Helpful Score: 17
I picked up this book, not because I'm a Stephen King fan (although I am), but because it was part of the new Hard Case Crime division of Dorchester Publishing. I'll admit, the variety of authors they've collected to write for them is extensive, and THE COLORADO KID just happened to be the first one in the Hard Case group to make it to the top of my to-be-read pile.
I understand, after reading THE COLORADO KID, why so many people on here posted negative reviews. I understand, because just like the main characters in the story told me, a mystery with no resolution plain and simply pisses people off. People want a happy conclustion to a problem--whether it be why 9/11 happened, why oil prices are so high, why a young woman in Wisconsin was murdered, or how a man from Colorado went to work one morning and ended up dead on a little island off the coast of Maine only hours later.
Not KNOWING, not having Mr. King spell it out for us, angered many a reader of this book. Should it have? Maybe. But I actually felt like there WAS a resolution to this story--that being that not everything in life has such a tidy ending as we want our stories to have. Of all the people who end up dead in the US every year, how many do you think go unsolved as to cause of death, or in the case of murder, capturing a perpetrator? Life--this roller-coaster ride that we get onto daily and hang on to since our very lives depend on it--is not black and white, and it sure as heck doesn't offer us up tidy conclusions at the end of every day.
THE COLORADO KID is, quite simply, a character study of not knowing. We can get the facts, we can extrapolate what we believe happened based on those facts, but in the end, it's all a mystery.
Kudos to Mr. King for taking an idea, running with it, and showing that he just doesn't give a flying fig if we get it or not. This book left me with questions, yes, and I actually thank him for that. A book that makes you think and question will always be worth more than a book that doesn't.
I understand, after reading THE COLORADO KID, why so many people on here posted negative reviews. I understand, because just like the main characters in the story told me, a mystery with no resolution plain and simply pisses people off. People want a happy conclustion to a problem--whether it be why 9/11 happened, why oil prices are so high, why a young woman in Wisconsin was murdered, or how a man from Colorado went to work one morning and ended up dead on a little island off the coast of Maine only hours later.
Not KNOWING, not having Mr. King spell it out for us, angered many a reader of this book. Should it have? Maybe. But I actually felt like there WAS a resolution to this story--that being that not everything in life has such a tidy ending as we want our stories to have. Of all the people who end up dead in the US every year, how many do you think go unsolved as to cause of death, or in the case of murder, capturing a perpetrator? Life--this roller-coaster ride that we get onto daily and hang on to since our very lives depend on it--is not black and white, and it sure as heck doesn't offer us up tidy conclusions at the end of every day.
THE COLORADO KID is, quite simply, a character study of not knowing. We can get the facts, we can extrapolate what we believe happened based on those facts, but in the end, it's all a mystery.
Kudos to Mr. King for taking an idea, running with it, and showing that he just doesn't give a flying fig if we get it or not. This book left me with questions, yes, and I actually thank him for that. A book that makes you think and question will always be worth more than a book that doesn't.
Helpful Score: 8
Not you typical SK story, but still a good read. Not a long book by any means, but the story keeps your attention.
Helpful Score: 6
Don't read this expecting horror because it's not. It's not even structured like your typical novella, with the entire story simply a dialog between three people.
I think King is great with premise - setting an eerie stage and invoking intense curiosity; however, he stumbles and falls with this one. Instead of his typical altruistic main character's sacrificial last act of life, this offers no resolution. Well, the story-within-the-story doesn't. And that's what draws us to the story in the first place. Not recommended for anyone, not even King fans.
I think King is great with premise - setting an eerie stage and invoking intense curiosity; however, he stumbles and falls with this one. Instead of his typical altruistic main character's sacrificial last act of life, this offers no resolution. Well, the story-within-the-story doesn't. And that's what draws us to the story in the first place. Not recommended for anyone, not even King fans.
Helpful Score: 5
As the author says himself, you will either love or hate this book. Not much room for in-between. Personally, I loved it. Vintage King dialogue and New England characters.
Okay - this is a powerful book. Everything King does leads up to the ending which makes perfect sense given the plot - but it still drove me crazy. King is a genius, this books shows it - but my frustration level is 10 on a scale of 10. WHY THAT ISLAND?????
