Tag Stephen King

A girls sits at the end of a long, shadowed hallway, with her back against a door.

Julia by Peter Straub

Angie Engles Leave a comment
A girls sits at the end of a long, shadowed hallway, with her back against a door.

by Angie E.

Hello there, fellow horror enthusiasts! If you’re on the hunt for a bone-chilling, pulse-
pounding read to get you into the Halloween spirit, look no further than Julia by Peter Straub (print and e-audiobook). The author emerged as a rising star in the 1970s alongside his friend and sometimes collaborator, Stephen King. Together, they revitalized the horror genre, redefining its bounds with The Talisman (print and e-audiobook) and Black House (print and e-audiobook).

Despite this early success, Straub and his individual contributions to literature have often taken a backseat to the towering presence of King. However, his unique writing style, masterful storytelling, and depth of character development make him a force to be reckoned with, especially in stories like Julia – about a woman with a haunting past and a dark secret. As the narrative unfolds, you’ll find yourself drawn deeper into the web of her life, unable to escape its sinister grip. Straub’s character development is top-notch; you’ll feel like you know Julia intimately, yet she remains shrouded in mystery, making her all the more compelling.

What makes Julia a standout Halloween read is its ability to mess with your mind. Straub has this knack for creating an atmosphere so thick with dread that you can practically taste it. The line between reality and the supernatural blurs, and you’ll start questioning everything you thought you knew. Is it ghosts, madness, or something even more sinister? The pacing is relentless. The tension keeps ratcheting up, and Straub’s prose is beautifully haunting, painting vivid, unsettling images in your imagination. You’ll be right there with the characters, wandering the eerie, fog-shrouded streets of their world.

The novel is not just about cheap thrills and jump scares. Straub explores profound themes like guilt, redemption, and the nature of evil. It’s a thinking reader’s horror novel that will haunt your thoughts long after you’ve finished it. Julia is the perfect spooky holiday read, as it’s a master class in psychological horror, filled with unforgettable characters, a chilling atmosphere, and plenty of twists and turns. So, grab your favorite blanket, and prepare for a Halloween night you won’t soon forget.

Angie is an Instructor & Research Specialist at Central Branch and is a co-facilitator for Reads of Acceptance, HCLS’ first LGBTQ-focused book club. Her ideal day is reading in her cozy armchair, with her cat Henry next to her.

A deep night sky shows a sort of explosion, the tree line at the bottm is also illuminated.

Elevation by Stephen King

juliefitzreader Leave a comment
A deep night sky shows a sort of explosion, the tree line at the bottm is also illuminated.

By Gabriela P.

Short on time? So is Scott Carey, the main character of Stephen King’s novella, Elevation. Forty-two years old and in relatively good health despite a disposition towards being heavy-set, Scott discovers he is afflicted with a strange condition where he continuously loses weight but not mass. Eventually, he comes to understand that, soon, he will literally be leaving the physical Earth as his weight plummets. With a divorce in his recent past, a too-large house, and a complacently settled routine in the town of Castle Rock, it takes two new neighbors moving in down the street to spur the unfolding of a moralistic but heartwarming comedy.

Scott’s two new neighbors are women. In his small town, same-sex relationships are at best tolerated…but same-sex marriage becomes a root for tension, gossip, and outright hostility. Scott himself bears no ill-will towards Deirdre and Myra, except a slight annoyance with their dog’s preferences for his lawn. When he confronts the two, he is received coldly, a result of a necessary guard the two have had to put up in the face of prejudice.

Unlike the plot development one might expect from a Stephen King story, Elevation does not dive into the wild undoing of a man and a town, but instead comedically highlights one man’s gradual, though admittedly somewhat naive, social enlightenment. While Scott Carey literally begins to leave the ground, he is also able to figuratively rise above prejudice. To really tug at the heartstrings, readers should consider the irony of strengthening bonds and belonging with an inevitable end.

Also available as eBook, eAudiobook on Overdrive and CloudLibrary, on CD, and in large print.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.

The book cover shows a boy in sideways silhouette in the back of a train caboose; he is seated on a bed with pillows and there is a desk with a lamp and a chair next to him. The small room contains a window with a cloudy bright sky, surreal because it is facing forward towards the next train car. The caboose in on a train track and is surrounded by a darkened landscape and skyscape depicting either dawn or dusk.

The Institute by Stephen King

juliefitzreader Leave a comment
The book cover shows a boy in sideways silhouette in the back of a train caboose; he is seated on a bed with pillows and there is a desk with a lamp and a chair next to him. The small room contains a window with a cloudy bright sky, surreal because it is facing forward towards the next train car. The caboose is on a train track and is surrounded by a darkened landscape and skyscape depicting either dawn or dusk.

By Gabriela P.

Until recently, if someone mentioned Stephen King around me, all I pictured were the usual horror staples: clowns, spiders, dark hallways, mysteriously red and sticky substances. Of course my familiarity with King’s work was about the same as the average media consumer – starting and ending with the Hollywood blockbusters like It and The Shining. As a reader who prefers historical fiction over horror, I never ventured into his dizzyingly enormous body of work.

It was not until my recent read of King’s 2019 novel The Institute that I realized I may have been missing out on his ever-developing literary skills. The Institute delivers on a terrifying antagonist, but rather than supernatural, the bad guys in this story are all-too human. In the “Institute,” inmates with telekinetic abilities are kidnapped, imprisoned, and tormented with unexplained experiments. The inmates are children. The story primarily revolves around Luke Ellis, a 12-year old with extraordinary genius, as he wakes up in the Institute and attempts to navigate the sadistic staff and build peculiar friendships. As he and his newfound friends and allies learn more about where they are, readers come to understand that those working for the Institute believe they serve a higher good, and that there exists a place for cruelty with a purpose. The staff members in charge of the children would show up to work, run their terrifying tests, stop for coffee in their breakrooms, chat and flirt, then head home each night. Even as Ellis and his fellow captives live their days bouncing between mysterious injections and surreally normal basketball games, the real horror is apparent in the quiet complacency towards child abuse as a necessary evil, and at its worse no more than daily routine.

How could children survive in a place designed to strip them of dignity and humanity? Could they even survive? The Institute weaves together a story of unimaginable scale with the most authentically human characters: policemen, innkeepers, custodians. And yes, there is a 12-year old genius and kids who can read minds, but their abilities are the least important things about them. Their moments of anger, sadness, courage, and joy are their characters’ truly grounding elements.

While definitely a tough read, it surprised me how much I enjoyed this novel. Ruthless and brutal, but at times captivatingly heart-warming. If you’re interested in making a foray into the Stephen King sphere, The Institute is a great book to pick up and get absorbed into.

The Institute is available from HCLS in a variety of formats: regular print, large print, as an audiobook on CD, and as an eBook and an eAudiobook from Libby/OverDrive.

Gabriela is a customer service specialist at the Miller Branch. She loves long walks, reading with her dog, and a good cup of coffee.