2013 by Hard Case Crime

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Jun 23, 2012 Nataliya rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013-reads, favorites, stephen-king

You gotta agree - Stephen King can tell a story like few others can.

Maybe it's because he can see the world in the way most of us do not, and then grants us the privilege to experience it through his eyes for a few hundred pages - the world that can be unsettling and scary and fascinating and different in subtle little ways that change the way you view it - at least for a little while.

Add to it that Stephen King also can do nostalgia like no other (well, perhaps excluding Bradbury - and there You gotta agree - Stephen King can tell a story like few others can.

Maybe it's because he can see the world in the way most of us do not, and then grants us the privilege to experience it through his eyes for a few hundred pages - the world that can be unsettling and scary and fascinating and different in subtle little ways that change the way you view it - at least for a little while.

Add to it that Stephen King also can do nostalgia like no other (well, perhaps excluding Bradbury - and there are very Bradbury-esque notes in this book about ~~a carnival~~ an amusement park) - nostalgia not really for a specific place or a specific time period but rather for being young and idealistic and resilient and yet fragile, cynical and innocent at the same time; making the readers long for something they have all experienced or will yet experience - even if their own experiences were (or will be) nothing like what King talks about.

It's really the longing for youth from the distance of years, wistful and melancholic, seen through the sharp and yet distorted lenses of a few decades passed, with the hope and bittersweetness and gentle quiet regret that such look into the long-ago can bring; the glance into the time that seemed simpler and more innocent because you back then were simpler and more innocent and vulnerable yourself.

"When you're twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It's only when you get to be twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect you've been looking at the map upside down, and not until you're forty are you entirely sure. By the time you're sixty, take it from me, you're fucking lost."

And add to it his knack for truly fantastic, amazing characterization, creating in the pages of his stories people that are alive, real, recognizable (for better or for worse); characters that inhabit the settings that with a few casual phrases turn hauntingly real, come alive from the paperback pages - and here, dear reader, we have Joyland.

"That fall was the most beautiful of my life. Even forty years later I can say that. And I was never so unhappy, I can say that, too."

Devin Jones is a poor college student with a newly broken heart and "such a really bad case of the twenty-ones", taking up a summer job at Joyland amusement park in North Carolina in the time when banning smoking at such venues was a strange new thing. He is young, charmingly naive, and unhappy - and a carny life could do him some good (granted, this life, unbeknownst to him, also comes with an old unsolved murder mystery and some ghosts, and a kid with supernatural ability, and a deranged mysterious serial killer).

It's a setup for a coming-of-age story, a few life-changing months that are impossible to forget - and such it is (but a *King* version - think 'The Body' rather than 'David Copperfield’), but told by King in his trademark casual 'Uncle Stevie' voice full of effortless grasp of perfect storytelling it grows and comes to life.

And suddenly we can see and hear the hot summer days, and the creaking of the giant Ferris wheel operated by the friendly Lane Hardy, and the happy screams of children as Howie the Hound (played with unexpected happiness by a twenty-one-year-old unhappy and brooding kid in his spare time listening to The Doors and entertaining suicidal thoughts while nursing his first real heartbreak), and the shrieks coming from the Horror House - rumored to be haunted by a girl with a blue Alice band - manned by a surly Eddie Parks who always wears gloves, even in summer heat, and the happy barks of a dog and happy voice of a young boy watching the kite fly up into the sky, and a kiss from a lovely girl who is no more than a friend, and the groaning of the Spin in the storm, and the eyes of a maniac, and beach fire and beer and smores, and the excited buzz of the crowds in Joyland - an amusement park (or, really, more of an overgrown carnival that knows it has not that much longer left) that, after all, as its owner knows very well, sells fun.

And we see the humanity of his characters shine like you wouldn't believe.

"All I can say is what you already know: some days are treasure. Not many, but I think in almost every life there are a few. That was one of mine, and when I'm blue -- when life comes down on me and everything looks tawdry and cheap, the way Joyland Avenue did on a rainy day -- I go back to it, if only to remind myself that life isn't always a butcher's game. Sometimes the prizes are real. Sometimes they are precious."

Joyland appears to have been presented as a crime story, a noir novel complete with a cover (a redheaded bombshell in a skimpy green dress, eyes wide and mouth open in an exaggerated shocked surprise) that is designed to help it seamlessly blend in with other occupants of a gas station cheap paperback rack.

