Joyland (Hard Case Crime)

Although I am a big Stephen King fan, I had never paid much attention to Joyland. Maybe it was the cover which seemed unnecessarily garish. I had never even read the book’s blurb or any of reviews. Whatever the reason I resisted reading this novel, I succumbed to my love of King’s writing and added it to my Kindle. It’s a good thing I gave in to that impulse because Joyland is one of the best crime ghost stories I’ve read in a while. I was captivated by the story, the characters, and, of course, King’s sharp writing. This is one of those stories that leads you gently in; introducing the main character, flawed and vulnerable, and making you wonder what could possibly be so interesting it takes a book to tell the tale. Devin Jones is a likable and relatable character. Nursing a broken heart, the college student gets a job as a “carny” at an amusement park called Joyland. It’s summer in a small North Carolina town and Devin signs on at the amusement park in Heaven’s Bay. King sprinkles the story liberally with the language of carnies, “the talk.” Every character steps forward with a unique identity as mysteries unfold. And the mysteries are both scary and heartwarming. King has an uncanny ability to blend the tender with the violent, the sweet with the bitter, and the every day with the nightmare. Devin Jones may be the narrator of the story, but there is a hell of a lot more to this than the adventures of a “twenty-one-year-old virgin” and a summer job at a small, local amusement park. Joyland may be the place families gather for fun, but there is far more to the place than Howie the Happy Hound, Happy Helpers, a fortune teller named Madame Fortuna (Rozzie Gold), Hollywood Girls with cameras, and the Wiggle Waggle Village. There’s Horror House. Every amusement park and carnival has one, a scary ride. This scary ride is extra special. Horror House was the scene of a murder; an unsolved murder. And that unsolved murder left a little something behind; the ghost of Linda Gray. Here lies the first mystery. Stephen King can’t leave that mystery to stand alone, although it is a good one. There’s also the little boy in the wheelchair, the woman, and the Jack Russell Terrier that live in the big house on the beach. King artfully weaves these stories together, delicately connecting the dots. But even when I thought I knew the answer (and that happened more than once), I was taken by surprise. When the climax finally came in a hair-raising ride in the middle of a storm I was sitting up in bed practically hearing the thunder and watching the lightning flash. Alongside the King horror is the poignant story of a young man inexplicably cast in the role of hero and detective, a mother and a boy with a special gift, and the pain of love and loss. As I said, King has an uncanny ability. Whether you are a Stephen King fan or not, if you enjoy a solid mystery with vibrant characters, read Joyland.

JOYLAND

Stephen King does it again for me -- and many, many others -- with his latest and one of his greatest, JOYLAND. Part love story, part coming of age story, part ghost story, part mystery, and ALL Stephen King, this book has something for everyone. I could not turn the pages quickly enough.

Narrated by an aged Devin Jones, he recollects his 21st year of life, having his heart broken by being rejected by a girl he thought he loved, going to college, deciding to work the summer at a carnival located on the beach near the ocean, namely one JOYLAND.

Devin meets and makes new friends, learns how to do virtually every job a carnival has to offer, and learns there was a murder there years ago in the Horror House. Some say that the murdered girl still haunts the ride and many have claimed to even have seen her over the years.

King writes his mystery novel as fluidly and smoothly as he does his horror. If you are looking for the writing we all loved in THE SHINING, THE STAND, or SALEM'S LOT, you won't find that in this book. You WILL find the magnificent writing style of Mr. King, but this time his genre is mystery, love, the human touch of a young college kid, a good guy, trying to do the best he can.

King also admits to doing his carnival homework, working in true carnival slang and jargon, making the book read all the more realistically. Go back to the early 1970's to an era where the world is changing and life still offers up a boatload of mystery and unanswered questions.

And this is some of the best that Stephen King has to offer -- I loved this book, read it in a mere few hours of time. The suspense is thick, the story line thrilling, the characters fleshed-out and real. You will fall in love -- like I did -- with Annie and Mike and Milo and Mrs. Shoplaw and Fortuna -- and all of the carnies, and Erin and Tom -- King makes you care about every single person he introduces you to, pulling you into their lives and the story at hand. More than once King did one thing to me that he rarely does -- he brought me to tears on more than one occasion. This book can also be considered a tear-jerker -- and that's OK!

