Duma Key

I finished reading Stephen King's "Duma Key" on Wednesday. Now, Stephen King was my number one guy, my book god, for years. I never thought I would ever read anything as brilliant as his books. Then I discovered there are other (and better, in some ways) authors out there. King's books are somewhat sketchy: when they're good they're amazing, but when they're not so good they're really, really awful. "Duma Key" was of the first variety, which was a pleasant surprise. I would say this is his best book since finishing up the Dark Tower series a few years ago. It reminded me of "IT" and "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" (which was a short-ish story in a longer book of collected works called "Different Seasons"). I liked the interaction between the two main characters. The story was a little thin in the beginning, which, at least in my eyes, makes the wife out to be very cold hearted for divorcing this poor crippled man. The only thing it was missing (and maybe he's gotten cynical in his old age) is the little touch of a happy ending that keeps a story from being too depressing. In books like these you really need that. "Rita Hayworth..." had it. Even "IT" had it (Audra wakes up...yeah!). But "Duma Key" didn't. It deliberately ended on a sad note, which is unfortunate. Otherwise, it was a great book.