But it's not a crime noir story, nossir, trust me. And it's not a 'typical' King novel in a way media and those only marginally familiar with King think of his works. But, on the other hand, it is a 'classic' King, really - the one who has penned Shawshank and The Body and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and 11/22/63 - the one who transcends his pidgeonholed role as the King of Horror, the one who knows that it's the depths of the human nature that make life both terrifying and wonderful, the one who takes the trip down the Memory Lane and brings us a story of people being shaped by seemingly small events that happen around them.

And this is the thing about this book - it's not about the horror (there's none; the scary things are the everyday things that happen to people - death, loss, loneliness) or the mystery (the murder story is pushed so far into the background it almost fades out of sight) or the supernatural (it's hiding in the background right next to murder mystery). It's simply a book about people. It's about getting into Devin Jones's head (metaphorically, of course) and taking a life experience alongside him through the eyes of his older self, seeing him change and grow a bit at a time, and missing a part of us we left behind when we had to grow up, too.

At under 300 pages, this book is a tiny offering compared to King's as of late habitual door-stoppers, and it could have easily been developed more, stretched out to greater lengths and depths exploring the paranormal bits that have largely taken the backseat, exploring more of Mike and Annie's stories, bringing the murder mystery closer to the forefront, exploring more of the noir-ish promise the purposefully tacky book cover promised. Yes, it could have done all of that in the "usual" King fashion, yes.

But you know what? I'm glad he left it at this compact size, choosing instead to simply focus on a story of a young unhappy man coming into his own over a few months in the shadow of an amusement park where they "sell fun", playing Howie the Happy Hound on suffocatingly hot summer days (fifteen-minute shifts only!), looking at the world from the top of the Spin, thinking about the ghost in the Horror House while nursing his broken heart the way only the young can, flying a kite once a while, and all throughout going through the little subtle changes that bring you into the rest of your life, into adulthood, away from Joyland, into a world with sharp edges and hard corners.

"When it comes to the past, *everyone* writes fiction."
*****
True, but few can do it as scarily well as King.

Fantastic.
Almost perfect.
And you don't even have to be a fan to appreciate it. Trust me. ...more

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Dec 06, 2013 Angela M rated it it was amazing

Shelves: cgca-2013-14

If I ever were to meet Stephen King, I imagine that the conversation would go something like this:

A: Mr. King, what a pleasure it is to meet you. I’m glad to have this opportunity because I owe you an apology.

SK: An apology? We don’t even know each other. Why would you need to apologize to me?

A: I’m sorry for avoiding your books all of these years and for thinking that you were a one dimensional author who only wrote horror stories. I’m sorry that it took me so long to discover your wonderful wr If I ever were to meet Stephen King, I imagine that the conversation would go something like this:

A: Mr. King, what a pleasure it is to meet you. I’m glad to have this opportunity because I owe you an apology.

SK: An apology? We don’t even know each other. Why would you need to apologize to me?

A: I’m sorry for avoiding your books all of these years and for thinking that you were a one dimensional author who only wrote horror stories. I’m sorry that it took me so long to discover your wonderful writing and that you didn’t write just horror stories.

SK: How did you come to that revelation?

A: It was in 2011, when I read some wonderful reviews about your new book 11/22/63. It was so appealing to me – a time travel story about saving President Kennedy. So I read my first book by you and fell in love with your writing, with the story and with Jake. It wasn’t just about the possibility of saving JFK, it was a beautiful love story.

SK: So glad to hear that you enjoyed 11/22/63.

A: I owe you another apology for waiting three years to read another one of your books. I have just read Joyland and once again love the story and the characters. I have to admit I was a bit hesitant to read it – it’s a mystery and a bit of a ghost story and I am not really a fan of those kinds of books. But this story is about much more than that. It’s about young man who learns a lot about life and who he really is; it’s about the first time your heart is broken. It’s about friendship, and an extraordinary little boy named Mike. I felt as if I really knew these people. I want to thank you for taking me to Joyland.
I probably won’t read the horror stories, but I am going to make a point of looking for your other books that are not horror stories. Can you forgive me?

SK: I’ll have to think about it.

A: By the way, I understand that you are a big Red Sox fan. Me,too! I lived outside of Boston for several years and even though I don’t live there anymore, I’m still a big fan.

SK: A Red Sox fan, huh? Okay , I forgive you.

A: Thank you so much, Mr. King
...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery-thriller-etc, favorites, own, horror-gothic-etc

OMG! I love this King book! I had a feeling I might just from reading the synopsis of the book. It just blew me away! I loved the atmosphere of the carnival. I fell in love with Devin, Tom, Erin, Mike, Milo, Annie and a few other side characters.

