Compulsive reading, but make sure you leave the light on (Duma Key - Stephen King)

Member Name: moo2moo

Product:	Duma Key - Stephen King
Date:	05/11/09 (14 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A smooth and addictive read

Disadvantages: At 769 pages its rather long

Its going to take more than Reba the anger management doll to stop Edgar Freemantle killing his soon to be ex-wife. Its not as though he meant to strangle her, he just wanted to shut her up for a bit. Her crying was a bit much. She wasn't the one whose pick-up truck picked a fight with a twelve story crane and lost. She didn't have to live with the permanent headaches, the scrambled feeling within his brain that resulted in something akin to Tourettes Syndrome. It wasn't that he intended to swear. The right words were in there somewhere but the wrong ones always seemed to come out.

The loss of his arm pales into significance compared to the partial loss of his sight and his marbles. Fortunately Edgar has money, lots of it and follows the advice of his shrink distances himself from his wife with the rental of Salmon Point, a secluded property on Duma Key, a small peninsula off the coast of Florida.

He begins the long process of recuperation with walks on the beach which become longer and longer eventually leading him to a neighbouring mansion where he meets Elisabeth and Wireman.

Elisabeth is a very wealthy octogenarian with an obsession with ceramic figurines. Permanently brain injured after a childhood accident Elisabeth is rarely lucid preferring her porcelain people to the occupants of the mortal world. Specifically she likes to put them into a biscuit tin and throw the into the koi bond. Shes one crazy lady. Or perhaps she holds the secret to the salvation of the inhabitants of Duma Key.

Edgar has dreams, lots and lots of dreams and is inspired to paint. Prior to his accident he hadn't painted since school where he was mediocre at best, since the accident though his seascapes are worthy of an exhibition. When inspiration strikes Edgar paints like a man possessed going hours or even days without food or sleep sometimes without realising what hes doing. Still it feels good and its helping him come to terms with his injury. His dreams become nightmares and get realer and realer until its sometimes hard to distinguish reality from the nightmare realm as the two seem to morph seamlessly into one.

Who are the little girls who call to him from the beach and why does Elisabeth warn him not to allow his daughters to visit?

Theres a lot more to Duma Key than meets the eye. Its most definitely one of the best Stephen King novels I've ever read. Its infinately better than The Green Mile or Christine both of which were made into films.

Duma Key contains lots and lots of suspense and plenty of unusual twists which leave you wanting to read on to find out what happens next and plenty does happen. There are retrospective looks at Elisabeth's childhood as history begins to repeat itself. Will the consequences be as awful the second time around?

I read it cover to cover in two days, it wasn't unputdownable but it was the sort of story which leaves you wanting more.

Summary: One of Stephen kings best novels ever