Duma Key

Rating: 7.5/10

I was initially reluctant to read this book, as I had been disappointed with Stephen King's book Lisey's Story, which was written about a year before this one, and was afraid he might be losing his edge in his old age. I am happy to say that I was pleased with this book and am now looking forward to his new book coming out this November.

Duma Key follows Edgar Freemantle, who is nearly killed in a horrible accident and loses his right arm. He moves to Florida in an attempt to restart his life and takes up painting. He turns out to have an uncanny talent for it, one that is almost supernatural.

King is very good at using setting in his stories. Most of them are set in rural or small town Maine, and portray very well the speech mannerisms and peculiarities of the locals. In the last couple of years, King has been using Florida (where he has a second house) more often. The state doesn't quite have as much character as Maine, probably due to a more transient population, but it is new material, which he uses well. He dips briefly into Floridian history with the character of Miss Eastlake, something he has done with effect before, most notably in IT and Bag of Bones.

Edgar is a well-written character, especially in scenes where he is interacting with the character Wireman. Some people might not sympathise with him due to his bursts of anger, but really these should make us feel for him, as they are a result of his accident and he is trying to overcome them and keep control of himself. He follows a long line of creative King characters, usually writers and some artists.

It should be noted of King books that the evil force in them is usually some in-human, almost godlike force which may or may not come from beyond the edge of the universe, where as a lot of horror stories just settle for some ill-tempered ghost. He keeps to his form here, with a crimson robed (maybe a connection to the Crimson King of the Dark Tower) almost Davy Jones-like( due to its method of travel and obtaining victims) death goddess figure who uses artists to spread her power.

All-in-all, this is a good book, not as good as King's work in the late eighties-early nineties, but still good.