I felt like I was in the book with each one of them and I could see all of the old carny rides and amusements. I could feel the old mystery of the girl that was killed. I wish they would make this into a movie, but do it right! It as to be to a T from t ...more

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Jun 07, 2013 Kemper rated it liked it

Shelves: hard-case-crime, uncle-stevie, 2013, crime-mystery, ghosts, spooky-powers

There’s a ghost that appears in the haunted house ride of an amusement park in the 1970s? Jinkies! Is this a Hard Case Crime book or an episode of Scooby-Doo?

Actually, it’s a Stephen King novel. And as we found out the last time Uncle Stevie wrote a book for the HCC line he doesn’t have a problem with blurring the line between crime and supernatural. Since HCC needs all the help it can get I’m pretty sure nobody bitched too much when he turned this one in.

Devin Jones is a struggling college kid There’s a ghost that appears in the haunted house ride of an amusement park in the 1970s? Jinkies! Is this a Hard Case Crime book or an episode of Scooby-Doo?

Actually, it’s a Stephen King novel. And as we found out the last time Uncle Stevie wrote a book for the HCC line he doesn’t have a problem with blurring the line between crime and supernatural. Since HCC needs all the help it can get I’m pretty sure nobody bitched too much when he turned this one in.

Devin Jones is a struggling college kid looking for a summer job in 1973, and he lands a position at Joyland, a third rate amusement park in North Carolina. Poor Devin gets dumped by his first love shortly after starting work, and he spends a good part of the summer brooding over his broken heart. But it’s not all bad. Devin enjoys the atmosphere at Joyland which is populated with colorful carnies who show him the ropes, and he manages to make some friends as well as develop a talent for entertaining kids. The park has a dark side in its haunted house where a young woman was once murdered, and her killer was never caught. Some claim to have seen her ghostly form. Zoinks!

As a Stephen King story this is pretty good. It’s told from the perspective of older Devin looking back to a summer of his younger days and King has the melancholy tone of faded youth down cold. Devin’s a likable character, and the ghost in the spook house thing isn’t overdone. It mostly hangs in the background as Devin tries to get over being dumped and learning the carnie trade. It’s obvious that the behind-the-scenes stuff at the amusement park is the idea that King really got into and he even goes so far as to create a whole bunch of carnie lingo on top of the actual stuff he used.

The early ‘70s setting gives the whole thing a bit of vintage charm although there are more than a few seemingly anachronistic tidbits. Were microwave ovens available and affordable enough then that a kindly landlady would have one? Were fruit smoothies a regular breakfast beverage back then? Wikipedia tells me that it’s possible, but it really doesn’t feel like they’d be commonplace. Plus, I really had a hard time believing that the owner is so forward thinking as to ban smoking in his amusement park.

Devoted Hard Case Crime fans might grumble that this isn’t really a crime story. While Devin is fascinated by the ghost story and has a friend dig up some research on the murder for him there’s really no active effort by him to try and solve the case. It’s really more of a bittersweet coming of age story with a little murder and spooky happenings around the edges and providing a wrap-up.

Still, it’s an entertaining tale in an off-beat setting with one of the most famous story tellers of our time. It’d be a great diversion to read while you’re standing in line to get on a rollercoaster.

Also posted at Shelf Inflicted.
...more

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Sep 21, 2012 Stephanie *Eff your feelings* rated it it was ok

Shelves: wrong, 2013, mentions-my-hometown-those-nearby

Now I know how Neil DeGrasse Tyson felt while he watched the movie Gravity.

I give Joyland three stars as far as story goes, and a one star when I take into consideration that Stephen got everything wrong about how amusement parks are run. He obviously did zero research. The most believable thing in this book is the ghost part, but I know the vast majority of you out there did not spend twenty odd years hopping around the United States working in amusement parks like I did, and therefore would no ...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Delee rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, fell-in-love-with-the-cover, supernatural-or-paranormal, coming-of-age, mystery, suspense, hard-case-crime, reviewed

I am not sure what bubble I was living in that I hadn't heard about Stephen King's new book JOYLAND, so it was just luck that the day it was released, I just happened to in the book store browsing. The cover shouted out "look at meeeee!!!" I quickly grabbed a copy off the shelf, and thought to myself, "Mine, mine, mine!" When I finally got around to reading it, I was not disappointed...

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photo 80654a5e-a035-4246-8501-cbce94c39823_zpsc27f9561.jpg

This was one of those Stephen King books that made me feel like I was sitting on the front porch on a warm Summ ...more

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Jun 06, 2013 Debra rated it really liked it

Joyland by Stephen King

Joyland is not a typical Stephen King book. If you are looking for horror, supernatural gore, scary clowns, vampires, fire setters or children who come back from the dead, or any other really scary parts - you will not find them in this book. This book is not like the typical books Stephen King wrote in the 80''s.

