Book Review: "Joyland" by Stephen King
Nov. 13th, 2015 10:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jpskewedthroneI love Stephen King, but this one . . . not one of his best.
Premise: College student Devin Jones takes a job working at an amusement park after his girlfriend breaks up with him. While there, he discovers that the amusement park is haunted because of an unsolved murder that happened on one of the rides.
This has some of the classic Stephen King elements in it--the real world touched by the paranormal, multiple character plot lines that meld and merge to create an interesting plot, great characterization. However, while I enjoyed the read, it didn't feel quite balanced right. The paranormal elements take a back stage for a significant portion of the book while it focuses on Devin and his breakup and his job at the amusement park. The murder doesn't become a significant element until well into the book, and only get addressed directly toward the very end, almost as an afterthought. I felt that King was perhaps too enamored of the carnie elements and so spent a little too much time on living in that world and not enough time developing and integrating the murder/paranormal elements into the plot.
But it was still a good story.
Premise: College student Devin Jones takes a job working at an amusement park after his girlfriend breaks up with him. While there, he discovers that the amusement park is haunted because of an unsolved murder that happened on one of the rides.
This has some of the classic Stephen King elements in it--the real world touched by the paranormal, multiple character plot lines that meld and merge to create an interesting plot, great characterization. However, while I enjoyed the read, it didn't feel quite balanced right. The paranormal elements take a back stage for a significant portion of the book while it focuses on Devin and his breakup and his job at the amusement park. The murder doesn't become a significant element until well into the book, and only get addressed directly toward the very end, almost as an afterthought. I felt that King was perhaps too enamored of the carnie elements and so spent a little too much time on living in that world and not enough time developing and integrating the murder/paranormal elements into the plot.
But it was still a good story.