Should you read JOYLAND? YES!!!!! I found this book to be refreshing, mysterious, intelligent, captivating, stimulating, and downright FUN -- Mr. King -- you have done it again. So, get inside the ferriswheel car, buckle up, pull the bar down tight, and hang on for the ride of your life!

Thanks.

Pam

Joyland is an excellent story from Stephen King. He takes us back to the days when small private carnivals and amusement parks still operated, some traveling from town to town, appearing overnight after the trucks roll in and the tents are pitched, while some were fixed in place in the beach towns and vacation spots of our country. He gives us characters with heart and doesn't burden the story with gratuitous or contrived suspense.

The main character, Devon, is a college student who takes a summer job at a small amusement park located in a beach town in North Carolina. He quickly fits in and earns the respect of the long-term carny hands as well as his fellow summer workers. He is an easy-going and reflective young man, going through the pain of first separation and then rejection from his college girlfriend. When the summer ends he decides to stay on full time at the carnival rather than return to school.

Devon becomes friends with a woman and her son. They live in a large house on the beach, and the boy is wheelchair bound and stricken with Muscular Dystrophy. He also has a wisdom beyond his years, and he is able to see things that others cannot . Devon encounters them initially in his walks along the beach, and when he helps the boy to launch a kite into the wind, the ice is broken. The boy's young mother is protective of her son as well as suffering herself, partly from the stress of caring for her disabled boy and partly due to estrangement from her family. Gradually Devon becomes close to them, each helping the other to deal with the pains in their lives. Finally, Devon hosts them for a day at the amusement park, closed for the winter but powered-up for this special occasion. It is a wonderful gift for the boy who has until then only observed it from afar.

The mystery of a long-unsolved murder at the amusement part builds very slowly as we get to know Devon and the other characters. Early in his employment at the park Devon learns of the death of a girl who had been on the ride in the house of horrors. Her ghost is said to continue to haunt the park. When one of his co-workers sees the ghost himself, Devon's desire to learn how she was killed and why it was never solved grows until he is consumed by the need to solve the crime. It eventually leads him to uncovering the long-buried truth, a great and surprising climax to the story.

I think that it is great that Stephen King's latest novel has been released as an affordable paperback novel rather than an expensive hard-cover book (or as an e-book, although I'm sure that it will be eventually). The publisher - "Hard Case Crime" - is one that I have been familiar with for a while, because for the past several years they have been releasing paperback crime novels in the style of those published in the U.S. from the 1940's through about the 1960's - check out for example

Big Steve King (as Joe Bob Briggs always called him) generally doesn't grab me, but this time he got me "right here." He really got me this time. I found myself crying at several points in the novel.

The story is bittersweet, but satisfying. I can see why he chose this line to place the novel instead of just putting it out there as if it were one of his horror blockbusters, because it isn't that. It IS more like the noir stuff in the rest of this line.

I don't care for horror and gore and the stuff that people generally go for in the big SK novels. This is not that. This is literary. It could have been written by Saul Bellow, John Irving, John Updike, or (and this is who I kept thinking of) Ray Bradbury, whose voice/tone is often in tune with the style of this book (think SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, which I also recommend highly). It has the flavor of looking back over the years at your coming-of-age, just like A SEPARATE PEACE and SUMMER OF '42. This one is like an old-fashioned BOOK book from the Olden Days in a sense, back when every sentence didn't have to drive towards the One Big Point and "Advance The Story." Some of the scenes can just be atmospheric, explore the human condition, demonstrate the multifacetedness of even the worst sort of person, make us chuckle fondly. The book is atmospheric and takes you back to one man's unforgettable coming-of-age summer and a time when carnivals were CARNY. The story is not for someone who just wants it to "hurry up and scare you" or to "get on with it, plot ONLY." It's not chaos and crazy credibility-stretching stuff. It's about a guy who is at a turning point in his life as he is dumped by his first real love (and this is something no one ever forgets--you are never hurt in the same way again because you know better the next time) and who finds a certain educational and peacefulness value in being a Worker for once.

I loved the carnival behind-the-scenes stuff, of course. I loved the ghost and the mystique/legends that had grown up around sightings of the ghost. I thought it was very realistic about the hard facts of Duchenne MD and what happens to Jerry's Kids (he doesn't use this term even once in the book, but that's what I'll always think of.) "The sight," the afterlife, the perspective of someone who is learning to deal with love and loss. For a change, I can admire and identify with this ADMIRABLE lead character with integrity, someone who cares about others even when they aren't a stepping-stone to what he wants. It left me nostalgic for my 1970s childhood (and its innocence/simplicity compared to now) and made me want to listen to the Doors again.

