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The Green Mile #2
The Mouse on the Mile
THE SERIAL THRILLER CONTINUES...
Cold Mountain Penitentiary has been home to many troubled souls. E Block, where the electric chair waits for those who must pay the ultimate price, has been home to the most troubled of all. And here, not all the evil is behind bars. Sometimes it carries a gun and wears a badge.
Cold Mountain is a place of the damned, but it can also be a place where salvation comes from the most unlikely source.
THE GREEN MILE
Nothing you have read can prepare you for Stephen King's boldest experiment in terror, a multi-part serial novel that begins on Death Row and burrows inward to the most horrific secrets of the human heart.
It's just a mouse, you say.
But in the hands of Stephen King, nothing is what it seems.
To be continued...
Cold Mountain Penitentiary has been home to many troubled souls. E Block, where the electric chair waits for those who must pay the ultimate price, has been home to the most troubled of all. And here, not all the evil is behind bars. Sometimes it carries a gun and wears a badge.
Cold Mountain is a place of the damned, but it can also be a place where salvation comes from the most unlikely source.
THE GREEN MILE
Nothing you have read can prepare you for Stephen King's boldest experiment in terror, a multi-part serial novel that begins on Death Row and burrows inward to the most horrific secrets of the human heart.
It's just a mouse, you say.
But in the hands of Stephen King, nothing is what it seems.
To be continued...
92 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 25, 1996
148 people are currently reading
8643 people want to read
About the author
Stephen King
2,577 books880k followersStephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 359 reviews
May 26, 2020
The story continues. We witness an execution on "Old Sparkey", hear more about Mr Jingles, the mouse, aka as Steamboat Willie and see a new dangerous prisoner arrive at Cold Mountain Prison. Besides we see the interaction of the prison staff. The narrative of Paul Edgecombe is great and compelling. Couldn't put this book down either and definitely will continue the series. Better than Dickens and highly recommended!
February 17, 2022
“What I didn’t realize was how many doors the act of writing unlocks, as if my Dad’s old fountain pen wasn’t really a pen at all, but some strange variety of skeleton key.”
Damn it, Paul. I know you can’t write everything chronologically, but you’re 104 years old. Guys can be crackheads long before that, so just quit apologizing like that. That alone did bore me.
This part acts mainly as the bridge, and while still brilliant, if I compare it with the other parts (yeah, I did finish the book) it’s a bit on the weaker side. Probably it’s just me, but I was kind of hurrying through the pages in parts just to find out more about Coffey, who is mostly absent throughout this part. But I love what the author did with Mr Jingles (easily one of my favourite Stephen King characters) and the introduction of Wharton.
And then there’s the one hell of a cliffhanger ending.
Just pull the trigger, dude. Would be good riddance.
Damn it, Paul. I know you can’t write everything chronologically, but you’re 104 years old. Guys can be crackheads long before that, so just quit apologizing like that. That alone did bore me.
This part acts mainly as the bridge, and while still brilliant, if I compare it with the other parts (yeah, I did finish the book) it’s a bit on the weaker side. Probably it’s just me, but I was kind of hurrying through the pages in parts just to find out more about Coffey, who is mostly absent throughout this part. But I love what the author did with Mr Jingles (easily one of my favourite Stephen King characters) and the introduction of Wharton.
And then there’s the one hell of a cliffhanger ending.
Just pull the trigger, dude. Would be good riddance.
June 14, 2017
This part was better than the first part. The writing was better and more smooth and the way flashbacks were used was awesome. That mouse is something else and lets you think of many ideas and scenarios.
February 2, 2023
This second book of the green mile was better than book 1. I loved to read about that special mouse on green mile. Loved the action going on and where the story is going. The writing was smooth and easy. I am loving this so much!
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September 21, 2015I'll wait to rate this until I read it in its entirety. The death penalty is a yicky thing, something I don't really agree with, so this setting is already unsettling from the start. The atmosphere oozes out easily through King's writing, and he's at his best with his technique and word choices for The Green Mile. The characters - good ones, bad ones - they all come alive as creatively and realistically constructed. It's easy to despise Percy, it's easy to love the mouse that comes alive and keeps a piece of the men in this cold, horrible place delighted. It would be hard to find much joy in Cold Mountain unless you entered sick to begin with, but that may be the mouse's greatest trick of all.