I had not read a Stephen King book in many years prior to picking this book up. Don't let the cover turn you off, this book is a jem! It is a mystery, and a uniqu Joyland by Stephen King

Joyland is not a typical Stephen King book. If you are looking for horror, supernatural gore, scary clowns, vampires, fire setters or children who come back from the dead, or any other really scary parts - you will not find them in this book. This book is not like the typical books Stephen King wrote in the 80''s.

I had not read a Stephen King book in many years prior to picking this book up. Don't let the cover turn you off, this book is a jem! It is a mystery, and a unique coming of age story. Another great book by Stephen King. He is a fantastic storyteller and he has done a great job telling this story. I often go years without reading a King book, but when I do, I am always reminded about just how gifted a writer he is.

First I will start off this review by stating that I think this is a great book to read for those who have never read Stephen King before, for those who do not like horror novels or being scared. This is Stephen King doing what he does best - tell a story. This is the Stephen King whose Novella "The Body" inspired the movie "Stand by Me", This is the Stephen King who wrote the novella "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" which inspired the movie The Shawshank Redemption. This is also the Stephen King who wrote "The Green Mile" which inspired the movie by the same name.

Joyland is not a typical Stephen King book. If you are looking for horror, supernatural gore, scary clowns, vampires, fire setters or children who come back from the dead, or any other really scary parts - you will not find them in this book. This book is not like the typical books Stephen King wrote in the 80''s (or since then).

I had not read a Stephen King book in many years prior to picking this book up. Don't let the cover turn you off, this book is a jem! It is a mystery, and a unique coming of age story. This book is about love and loss, growing old and those who never get to grow old. Stephen King is a fantastic storyteller and he has done a great job telling this story. His characters in this book are well developed as is the plot which has a couple of twists and turns. The story is told from the perspective of an older man looking back on a pivotal summer of his life.

Devin Jones, a college student, takes a summer job at Joyland hoping to recover from a broken heart. But as it turns out Joyland was once the scene of a viscous murder and a ghost of the murdered girl sometimes haunts a popular ride at the park. Intrigued, Devin sets out to solve the murder. Over the course of the summer he also meets a young mother with a dying child. This summer and it's revelations will change his life forever.

This is a smaller book by King. Well worth the read. I think this book will surprise readers who have not liked King in the past or who do not like horror.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookpost.com ...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Arah-Lynda rated it really liked it

Shelves: i-said

JoyLand is a slow burn of a book and that was alright by me. I love getting to know King’s characters and Devin Jones is no exception. He’s our young, intelligent narrator, burning with the passion and enthusiasm of youth; he is also healing a broken heart, his first, when he signs up to work at the carnival.

This is a Hard Case Crime file so one would expect a murder or two and there is, except it happened years ago and remains unsolved. While never really taking center stage through most of th ...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Trudi rated it liked it

Shelves: crime-mystery, 2013, i-see-dead-people, the-wonder-years, stephen-king, cover-lust

Written for the Hard Case Crime line of paperback novels, Stephen King's Joyland may look like a duck -- with its tantalizing pulp cover making promises of sex and violence -- but it definitely doesn't quack. In fact, it's another kind of animal altogether, a coming of age tale tinged with the bittersweet tang of nostalgia and the wistful remembrances of what was and what might have been.

This isn't new territory for King. Anyone who's read him at all knows that this is his stomping ground and w
Written for the Hard Case Crime line of paperback novels, Stephen King's Joyland may look like a duck -- with its tantalizing pulp cover making promises of sex and violence -- but it definitely doesn't quack. In fact, it's another kind of animal altogether, a coming of age tale tinged with the bittersweet tang of nostalgia and the wistful remembrances of what was and what might have been.

This isn't new territory for King. Anyone who's read him at all knows that this is his stomping ground and when he's firing on all cylinders, nobody does it better. It isn't done badly here either (there are some great passages filled with humor and insight), it's just that the effort and subsequent result feel lackluster overall. The characters are fleshed out just enough to move the story along and give King some hooks to hang his "looking back on it now" philosophizing, but stacked up against King's pantheon of memorable characters, the ones found in the pages of Joyland are easily forgotten (at least by me).

