I can’t remember the last time I read a book by Stephen King. I was a huge fan in my teens and 20s, but it’s probably been at least 20 years since I picked up one of his books. Recently, my daughter has started reading King, so when Joyland showed up in our shared digital library suggestions, I though, “Sure, why not.” I wasn’t disappointed, which was a great relief to me. Joyland isn’t a horror story per se, and is really more of a ghost story than anything […]
No vampires, obsessive fans, evil clowns, psychic teens or weary gunslingers in this one. There is a ghost, though.
21-year-old college student Devin Jones gets a summer job at old-fashioned carnival and amusement park Joyland, trying to mend his broken heart, after his girlfriend left him for another. Working at Joyland, he’s taught the ways of the experienced carnies, discovers his knack for entertaining children while “wearing the fur” of park mascot Howie the Hound, lays the foundation of some life-long friendships and discovers the legend of the genuinely haunted House of Horror, where a young woman in a blue dress and an alice […]
There are all kind of ghosts in this life, and this book has most of them.
Nothing about this is the way I thought it was going to be. I really, really liked it. I think the main reason I’m always so surprised when I enjoy Stephen King novels is that the very first book of his I ever read was Cell, which I didn’t like, and which I now know is considered to be one of his inferior offerings. This is an especially dumb mindset to have now as I’ve read quite a few since then and enjoyed all of them […]