Helpful Score: 1
From the pulp crime novel cover to the creepy tagline, one can tell you are about to step into the mind of Stephen King. Kings narrator is Devin Jones and he takes the reader back in time to when he worked at the amusement park, Joyland. Devin meets a great group of friends that help him past his break up (because in your twenties any break up seems like it is the end of the world). He also discovers the secret of the Horror House rideits haunted.
The story goes that Linda Gray came to the fair with her boyfriend. The boyfriend takes her on the Horror House ride and halfway through, slits her throat and tosses her out. All he leaves behind is a bloodied shirt and a pair of gloves. Now it is believed that Linda Gray haunts the ride waiting for her killer to be found.
This story intrigues Devin and he decides to dig deeper to see if he can discover the identity of the killer. This fascination leads Devin on an interesting adventure that ends up putting him and his new found friends in danger.
King has a way of making two complete different storylines come together flawlessly in the end. At times while you are reading you start to wonder what the importance of a scene is, but as long as you put your trust in King, he wont let you down. This is definitely not a hard core horror novel as most are used to from King but it isnt intended to be. This is just a story of love, loss, death and a bit of supernatural. I consider it a nice light mystery to read on a cold rainy day and hopefully will resonate with the younger readers and introduce them to the mastery of Stephen King.
The audio version featured a great narrator, Michael Kelly. His youthful sounding voice was fitting for the age that Devin was.
The story goes that Linda Gray came to the fair with her boyfriend. The boyfriend takes her on the Horror House ride and halfway through, slits her throat and tosses her out. All he leaves behind is a bloodied shirt and a pair of gloves. Now it is believed that Linda Gray haunts the ride waiting for her killer to be found.
This story intrigues Devin and he decides to dig deeper to see if he can discover the identity of the killer. This fascination leads Devin on an interesting adventure that ends up putting him and his new found friends in danger.
King has a way of making two complete different storylines come together flawlessly in the end. At times while you are reading you start to wonder what the importance of a scene is, but as long as you put your trust in King, he wont let you down. This is definitely not a hard core horror novel as most are used to from King but it isnt intended to be. This is just a story of love, loss, death and a bit of supernatural. I consider it a nice light mystery to read on a cold rainy day and hopefully will resonate with the younger readers and introduce them to the mastery of Stephen King.
The audio version featured a great narrator, Michael Kelly. His youthful sounding voice was fitting for the age that Devin was.
One of the best Stephen King books I've read in a quite a while - not horror - more of a coming-of-age story with a murder mystery. The story unfolds leisurely, but not too slowly, through the first 5 CDs then picks up considerable speed as it nears the end in the 6th CD. The narration is terrific and adds to the enjoyment of the book. King's masterful talent is much on display in this work - Very satisfying.
For a more in depth review, please visit my blog, Chorley Chronicals!
I have to be honest and tell you that despite him being a classic author, that this is the first Stephen King book that I have ever read. I was actually quite surprised at the temperament of the book, especially knowing what King is famous for!
The introduction to the book was a little slow for me and really almost lost my attention. Enough so that I actually put it away for almost a year, before deciding again to pick it back up and give it another try. I must say that I am glad that I made myself pick it back up the second time around because the story really did pick up from that point and it got pretty interesting!
The narrator, Michael Kelly, seemed like a great fit for Devin! He was a smooth reader, and made my listening experience of Joyland quite enjoyable. He was clear and concise, and overall, entertaining!
I thought that the story had a very interested concept, and I certainly didn't figure it out until it was actually happening! I did feel like there was some either misconception or false advertisement, because in no way would I have considered this book to be a horror book or hard crime.
Overall, this was a quick, easy read that I enjoyed! Even though it wasn't in the same fashion of some of Stephen King's great novels, it won't stop me from picking up another King book to see another side of his writing abilities! I enjoyed the layout of the story in the sense that it gave us snippets of Devin's life when he was younger, during his time at Joyland, and his life after Joyland! I'm happy that I gave it a second chance and finished it!
I have to be honest and tell you that despite him being a classic author, that this is the first Stephen King book that I have ever read. I was actually quite surprised at the temperament of the book, especially knowing what King is famous for!
The introduction to the book was a little slow for me and really almost lost my attention. Enough so that I actually put it away for almost a year, before deciding again to pick it back up and give it another try. I must say that I am glad that I made myself pick it back up the second time around because the story really did pick up from that point and it got pretty interesting!
The narrator, Michael Kelly, seemed like a great fit for Devin! He was a smooth reader, and made my listening experience of Joyland quite enjoyable. He was clear and concise, and overall, entertaining!
I thought that the story had a very interested concept, and I certainly didn't figure it out until it was actually happening! I did feel like there was some either misconception or false advertisement, because in no way would I have considered this book to be a horror book or hard crime.
Overall, this was a quick, easy read that I enjoyed! Even though it wasn't in the same fashion of some of Stephen King's great novels, it won't stop me from picking up another King book to see another side of his writing abilities! I enjoyed the layout of the story in the sense that it gave us snippets of Devin's life when he was younger, during his time at Joyland, and his life after Joyland! I'm happy that I gave it a second chance and finished it!