I almost think this little book suffers from the schism of an identity crisis. King has in his hands a paranormal crime plot replete with a garish 1970's amusement park setting haunted by the ghost of a murdered young woman. This being Hard Case Crime, I was keen to get King's take on hard-boiled noir or just full on pulp. I looked forward to sensationalist violence, cheap thrills and snappy, stylistic dialogue (and no, sorry Uncle Stevie, but you don't win any points for injecting the patter of carny speak on every other page).

King can't stop himself from telling an entirely different kind of story about a young man with a broken heart and his extended summer spent growing up and getting on. It's a story of emotions and memories and the metaphor of a flying kite and the panoramic view from a giant Ferris wheel. It's 80% middle-aged navel-gazing and youthful angst. The other 20% consisting of uncovering the identity of a murderous predator and revealing the details behind a haunting feel tacked on as afterthoughts. In this case, for Hard Case, I would have much rather seen those ratios reversed.

Another problem I had (view spoiler)

Still, while it wasn't the novel I wanted or expected, Joyland is a sweet story, a little maudlin in places, but enjoyable nevertheless. Constant Readers will take pleasure in immersing themselves for a little while in a Kingscape that feels both familiar and satisfying.

It's good people, it's just not all that it's quacked up to be.

This review has also been posted to Busty Book Bimbo ...more

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Jul 02, 2013 Florence (Lefty) MacIntosh rated it it was amazing

Recommended to Florence (Lefty) by: Hooked by the title and cover

Shelves: paranormal, mystery-crime, reviewed, 2014, indulge, suspense

4 ½ stars All you King fans out there are going to read this anyway. Go for it, be a *Rube, its worth the price of admission. For anyone else who's curious about all the kerfuffle over King, maybe test the waters with this. No, it’s not his best but it’s pretty great. It’s short, leans towards paranormal rather than horror in case horror isn’t your thing, and you gotta love that hardcore pulp-fiction cover!
Tons of suspense, the mystery of beautiful women being murdered to unravel, a plot that m 4 ½ stars All you King fans out there are going to read this anyway. Go for it, be a *Rube, its worth the price of admission. For anyone else who's curious about all the kerfuffle over King, maybe test the waters with this. No, it’s not his best but it’s pretty great. It’s short, leans towards paranormal rather than horror in case horror isn’t your thing, and you gotta love that hardcore pulp-fiction cover!
Tons of suspense, the mystery of beautiful women being murdered to unravel, a plot that moves and characters written with sensitivity, you'll care about them. Best of all and the star of this novel though– a fabulous 70’s Carny setting.
* Rubes: Carny lingo for customers, they gotta leave with smiles on their faces. “They’re rabbits, nice plump fun-loving rabbits, hopping from ride to ride and shy to shy instead of from hole to hole.”

Favorite quote: “When you’re twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It’s only when you get to be twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect you’ve been looking at the map upside down, and not until you’re forty are you entirely sure. By the time you’re sixty, take it from me, you’re f_cking lost.”

Ah The King: Haven’t picked up one of his books in years, guess I overdosed on him when I was younger. He’s improved with age. The same spare style but with more confidence –it’s like the man has reached this point where he’s got nothing to prove to anyone but himself, that he’s still the master at delivering entertaining stories - no literary honours in the cards and he could care less. Keep 'em coming King!

Meanderings: I’ve had some interesting jobs (I’ll try anything) Considered applying at the Carny when young, visualized myself working the night shift running the scariest ride on the midway. Something intensely exciting about the lights, the smells, the crush of people – and that beautiful intermingling of full blast rock 'n roll accompanied by screams of terror. Not sure what stopped me - ended up picking cherries instead...Reading this I got to live that fantasy vicariously.
“I’ve done a lot of jobs in the years since then, but I never felt so weirdly happy, so absolutely in-the-right-place, as I did when I was twenty-one, wearing the fur and doing the Hokey Pokey on a hot day in June.
Seat of the pants, baby.” ________________________________________
Cover painting by Glen Orbik– link to the artist’s website – worth checking out:) "http://www.orbikart.com/gallery/" ...more

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Mar 11, 2017 Johann (jobis89) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"I'm not sure anybody ever gets completely over their first love, and that still rankles. Part of me still wants to know what was wrong with me. What I was lacking. I'm in my sixties now, my hair is gray and I'm a prostate cancer survivor, but I still want to know why I wasn't good enough for Wendy Keegan."

In the summer of 1973, a student named Devin Jones takes a job at Joyland, a North Carolina amusement park. Shortly after his arrival, his girlfriend finishes their relationship and breaks his "I'm not sure anybody ever gets completely over their first love, and that still rankles. Part of me still wants to know what was wrong with me. What I was lacking. I'm in my sixties now, my hair is gray and I'm a prostate cancer survivor, but I still want to know why I wasn't good enough for Wendy Keegan."

