Next book

FIRST CULPRIT

AN ANNUAL OF CRIME STORIES

An unremarkable collection with a sterling pedigree: two dozen stories, 15 of them new, from the usually reliable British Crime Writers' Association. In addition to halfhearted reprints by the likes of Ruth Rendell, Antonia Fraser, H.R.F. Keating, and Celia Dale—and stronger efforts by Dick Francis and Margaret Yorke—the mix is heavy on whimsy: a zany psychiatrists' duel by Sara Paretsky; an elaborately game-bedecked puzzle by Simon Brett; a silly saga of Dan Quayle in Indiana by coeditor Lewin; and an encounter between Dorothy Sayers and Lord Peter You-Know-Who. The most successful entries—by Stephen Murray, Susan Moody, Alex Auswaks, Susan Kelly, and coeditor Cody- -avoid the whodunit, revenge, and now-it-can-be-told formulas for more unexpected revelations of character or situation. Nary an outstanding tale in the lot, though about half the contents—mostly the brand-new items—are keepers.

Pub Date: July 20, 1993

ISBN: 0-312-09238-5

Page Count: 256

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1993

Categories:
Next book

A CLOCKWORK ORANGE

The previous books of this author (Devil of a State, 1962; The Right to an Answer, 1961) had valid points of satire, some humor, and a contemporary view, but here the picture is all out—from a time in the future to an argot that makes such demands on the reader that no one could care less after the first two pages.

If anyone geta beyond that—this is the first person story of Alex, a teen-age hoodlum, who, in step with his times, viddies himself and the world around him without a care for law, decency, honesty; whose autobiographical language has droogies to follow his orders, wallow in his hate and murder moods, accents the vonof human hole products. Betrayed by his dictatorial demands by a policing of his violence, he is committed when an old lady dies after an attack; he kills again in prison; he submits to a new method that will destroy his criminal impulses; blameless, he is returned to a world that visits immediate retribution on him; he is, when an accidental propulsion to death does not destroy him, foisted upon society once more in his original state of sin.

What happens to Alex is terrible but it is worse for the reader.

Pub Date: Jan. 8, 1962

ISBN: 0393928098

Page Count: 357

Publisher: Norton

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1962

Categories:
Next book

MISERY

Fans weary of King's recent unwieldy tomes can rest easy: his newest is slim, slick, and razor-keen. His first novel without supernatural elements outside of the Richard Bachman series, this psychological terror tale laced with pitch-black humor tells the nerve-jangling story of a best-selling author kidnapped and tortured by his "number one fan." King opens on a disorienting note as writer Paul Sheldon drifts awake to find himself in bed, his legs shattered. A beefy woman, 40-ish Annie Wilkes, appears and feeds him barbiturates. During the hazy next week, Paul learns that Annie, an ex-nurse, carried him from a car wreck to her isolated house, where she plans to keep him indefinitely. She's a spiteful misanthrope subject to catatonic fits, but worships Paul because he writes her favorite books, historical novels featuring the heroine "Misery." As Annie pumps him with drugs and reads the script of his latest novel, also saved from the wreck, Paul waits with growing apprehension—he killed off Misery in this new one. tn time, Annie rushes into the room, howling: she demands that Paul write a new novel resurrecting Misery just for her. He refuses until she threatens to withhold his drugs; so he begins the book (tantalizing chunks of which King seeds throughout this novel). Days later, when Annie goes to town, Paul, who's now in a wheelchair, escapes his locked room and finds a scrapbook with clippings of Annie's hobby: she's a mass-murderer. Up to here, King has gleefully slathered on the tension: now he slams on the shocks as Annie returns swinging an axe and chops off Paul's foot. Soon after, off comes his thumb; when a cop looking for Paul shows up, Annie lawnmowers his head. Burning for revenge, Paul finishes his novel, only to use the manuscript as a weapon against his captor in the ironic, ferocious climax. Although lacking the psychological richness of his best work, this nasty shard of a novel with its weird autobiographical implications probably will thrill and chill King's legion of fans. Note: the publisher plans an unprecedented first printing of one-million copies.

Pub Date: June 8, 1987

ISBN: 0451169522

Page Count: 356

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1987

Categories:
Close Quickview