December 7, 2023
The Mouse on the Mile was the second of six installments of The Green Mile, King's serial novel which appeared in consecutive months in 1996. It was, of course, published in a single volume in 1997 and was adapted into one of the very best films based on his work; it returned to the best-seller lists in 1999 as a result, and is now known almost exclusively in its collected form, but I think it loses some of its magic. I picked up The Two Dead Girls soon after it hit the stands, and then made a point of popping into B. Dalton's monthly on release day of the next five months. The serial format, as King points out in his introduction, forces the reader to wait and ponder what might happen next, and spreading the reading experience over a half-year with all of that pondering and speculation really makes it a much more memorable experience. It's a really fascinating story, with some of his best characterization, from Coffey to Delacroix to Elaine and on and on, and never forget Mr. Jingles, the coolest mouse in literature since the iconic Algernon and Brown's Mitkey. It's not a "typical" King story but is definitely one of his best.
April 5, 2013
It was April then, that I found myself once again and not for the first time passing that bat tree. A dark silhouette, on a small canvass, impressive in size and scope, alive with its many occupants, just a block off Victoria park, where we would stroll in the evening, all too often in the company of our 3 cats, unleashed but decidedly with us, as we sang our little ditties and inhaled the atmosphere about us.
The bat tree stood on a small raised patch of earth, reinforced by wood, sitting much higher, than the land about it. It was here, with collar and cuff against the April wind that I sat down and let Paul Edgecombe, bull goose screw of E block, Cold Mountain, tell me more about that mouse, Eduard Delacroix, Old Sparky and his guards, up close and personal like. Among the latter, Brutus Howell; Brutal to his friends, a mild as a mouse himself, brick wall of a man and Percy Wetmore, still mean, just a nasty little slip of shit; one with a gun and a hickory baton.
But it is King’s searing portrayal of skinny, pimply assed, psychopath Wild Bill Wharton, that seeped in and haunted me most, as I waited for the next installment of The Green Mile.
The bat tree stood on a small raised patch of earth, reinforced by wood, sitting much higher, than the land about it. It was here, with collar and cuff against the April wind that I sat down and let Paul Edgecombe, bull goose screw of E block, Cold Mountain, tell me more about that mouse, Eduard Delacroix, Old Sparky and his guards, up close and personal like. Among the latter, Brutus Howell; Brutal to his friends, a mild as a mouse himself, brick wall of a man and Percy Wetmore, still mean, just a nasty little slip of shit; one with a gun and a hickory baton.
But it is King’s searing portrayal of skinny, pimply assed, psychopath Wild Bill Wharton, that seeped in and haunted me most, as I waited for the next installment of The Green Mile.
November 15, 2019
Is it weird that Mr. Jingles the mouse is my favorite character in the book so far? The little guy hasn't spoken a single word but every time he shows up it brightens my mood. I enjoyed this installment much better than the first one. The story was more engaging, the prose flowed smoother, Percy is a hateable son of a gun and the convicts have more emotion and depth to them. I think the focus on Paul's urinary infection is kind of odd and detracts from the overall story a bit but I'm enjoying it.
January 26, 2016
I'm loving this so much!
January 23, 2022
Read when it was first published
November 26, 2020
Book two in the series. Despite the fact that I saw the movie, reading this is still full of suspense and a wonderful read. Stephen King is one of the best writers I know of, despite the genre, which keeps him from proper accolades. We get to know the characters of part one a little more. John Coffey is nearly absent in this book, but we know he reappears and is the main character in the book. I won't do spoilers, but I found this a great read. What I love about books over movies is in the details.
December 1, 2024
Relectura 2024
La mayor parte habla sobre un ratoncito que aparece en la sección E.
Ayuda a establecer la personalidad de varios personajes.
Eso si los capítulos finales traen la aparición de un nuevo personaje, y queda en tremendo cliffhanger con un continuara que en su momento seguro fue terrorífico
La mayor parte habla sobre un ratoncito que aparece en la sección E.
Ayuda a establecer la personalidad de varios personajes.
Eso si los capítulos finales traen la aparición de un nuevo personaje, y queda en tremendo cliffhanger con un continuara que en su momento seguro fue terrorífico
Read
December 18, 2017Cliffhanger! Ook weer lekker vlot geschreven. Zo ga ik mijn Reading Challenge wel halen!