In the summer of 1973, a student named Devin Jones takes a job at Joyland, a North Carolina amusement park. Shortly after his arrival, his girlfriend finishes their relationship and breaks his heart. In an attempt to forgot about the girl, he quickly becomes engrossed in an unsolved murder that happened in Joyland a number of years ago. He also meets a young woman and her dying child, and begins to learn a lot more than he first anticipated he would at Joyland.

I've been on such a great run recently with King books, and this one was no exception. From the very first page, I was drawn in and constantly writing down quotes in my little notebook. It literally felt like this book was speaking to me personally. The sense of nostalgia and the loss of your first love is overpowering. It's a sweet look back on the heartache and self-doubt that comes with such a loss.

The plot itself at Joyland was possibly a tad predictable at times, but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. The characters themselves were some of the most likeable King has ever written - Devin himself, Annie and Mike. I wanted to spend more time with them, but I also feel like a lot of the charm of this book is in the fact that's it's relatively short and sweet. Devin is a good man, sweet, dependable, reliable. Wendy Keegan is a goddamn fool for breaking up with him! You can tell from the very beginning that he is just a lovely guy, and his relationship with both Annie and Mike is a perfect example of this.

This is a great book to suggest to people who are possibly interested in reading King, but don't like horror. It's a murder mystery essentially, with a teeny tiny bit of horror. This feels like King at his best, you can almost imagine yourself being in Joyland with Devin that year. He creates a world for you and then invites you to step into it and immerse yourself in it.

My only complaint really is how predictable the story felt at times, and given that I just don't think it's on the same level as my more recent reads, I'm going to deduct a star and give it 4 stars out of 5! A quick, fun read. The perfect read for summer! ...more

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Feb 22, 2015 Bionic Jean rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-authors-i-l, mystery-crime, kindle

The American author Stephen King is one of today's most popular writers of horror and supernatural novels and stories, occasionally branching out into other genres such as science fiction, fantasy, or factual books. With Joyland, published in 2013, he has once again tried his hand at a crime novel. As with his first novel of this type, it was published by "Hard Case Crime" who specialise in crime fiction by both established and new authors who write hardboiled crime novels. Some of their books b ...more

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Jun 26, 2013 Alex Duncan rated it it was amazing

I've been reading Stephen King since I was a child and this book reminds me of his old stuff. It's really good. ...more

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Feb 14, 2020 Tina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: thriller-mystery, read-in-2020, young-adult, suspense

This is a Young Adult Horror Suspense Mystery. I do not think this is super scary. I use to collection and read books written by Stephen King when I was in high school, and I cannot remember when I stopped reading Stephen King books. This year I made a small goal of picking up Stephen King books again. This is the first Stephen King book I picked up in years, and I really loved this book. I did not see the twist. This book was all about finding who killed the girl in the fun house at joyland. I ...more

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Aug 16, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it liked it

Shelves: 2013, hardcase

On the heels of a breakup, college student Devin Jones takes a summer job at an amusement park, an amusement park haunted by the ghost of a woman murdered on one of the rides. But what does that have to do with a woman and her dying child that Devin meets walking on a beach?

Stephen King throws the Hard Case line another bone with Joyland. Much like The Colorado Kid, it will undoubtedly draw much needed attention to the line despite not being like the other books.

Joyland is the story of Devin Jon ...more

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Mar 30, 2020 Joe Valdez rated it did not like it

Shelves: abandoned

I'm abandoning this effort by Stephen King. Published in 2013 by Hard Case Crime, the pulp-styled crime label owned by Titan Books, I picked it up at the library wanting a King book to read and fell in love with the cover art by ~~the legendary Robert McGinnis~~ Glen Orbik. I should've known that redheads are nothing but trouble. The story is set in the 1970s in the aforementioned North Carolina amusement park and is 115 pages of schmaltz and self-indulgence leading up to a whodunit that I never mad ...more

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Apr 08, 2017 Kevin Kuhn rated it it was amazing

I read this book on vacation and flew through it in a day. King weaves together teen angst, a violent murder mystery, and the horror of an incurable childhood illness all against the grainy backdrop of an amusement park. The main character Devin is a nice guy, a guy you'd like to hang out with, but a guy that fell a little too hard for his first love, hard enough to have the rare suicide thought drift through his troubled mind. How King, in less than 300 pages, builds out 10 characters, a midway ...more

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Jul 11, 2019 Jay Schutt rated it it was amazing