I don't understand the reviews that say "fun read" or "fast quick read" or whatever. Seriously, this one ripped my heart out several times. I think you'll return to this story because of its exploration of the human heart and our eternal condition of wanting to KNOW.

One nitpick that I can't believe the editor did not correct: "Capisce" is the word that the Mafia guys on TV use. It isn't spelled phonetically the way it is here. It's a real word in Italian. He expected the editor to fix that, obviously, but that slipped through. It's not "kapish" or "kapeesh" or anything else. Capisce?

I want to start my review by copying/pasting a post I wrote in the amazon discussion boards in response to all the complaints about there not being an e-book for this novel available at this time. This also goes out to everyone posting a 1 star review for the same reason. Also I use the words TRUE FANS in my review title because real and true fans of Stephen King could care less about the publication form and collect his works because there are few authors who can write the amazing novels/short-story collections that are so imaginative and descriptive and in so many genres as SK does. I understand that there are some readers who need e-books for reasons of eyesight, arthritis, etc. I have enough faith in SK that he will eventually put this novel in other forms besides paperback like he has in other publications that were released in only one form to start with.

SK has a long history of publishing his stories/novels only in certain formats for the express purposes of creating an atmosphere. The ones that come to mind are The Mist, The Storm of the Century, the joint publications of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer and Rose Red, and finally UR. The Mist was originally published as a "3-d sound" audiobook. In the hopes of enhancing his readers imagination this short story was made into an audiobook with a unique 3-d sound stereo effect. With the background noise, excellent voice actors, 3-d stereo effect, etc. the fear and panic the characters feel was geniusly portrayed (if you can find it I highly recommend this to all). This was eventually published in a short story collection, adapted into movie format and can also be purchased individually. The Storm of the Century was published as a "novel for television." SK did this not only because the larger cast of characters would make this almost impossible to publish it in just one book in written form, but in order to portray the immensity of the storm. Once again this was eventually released in written form (the script was published in paperback). I have both the script and the movie and I love to read the script while watching the movie to see the differences. Another concept SK tried in order to enhance the atmosphere intended was the joint publication of the book The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer and the movie Rose Red. Under the pseudonym Joyce Reardon SK published in paperback form The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer in order to provide a more detailed background into not only the characters, but also the house (a character in its own rights) Rose Red. The cover of the book has a note for readers to watch Stephen King's Rose Red. Publishing the book before the movie once again helped to enhance the readers (or in this case the watchers) imagination and create the intended atmosphere. Last on my list is the more recent UR. Because of the theme this was originally published in e-book format. You definitely would have not shared the characters feelings if this was first read in paperback form. Hence SK decision, once again, to publish this in only one form at first (this can now be purchased in audiobook form.

on to my actual review. this novel was as much of a great read as all his others are. I don't want to go into any detail of the story and ruin it for other readers with spoilers, so here is a small description. the basis of the novel is about a college student who gets a summer job at an amusement park, makes friends with others that are both living in the same boarding house, but also on the same "work team" at the park. at the park learns about the local legend regarding the funhouse's history and the resultant haunting. from there it just gets better and better as only Stephen King can do. the story's main character, Devin, is now much older and is narrating the story through flashbacks. at times while trying to tell about a certain part that happened during that summer the character seemed to get sidetracked with other side stories. at first I found that annoying. but, I started to think that that is what people do in real life so why is that not portrayed as much in novels. So I actually found that feature to increase the realism of the story for me. yes, I know this is fiction, but we all read books with our imaginations flowing as if the story is happening for real.

in conclusion I encourage anyone who is a fan of mystery books to give this a try. Even if you aren't a fan of SK I think you would enjoy this novel as his descriptions aren't as "hard core" as some of his longer books. some have stated they dislike his work if he gets too descriptive with violence and/or sex for their taste to handle. that is not the case here so I think you could take a chance with this one.

Okay, so I'll be honest up front and say the only two reasons I got the book in the first place was 1.) It's Stephen King and I love his stuff and 2.) I needed something while I waited for Doctor Sleep in September. That's the one I'm really looking forward to. I had some hopes and expectations, but overall the description didn't grab me and make me go "Ooooo...I want to read THAT one!"

