Book Review: Joyland by Stephen King

    Over the last few years, I’ve become more of a Stephen King fan. As a child, I was terrified of his movies, so naturally I avoided his books like the plague. It wasn’t until 11/22/63, an alternate history book about preventing the assassination of JFK, that I decided to explore his selection of less horrifying books. I picked up Firestarter last year and enjoyed it greatly, though I’ll probably be skipping the movie adaptations. Joyland was the latest King novel that I read, which is about a brokenhearted college kid who takes up a summer job at a small amusement park harboring the ghost of a girl who was murdered on one of their attractions. The protagonist decides to take the semester off to investigate the strange premonitions, ghost sightings, and why he feels so connected to the cold case. It has a mild dose of horror, a lot of suspense, and a love story for hopeless romantics.

The Good

    One of the things I really enjoy about the few King novels I’ve read is the pacing. Stephen King does a great job of moving the plot along while also peeling back the layers of relevant history through flashbacks. The main character slowly becomes less of a mystery as the events that shaped them unfold a little bit at a time. The carney characters have a lot of personality so the reader decides early on who they like and disdain. Devin, the main protagonist, is a likable naive kid who is figuring out the harsh realities of loving the wrong person. He is impressionable and finds his place among a strange group of people as a small-town hero, but Devin is also trying to make sense of the unusual events happening around him.

    The relationship Devin develops with a child who is terminally ill and his mother is one that readers will remember for a long time. There are tender moments between them that soften the severity of the horrific crimes shrouding the story. King handles grief with a lot of reverence through Annie. Overall, it’s an entertaining mystery novel that isn’t afraid to tackle difficult realities.

The Bad

    While it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out who the killer is, I’ll admit I was too distracted by the blossoming romance to recognize what was right in front of me. Stephen King is indulgent with his protagonists and unapologetic about it, which scores him some points with his male audience. Though Devin gets his heart broken in the beginning of the story, any young single guy would take his place in a heartbeat to experience his extravagant year as the hero of the theme park. Sure, somebody’s trying to kill him, but it’s a small price to pay when everybody else loves you. If you can lose yourself to the fantasy of it all, it’s an entertaining ride.

Who Should Read it?

    This book is for young adults or people who look back at their college years with fondness. If you like Stephen King’s style of storytelling and appreciate a tear-jerking love story sprinkled with a murder mystery, this book is the one for you. It’s not an Agatha Christie story or horror of The Shining caliber, but Joyland is a great palate cleanser for King fans who need an in-between book. It was the perfect dose of fantasy before taking on the bleak realism of Dostoyevsky.