Shelves: owned, stephen-king

Alfred Hitchcock once said, "There is no terror in the bang, only the anticipation of it." The bang in this book took a long time coming, but the reading of the anticipation along the way was very enjoyable. A great summer read, or for any time of year for that matter. It didn't read like the usual Stephen King story. It had great flow, was easy to read and was very well-written. Not that his other books aren't. This one just had a different feel. Well done. ...more

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Jan 24, 2017 Cathrine ☯️ rated it really liked it

Shelves: group-challenge

4★
Stephen King wrote this for the Hard Case Crime series which seeks to recreate the flavor of paperback hardboiled crime fiction novels of the 1940s and 50s. Each cover features original cover art in the grand pulp style.

There is an unsolved crime, a previous murder in the horror house, but it wasn’t what I thought it would be. The entire time I was reading it I was back at Pacific Ocean Park in Venice Beach California during the 1950/60s. Big mistake eating right before I went on the roller-co ...more

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Jun 04, 2013 Elyse Walters rated it it was amazing

Update: 99 cent special today!!!!!

Irresistible!!!

On the back of the bright yellow @ red paperback book by Stephen King, *JOYLAND*, [smack center in RED INK], are the words:

"Life is Not always a Butcher's Game
Sometimes the Prizes Are Real
Sometimes They're Precious" .....

If you've NOT read this WONDERFUL-TREAT-yet --those words above will 'not' have the same 'feeling' to you until you get to page 220 --and read them 'again'. (I dare any human being not to be moved)!

To NOT read this book (heck, tak ...more

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Jun 04, 2020 ij rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, crime, thriller, kindle, mystery, horror, 2020

Great story!!!

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Apr 22, 2019 Bradley rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2019-shelf, horror

I'm kinda embarrassed.

I neglected reading Joyland because it was A: short and B: I didn't think it would be a trademark King.

For the first, I have no excuse. The second is all Shame On Me.

That cover is pure hogwash. The book diverges a bit from the normal SK in that he goes out on a REALLY STRANGE LIMB and writes an MC who doesn't have much in the way of faults. In fact, he's almost godlike the way young Danny Torrence was in the Shining. :) He's a damn good kid. A little depressed and unhappy, ...more

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Aug 20, 2013 Megan Baxter rated it really liked it

This is only the second Stephen King book I've ever read, other than The Stand. I just don't do horror, as a general rule. But then this came out, and it was a mystery, or at least marketed as such, and so I figured I'd give it a try.

It isn't really about the mystery, though, and others have noted it. There is a mystery, sure. The main character works at Joyland, an amusement (not theme - King is careful about the difference) park one summer in the 1970s. Several years earlier, a girl had been m ...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Sam Quixote rated it did not like it

Every Stephen King fan has a wonderful memory of reading one of his books, the experience making you oblivious of all else as you become enveloped in the story, completely consumed with the characters, the plot, the sheer brilliance of the storytelling. For me those memories are clustered around my early teens when I first read King, reading Misery, The Shining, IT, Pet Sematary, Different Seasons, in a massive reading jag – I fell hard for King and there was nothing better than picking up one o ...more

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Jan 29, 2015 Jonathan Janz rated it it was amazing

In early 2014 the wonderful podcast Pod of Horror (run by mastermind Mark Justice) announced its list of the top three novels of 2013. One of my books (I won't say which one now, because this bit is just preamble, and the review I'm writing isn't about my own novel) clocked in at #3.

Number two on the list was Bentley Little's THE INFLUENCE, and though I hadn't (and still haven't, if I'm being honest) read Little's book, I'm familiar with Little's writing and was delighted to be included on the ...more

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Jul 22, 2018 Chelsea (chelseadolling reads) rated it liked it

Not my favorite King novel but it was still a good time! V atmospheric and spooky

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May 24, 2017 Brenda rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2013-release, horror, gift-from-gr-friend, mystery, own-read, crime

Devin Jones had been with his girlfriend Wendy while at college for the past two years, but the vibes he was getting from her made him uneasy. So when the opportunity for the summer job at the carnival park Joyland where they only sold fun came up, Dev tried for it and was successful. He then took a room in a boarding house nearby for the duration of the summer, along with other carny hands, Tom and Erin.

Dev’s job was huge and varied, but he was good at “wearing the fur”, when he dressed up as H ...more

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Feb 27, 2015 Paul Nelson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2015-books-read, crime-thrillers

It's Joyland.