October 20, 2021
The Green Mile was the first King story that I'd attempted to tackle as I wanted to start reading more 'grownup' books, the unique publication history of the serialized nature being a throwback to Dickens era was a tempting way for 13 year old me to try and read something more mature in short bursts.
Each month whilst still buying the latest Goosebumps (more out of loyalty at this point), I'd take a trip to the Cold Mountain Penitentiary and the events surrounding the condemned killers on death row.
King has always been strong on character and both Paul Edgecombe the stories narrator and death row supervisor alongside the massive figure of convinced John Coffey are the heartbeat of the novel.
King needed to work extra hard to establish a connection for his constant readers in hope they'd stick with them each month.
So much of the stories themes were clearly ill suited for this impressionable young reader first time around.
Whilst most of the novel focuses on the magical realism, there's plenty of horrific moments that you'd expect from King.
Firstly John's conviction of raping and murdering two young girls is brutal, it's the gruesome fate that awaits Eduarad Delacroix that's almost as shocking too.
The events of this novel certainly had more of an emotional impact this time around, especially during the sixth and final part.
It's a powerful gut punch of an ending for characters you've grown to love.
This is the highest rated King novel on Goodreads and it's completely justified and will now be my recommendation for anyone who wants to read King for the first time.
June 2, 2025
Not sure how I am feeling about this series. I feel like somethings I’m a bit confused by what is happening.
Read
May 7, 2016When I was excited to read the series as it was meant to be read: in installments, I forgot that meant I would have to deal with cliffhangers. I'm no longer excited.
Stephen King really knows how to write characters. They're not just on a page, they feel like real people that you can see because they're so well written.
In part 2, we're still getting to know the characters and the backstory. There is plenty of foreshadowing to let you know what is to come, and part of me doesn't want to know. The other part of me is annoyed that I thought reading the installments instead of the collection was a good idea. I will resist the urge to check it out from the library, and just wait for them to be released on my Nook. 5/5
Stephen King really knows how to write characters. They're not just on a page, they feel like real people that you can see because they're so well written.
In part 2, we're still getting to know the characters and the backstory. There is plenty of foreshadowing to let you know what is to come, and part of me doesn't want to know. The other part of me is annoyed that I thought reading the installments instead of the collection was a good idea. I will resist the urge to check it out from the library, and just wait for them to be released on my Nook. 5/5
May 23, 2016
We meet more of the characters. I really enjoyed the Mr. Jingles (mouse) part. 2nd book leaves on a cliff hanger. Can't wait to read more tomorrow.
Listened to this on audio and also read along in physical book. It really annoyed me when the narrator changed words which happened quite frequently making it hard to follow along.
Listened to this on audio and also read along in physical book. It really annoyed me when the narrator changed words which happened quite frequently making it hard to follow along.
May 21, 2025
While "The Two Dead Girls" introduces the initial premise of The Green Mile, it is in the subsequent installment, "The Mouse in the Mile" that a remarkable and profoundly symbolic character comes to the forefront: Mr. Jingles, the mouse.
As a small, defenseless creature in a place of immense human suffering and evil, Mr. Jingles represents pure innocence.
As a small, defenseless creature in a place of immense human suffering and evil, Mr. Jingles represents pure innocence.
March 7, 2016
Si no fuese porque tengo los seis libros, estaría llorando. Este final me dejó con ganas de empezar a leer el siguiente YA (y si no fuese porque mi mejor amigo me acaba de llamar, lo haría). Y por cierto, amo a Cascabel
August 27, 2019
Life on the mile: bad guys, good guys, a chair, a mouse and a cliffhanger.
Ugh, so good.
I’d forgotten so many of the finer details of this story, and I’m captivated completely by this unplanned reread.
Ugh, so good.
I’d forgotten so many of the finer details of this story, and I’m captivated completely by this unplanned reread.
November 9, 2015
E dopo il primo libro diciamo di introduzione ecco che di colpo si alza l'asticella. La descrizione dell'esecuzione del capo, di delacroix e il topo, il pazzo wharton: un vero capolavoro
December 19, 2017
3.5 stars
April 30, 2021
Reading this book in parts, which is probably best since, if I read the book as a whole, I would never be able to put it down. A completely unputdownable story. I can’t wait to read the third part in May, I must find out what happens!
