Thinner

I first read this book when it was published in 1984 under the Bachman pseudonym and I enjoyed it then. I thought I'd pick it up and re-read it and see if it was as good as I remembered. I think I enjoyed it even more this time around.

Stephen King, no matter what name he's writing under, is so good at developing characters. He brings to life attorney William Halleck, a man who hit and killed a Gypsy woman with his car. Yes, there were extenuating circumstances, but Halleck was to blame and through his connections got off scot free.

But the family of the woman, namely her father, doesn't agree so he does something about it and the story expands from there.

Great story, great characters, great setting (of course in Maine), and I loved the ending. This was well worth the re-read.

I really enjoyed Thinner. It is one of my all time favorite King books. For me, I place it among the ranks of Misery, The Stand, The Shining, and The Running Man. I mean really enjoyed it. I have bought it in hardback, then Kindle version, and the audio book. The audio book was especially chilling with the eerie soundtrack played between chapters. Unlike many sound tracks to audio books, it added greatly to the story ambience and in no way detracted. I often read or listen to several books at a time, switching between them depending on my mood, but not so with Thinner. I read and listened to it all the way through in every spare moment, finally staying up too late one night to finish. It has been the same all three times I've read (or listened) to it.

I enjoyed the plot more than other King books. He left a great deal to the imagiation, such as the extent of what really happened the night of the accident, that kept me guessing (and reading or listening). And, I didn't anticipate or guess the ending. Usually halfway through, or even a quart of the way through with a less skilled writer, I guess who the bad guys are, who's going to "get it", who's going to win or lose, and so on, but not so with Thinner.

The characters were some of King's best. He has always been great at creating real characters with real motivations, virtues and flaws, and Thinner is an excellent example. Each character from their habits to their dialogue to their actions were believable. In fact, I didn't feel like I was looking at characters at all but depictions of real people doing real things.

The ending was inexpected. It wasn't a happy ending, but then again, in real life they aren't always. Some of the less than great reviews are from people who didn't like the ending. Fair enough, lets just say if you require a happy ending to your books, then this story is not for you. I found it fair if not happy. When people make certain choices, they have to live with the consequences. Sometimes those choices effect other people badly.

Overall, I found Thinner to be an unexpected and thuroughly entertaininy read, and one of King's best.

This is the first King book that I have read rather than listened to in a while - I picked it up after joking with my dad about it (both of us knew the premise of the book, but we hadn't read it) since he lost a lot of weight recently. I hadn't seen the movie (but I have seen it since - it's actually a pretty good adaptation other than some of the acting... and the King himself has a cameo appearance!), so I read this one first before passing it along to my dad.

Originally written under a pseudonym, this still has a very early King feel to it with some chunks of stream of consciousness and rambling sections that aren't quite as polished as some of his other books. And it was certainly funny to see King refer to himself in these pages. I can see why this one isn't as timeless as some of King's other horror novels, but it is fast-paced and certainly entertaining. There are some truly gory scenes - along with characters that are genuinely unlikable. I do wish that the ending was a little less... well... dark, I guess. Still, I am glad that I read it and look forward to chatting more with my dad once he has finished it!

FUNNY! One of Stephen King's best books and it was written by somebody else. In case you didn't know Thinner was originally released under the nom de plume Richard Bachman. It seems King had an identity crisis. Apparently transfixed by his newfound fame and notoriety, he began to wonder (not without reason) if every book, good or bad (and there were some bad ones) were best sellers because they were released under the Stephen King name. Well Thinner was a good'un and I'm going to tell you about it.

THINNER

The plot

A very old Gypsy leader, Tadiz Lemke, places a curse Fairview attorney Billy Halleck, after Halleck is exonerated for any wrongdoing in the tragic death of a pedestrian - Lemke's elderly daughter.

The Story

Thinner! That's what Tadiz Lemke utters while touching Billy Halleck's face on the courthouse steps shortly after being absolved of guilt. True, Billy was being distracted by his wife, Heidi and wasn't paying attention to his driving but the woman did emerge mid block from between two parked cars in the middle of night.

Not having much clout the Gypsies, naturally felt, once more, like victims of `the white man from town.' After all the judge, Cary Rossington, was a golfing buddy of Halleck's, and Sheriff Duncan Hopely, had already been sending deputies to roust the Gypsies.

After their ordeal has ended, the Halleck's decide to go out of town for a short holiday to celebrate. Ironically, their ordeal hadn't ended - It was about to begin.

Heidi was pleased. She noticed that Billy was loosing weight. Billy didn't think so, after all he was still eating as he normally did - a lot. Yet when he weighed himself at Heidi's insistence, he had lost four pounds.

Some, including his wife Heidi, thought of Billy Halleck as portly. Others thought of him as fat. Well, isn't portly a nice way of saying fat? Therefore, at first, this mysterious weight loss seemed propitious and was welcome. However, what at first seemed fortuitous, slowly became a nightmare when each daily visit to the bathroom scale revealed the inexorable loss of two to three pounds per day.

Tests for every imaginable ailment all turned up negative. Theories started to evolve among the health care profession that his problem my have been guilt derived and therefore psychosomatic.

Billy Halleck remembered the old man touching his face and saying thinner and slowly came to the realization that he wasn't sick - he was cursed. He was going to die unless he did something so he began to track down the gypsy clan.

Conclusion

No Doubt, King is a master storyteller and Thinner was no exception. The story, barely over three hundred pages moved along swiftly and riveting the reader along the way. The writing, overall, is fluid with a few blemishes. King's inimitable style is evident and as usual, he throws in a few quaint homilies.

However, the novel is not perfect. Some parts actually got tiresome for me. King had the judge and the sheriff come down with even stranger maladies and Billy could not convince their common doctor of a connection. This doctor with the collusion of Billy's wife even tried to have Billy committed late in the book.

I also didn't care for the ending. Obviously, I can't go into it, but suffice to say it was too quick, disappointing and fully expected. King must have telegraphed something to me for I pictured the ending once the procedure was clear.

King did introduce an interesting aspect to the prose when Billy fought back the Gypsy curse by springing his own `the white man from town's curse.' This curse consisted of a mafia boss who Billy had befriended years earlier, whom he defended in a criminal case. Richard Gennili, was having a ball playing paramilitary on Billy's behalf but I thought even that could have been done with more panache.

The character development also seemed a bit feeble. Though I grew to like Billy Halleck, my initial impression turned out to be correct. The most likable character seemed to be the mafia don - Genilli. Heide was whinny and not supportive. In fact everyone seemed that way. Perhaps it's just as the author intended for you can't have all likeable characters - can you?