But am I ever glad I did.

King just has one of the best unique literary voices out there in my opinion which makes a lot of his stuff just fun to read. Joyland was no exception. All of the characters were great and I don't think there was one that was unnecessary to the plot. If you read this, you'll meet some interesting folks...carnies and non-carnies.

Devin Jones (Jonsey to his carny pals) was a wonderful narrator and easy for me to identify with. There may have been a few times where he was a bit too much the Boy Scout for believability reasons, but not excessively so. I think what makes him a good main character/narrator is that I WANT there to be more people like him out there in the real world. We could sure use a few.

The carny/amusement park setting was pretty fascinating as it's become fairly unused these days, though as I understand it there used to be a lot more "carny crime" books many moons ago. Perhaps not a surplus, but enough for it to have it's own category.

The other thing about this book in particular was the ghost. There is one, but it sort of takes a back seat in this story. This isn't The Shining or Bag of Bones where the haunting is the main thing, i.e. it's not the plot but rather an important plot device. I'm a lover of ghost stories (having written

This is not a negative review, and overall, I enjoyed this fairly quick story. The price - just $7.21 as of this writing - is a bargain, and going straight to paperback makes it a convenient and simple summer read to carry around.

Ultimately, the book is just 'okay' - which means three stars - to me. I don't think it was that memorable, and my memories of it will quickly fade.

It's not the story itself that's the problem. The scene of an amusement park with a dark past is a surprisingly underused setting in thriller fiction, and the overall details and description give 'Joyland' a realistic portrayal on the page.

The protagonist is an appropriately nostalgic 60-something telling the story of his summer at the park when he was 21, and recently broken-hearted from an ill-fated college love (I went to University of New Hampshire, and it was funny to see Hamilton Smith Hall get a shout-out). His friends and fellow carnival employees are lively and unique characters - on the surface.

What was missing for me, and why this book is only three stars, is the "life" of the characters beyond those basics. And I realized, reading "Joyland," that this has been missing for me from King's last few books - I've been entertained, and compared to other thrillers he's almost always superior even on an off day - but I end them feeling sort of flat. I don't expect him to recapture the amazing magic of "Salem's Lot" or "Night Shift," but I wondered why they weren't even close.

The problem I think, is that 30 years ago, when King was writing his classic books - "The Stand," "The Shining," "Cujo" - he could have real, normal conversations with people as himself. Like going to the store and chatting up the counter guy. He could mine those interactions for the nuggets and details that made his fiction so incredibly good - the characters from "The Stand" are some of the most full-life in all of literature. It wasn't that he was basing characters on real people but that he knew how 'real' people actually talked. He wasn't in the cocoon of being a multi-millionaire superstar - but how can he have a conversation now? As soon as he enters a room, he IS the room. Even doing his research, I'm sure it's friendly and informal, but it can't possibly be an organic dialogue between two equals.

I reported from Iraq as an embedded journalist - the soldiers could (EDIT: NOT) have cared less that I was a reporter. I was just a guy with a notebook in my hand, and while the conversations weren't exactly normal, we were on equal footing. But I've also seen how soldiers reacted to big-time celebrity journalists with TV cameras and production crews - nobody's honest anymore. They talk in soundbites and statements, and wait for the next question to direct them. It loses the organic flow.

So to me, the lacking ingredient in his recent books is the dialogue and how the characters interact - it doesn't feel real. The interactions move the plot along, but they rarely feel like honest people talking. They read like the first draft of a conversation but lack the subtleties and personality of real people. King tries - lines like "Me n Erin" or "s'pose" try to stand in for accents, but it feels contrived, and it's not consistent. It's almost like a beginning writer who thinks "well, I guess this is how people talk."

That doesn't mean the plot isn't interesting, but I don't invest with the characters because they never come to life.

I could be totally wrong, of course, and maybe his celebrity hasn't changed him or his interactions in any way - but I feel something's missing from his characters, and that's what I think the problem is.

Without that ability to connect with daily living, his books become ALL imagination, but they lack the down-and-dirty human touch his earlier books relied on. So "Joyland" is still an interesting and fun story to read, but there's an emptiness, the origins of which I've only now identified, at least from my perspective.

So three stars means it's 'okay.' Not a bad book, or weak story - just an acknowledgement that we can't go back to what things used to be.