August 19, 2025
Just as dark as the first really enjoying this
February 21, 2021
Everything is going relatively well in the mile. That lull where Percy was pretending to be nice and before Wharton arrives. Mr Jingles is the entertainment with his little circus act. I love it. I really need to go watch the adaptation after this.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 16, 2018
The second part to The Green Mile continues the story of John Coffey and the two dead girls. This book gets a little hard to follow at times because it goes backward and forwards in time. In the first book, you saw John Coffey going back and forth going to the Mile, and this book, it goes back to describe prisoners that were there before him, and things that weren't in the movie. For instance, in this book, it describes the coming of Edward Delecroix into the death row, and an encounter with Percy where he beat this man with a knight stick on the way in. In this, you also get to hear an expanded conversation with the chief who was on death row. Where the conversation is pretty much the same, you get more insight into Paul's thoughts and the amount of times he's lied to his inmates about his feelings or his thoughts. In this inmate's case, he was pretty sure his mother was right about what she'd taught him about Heaven and Hell, and was pretty sure the chief was going straight into the fire.
You also learn more about what Edward Delecroix did wrong. Apparently, in the book, it describes that he had actually killed a woman, and burned her body. In doing so, he also set an apartment complex on fire, killing about a dozen other people along with her. It also goes into a little more detail about Mr. Jingles, and encounters with him that weren't in the movie. The part where Percy came after the mouse was more of a memory, and instead of Paul talking to Percy about the incident, it was actually Dean in the book, which was a continuing thing from the first book. It's along the same line, but different characters say the words sometimes. This book also brought about Billy the kid, who is introduced in the movie as well, and his entrance is exactly as it was in the movie. It ends on another cliff hanger, when Paul comes into the hall to try to stop Billy from strangling Dean. There's one other difference here. In the book, it was actually Harry that said, "Hit him, Percy. Hit Him!" instead of Paul as it was in the movie.
Overall, a very entertaining sequel. I can't wait to read part 3. Four stars.
You also learn more about what Edward Delecroix did wrong. Apparently, in the book, it describes that he had actually killed a woman, and burned her body. In doing so, he also set an apartment complex on fire, killing about a dozen other people along with her. It also goes into a little more detail about Mr. Jingles, and encounters with him that weren't in the movie. The part where Percy came after the mouse was more of a memory, and instead of Paul talking to Percy about the incident, it was actually Dean in the book, which was a continuing thing from the first book. It's along the same line, but different characters say the words sometimes. This book also brought about Billy the kid, who is introduced in the movie as well, and his entrance is exactly as it was in the movie. It ends on another cliff hanger, when Paul comes into the hall to try to stop Billy from strangling Dean. There's one other difference here. In the book, it was actually Harry that said, "Hit him, Percy. Hit Him!" instead of Paul as it was in the movie.
Overall, a very entertaining sequel. I can't wait to read part 3. Four stars.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 10, 2014
The next instalment was printed a month later - here in the UK it was on a very basic paper (I never know if it was thought that these books were lower quality or just not expected to last but the pages are yellowed and smell that old book smell) and the whole feel about the book is that its actually older than it is. However its all part of the charm for me - the story is again treated like a chapter - (more an episode since the book itself has its own chapters) but now the premise has been set and the story can I feel at last properly start to develop but in true Stephen King style - there is always something held back. I have said this earlier but for me this was a new way to read his work and for me was completely gripping - just a shame all the adverts in it were for american websites and phone numbers !
December 21, 2008
Man do I feel for Paul and his infection. That just sounds horrid and to me its like him having a taste of what us girls go through with the monthly cures. Anyway it was getting pretty damn annoying reading about that mouse but I guess it was ok. Kinda of dragging but the ending was damn sure brilliant. Gave you more excitement for a last chapter than people think they can get. Can't wait to read the next one and see where Mr. King will take us!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2019
So far, this has been my favorite SK novel. This story moves smoother and more quickly than the few other books I have read of his. We are getting to know our characters more, and the setting pretty much stays the same. I'm loving the story about the mouse. You can sense something that's just a little unsettling. Not much of Coffey in this part. Leaves off with an awesome cliffhanger. Excited to move on.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 359 reviews