"This is a badly broken world, full of wars and cruelty and senseless tragedy. Every human being who inhabits it is served his or her portion of unhappiness and wakeful nights. Those of you who don’t already know that will come to know it. Given such sad but undeniable facts of the human condition, you have been given a priceless gift this summer: you are here to sell fun. In exchange for the hard-earned dollars of your customers, you will parcel out happiness".

Joyland sees the King It's Joyland.

"This is a badly broken world, full of wars and cruelty and senseless tragedy. Every human being who inhabits it is served his or her portion of unhappiness and wakeful nights. Those of you who don’t already know that will come to know it. Given such sad but undeniable facts of the human condition, you have been given a priceless gift this summer: you are here to sell fun. In exchange for the hard-earned dollars of your customers, you will parcel out happiness".

Joyland sees the King enter for the second time the realms of the hard case crime series and another digression from the horror stories we know and love.

Told completely in first person, Devin Jones a college student back in 1973, gets a summer job at the amusement park Joyland and soon meets a multitude of characters from the world of the Carny. The blood of the carnival runs deep and his tasks are far and wide, the highlight though is his time spent acting the part of Howie the Happy Hound but only in 15 minutes stints, health and safety you know, but really only physical capabilities limits the time 'wearing the fur'.

He meets two friends that will remain so for the rest of his life, the story of a young woman murdered on one of the rides, a ghostly presence and a killer never caught.

Finally there’s Annie, guarded, afraid to let anyone into her life, a son who needs constant care and a trip to Joyland, the last thing on her mind. Joyland it's where they're all heading though and it’s a compelling trip fraught with a melee of feelings and experiences for young Devin.

As with his recent stuff, the characterization is exceptional, he tells his story through the eyes of young Devin Jones and I lived this story with him. The heartbreak of a relationship that's run its course, still hanging by a thread, the feelings you'll only know if you've been through it yourself and the start of something new, time to live again, hope again and feel joy, until something gets in the way. That something involves some research and of course one or two murders, a hint of the supernatural but still it's primarily a story about people, relationships and life.

Part coming of age in a sexual context but more about the perilous leap from young man to the rocky shores of adulthood, love, danger and of course sadness.

‘All I can say is what you already know: some days are treasure. Not many, but I think in almost every life there are a few.’

Another wonderful King trip. Highly recommended

Also posted at http://paulnelson.booklikes.com/post/...
...more

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Jun 22, 2013 Stacia (the 2010 club) rated it really liked it

Recommended to Stacia (the 2010 club) by: Wendy F

Shelves: ghosts, male-pov, made-me-emotional, realistic-general-or-lit-fiction, adult, mystery, suspense-or-thriller

You can't save everyone.

I was tempted to add some new category shelves for this review because the ones I am using don't quite fit the type of retro-reflective, not-really-coming-of-age-but-more-of-a-late-blooming type of read which I experienced. Maybe I should add crime or murder or something, but if I said this was a crime novel, or even a murder mystery, I'd sort of only be giving you part of the picture here.

Devin (Dev) is on the path to discovering himself in the summer of 1970 ...more

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Aug 05, 2020 myo (myonna reads) rated it it was ok

Shelves: thriller-mystery

I loved the idea of this story and i kind of enjoyed reading it, i think if this was just about a boy working in a amusement park and it had a romance or something i would’ve enjoyed it. But the issue was is that this is a mystery but i kept forgetting it. King tried to throw subtle hints about the thriller in the beginning and then like last 70% have it actually about the mystery and that’s what i think the problem is.

If this book had been a thriller from the start it would’ve been much more e ...more

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Play Book Tag: Joyland - 4 stars	4	11	Jun 22, 2020 06:14PM
Huge amateur mistake by Stephen King	27	442	Aug 15, 2019 10:42AM
looking for mystery novels set in the 70s/80s?	2	10	May 28, 2019 12:03PM
YA Buddy Readers'...: Joyland by Stephen King - Restarting September 18th 2018	22	64	Sep 22, 2018 09:52AM
Stephen King Book...: Joyland: Pages 95 - 188 Spoilers	10	18	Jun 10, 2018 08:42AM
Stephen King Book...: Joyland: Pages 1 - 94 Spoilers	9	14	Jun 05, 2018 10:19AM

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About Stephen King

Stephen King

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Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, 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, M Stephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, 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 them. 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 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 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 met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. 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 were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English 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. ...more

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Quotes from Joyland

“When it comes to the past, everyone writes fiction.” — 385 likes

“When you're twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It's only when you get to be twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect that you've been looking at the map upside down, and not until you're forty are you entirely sure. By the time you're sixty, take it from me, you're fucking lost.” — 364 likes

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