Stephen King is one of the most prolific and successful writers in history. He has penned classics like The Stand and has had some not-so-great moments, as well (more on that later), but Duma Key is a great standalone book. This scary tale of suspense is narrated by its protagonist, Edgar Freemantle, a man who became successful and wealthy in the building trade, but whose career was cut short by a terrible jobsite accident that took one of his arms, severely damaged a leg and his vision, and, perhaps worst of all, rattled his brain enough to cause lapses in his memory and language skills and left him dealing with sudden bursts of rage.
Steeped in an agonizing stew of anger, frustration and
despair, suffering constant torment from his physical wounds, and
dealing with the impending divorce from his wife of 25 years, Edgar
embraces a plan of suicide. Fortunately, this idea is headed off by
Kamen, his therapist, who suggests a change of scenery. This results
in Edgar's trading the impending winter cold of Minnesota for the
tropical sunsets of Duma Key, Florida, where he ends up in a large
pink house that hangs out over the water and seems to extend a
special welcome to him.
From
the very first day in "Big Pink", Edgar starts to make
noticeable progress toward recovery. He finds his pain and stiffness
diminishing, and he begins to practice walking on the beach without
his cane, going farther every day. His also previously-undeveloped
artistic talent emerges in a big way, so much so that in a few
months, he has a studio full of drawings and paintings that leave
people awestruck, as well as a little spooked. He develops close
friendships with his young assistant, Jack Cantori, and with the only
year-round residents of the Key, a man named Wireman and his employer, the
gracious yet mysterious Elizabeth Eastlake, who also know a thing or
two about trauma, both physical and mental. Buoyed by these
relationships and by supportive emails from his adoring daughter, Ilse,
and riding a powerful creative high as his artistic talent
"unbottles", Edgar is happier on Duma than he thought he
ever could be, but then things start to get creepy...
Don't
they always? What's the point of a Stephen King book if they don't,
right?
King had had several missteps, in my opinion, in the period of time prior to this work -- the abysmal Lisey's Story and the last two books in the Gunslinger series come immediately to mind -- but Duma Key is a good return to form; it kept me turning pages (and there are 609 of them) with a minimum of exasperated snorts--and even some actual eek! moments.
He
still sticks somewhat to his formula: Domestic animals, for example,
are not safe around Stephen King; he murders yet another beloved pet
in this story. It happens early on and is dispensed with fairly
quickly, but it is not really necessary to drive the plot forward,
and I'm thinking Mr. King could do us all a favor and keep his animal
issues to himself. It was understandable in Pet Sematary, but not
since. (Eh-hem. Sorry, soapboxing a bit, there.) The other thing the
author does with consistency is kill off main characters of whom
you've grown fond, and, as if to add insult to injury, usually tells
you about it in advance. Unlike the animal cruelty, however, I can
live with this as a trademark of his style that I might miss, even
though it has made me swear aloud more than once.
Also
true to King's style, though, are fully-developed characters, with individual
personalities and interesting histories, who do completely
understandable things and make completely plausible observations. It
is this firm grounding in reality that allows you to hang on when the
creepy winds start a-blowin', and to suspend your disbelief when they
get to gale-force. I'm especially impressed by King's ability to pace
the reader through a very long book by keeping it interesting the
whole time. As with any particularly engaging yarn, the length
of the book is a treat, not a burden, because the journey's as much
fun as the destination -- maybe more so.
I don't know if "fun"
is the right word for the delicious terror of a well-written Stephen
King book, but Duma
Key is
"shivery good"!
Another scary page-turner you might like:
https://bucketofuseful.blogspot.com/2022/02/review-of-historian-by-elizabeth-kostova.html
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