“It's funny how close the past is, sometimes. Sometimes it seems as if you could almost reach out and touch it. Only who really wants to?”
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King is a horror novel set in Pennsylvania in 2001 but telling a story set in the late 70s and carried on well through the 80s. Stephen King, of course, is known for his horror novels which is why I was excited to read this book. The book, of course, focuses on a mysterious car that ends up in the hands of Troop D. The novel includes death and alien-like encounters. The book follows the troop through dealing with the car and trying to contain its power. As is expected with many of Stephen King’s novels, the plot is drawn out which personally made it difficult for me to get into it.
There are a few main characters in this book, however, the main one that the novel has the intention of reaching is Ned Wilcox. Ned is the son of Curtis Wilcox, a trooper who died in the line of duty. Ned is at the age where he is getting ready for college and he needs closure about his father’s death. Various troopers work to give Ned the answers he is searching for while keeping the spirit of Curtis alive. The correlation between Curtis and the Buick is that Curtis had an absolute fascination with the car. He made it his personal mission to conduct experiments and find out what the car was doing and what it was capable of. Needless to say, Curtis had a curiosity that was never fulfilled and often led him to trouble. It was interesting to read about such a personal connection to a horrific car.
My least favorite part about this book is definitely the repetition of events. An evil car is not an uncommon Stephen King concept and I personally feel the suspense he attempted to build in the book just did not work. Not to spoil anything but, as the book progressed you began to learn what the car was going to do next, just at varying intensities. There were many moments discussed involving the car that were very similar and quite frankly, disappointing.
My favorite part about this book is definitely the concept of storytelling that was included. The whole book included various troopers discussing personal encounters with the car. The telling of these events was aimed directly at Ned. The characters were all sitting on a bench together and just talking casually. This allowed the reader to feel like he/she was just one of the characters, sitting and listening to the stories about the Buick.
If I had to recommend the book to anyone besides faithful Stephen King fans I would recommend it to a reader who does not mind drawn out plot points and does not want to be terrified. It was a good read however, I was hoping to be scared which is probably why I did not love this book. I did not find it to be a page-turner except for the first encounters with the car. I am glad that I tried a Stephen King novel and was able to focus on his writing style. It was impressive to see that Stephen King was able to give a car such a clear personality which made it feel more like an additional character rather than an item. All in all, I stepped out of my reading comfort zone and was kind of disappointed with the plot but was impressed by the writing style.
From a Buick 8 by Stephen King is a horror novel set in Pennsylvania in 2001 but telling a story set in the late 70s and carried on well through the 80s. Stephen King, of course, is known for his horror novels which is why I was excited to read this book. The book, of course, focuses on a mysterious car that ends up in the hands of Troop D. The novel includes death and alien-like encounters. The book follows the troop through dealing with the car and trying to contain its power. As is expected with many of Stephen King’s novels, the plot is drawn out which personally made it difficult for me to get into it.
There are a few main characters in this book, however, the main one that the novel has the intention of reaching is Ned Wilcox. Ned is the son of Curtis Wilcox, a trooper who died in the line of duty. Ned is at the age where he is getting ready for college and he needs closure about his father’s death. Various troopers work to give Ned the answers he is searching for while keeping the spirit of Curtis alive. The correlation between Curtis and the Buick is that Curtis had an absolute fascination with the car. He made it his personal mission to conduct experiments and find out what the car was doing and what it was capable of. Needless to say, Curtis had a curiosity that was never fulfilled and often led him to trouble. It was interesting to read about such a personal connection to a horrific car.
My least favorite part about this book is definitely the repetition of events. An evil car is not an uncommon Stephen King concept and I personally feel the suspense he attempted to build in the book just did not work. Not to spoil anything but, as the book progressed you began to learn what the car was going to do next, just at varying intensities. There were many moments discussed involving the car that were very similar and quite frankly, disappointing.
My favorite part about this book is definitely the concept of storytelling that was included. The whole book included various troopers discussing personal encounters with the car. The telling of these events was aimed directly at Ned. The characters were all sitting on a bench together and just talking casually. This allowed the reader to feel like he/she was just one of the characters, sitting and listening to the stories about the Buick.
If I had to recommend the book to anyone besides faithful Stephen King fans I would recommend it to a reader who does not mind drawn out plot points and does not want to be terrified. It was a good read however, I was hoping to be scared which is probably why I did not love this book. I did not find it to be a page-turner except for the first encounters with the car. I am glad that I tried a Stephen King novel and was able to focus on his writing style. It was impressive to see that Stephen King was able to give a car such a clear personality which made it feel more like an additional character rather than an item. All in all, I stepped out of my reading comfort zone and was kind of disappointed with the plot but was impressed by the writing style.