The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.
A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published.
Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.
He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Would be a good movie:
I do not usually like Stephen King, but I liked this novel. It is not drawn out and overly descriptive like some of his other novels I have attempted to read. This book is about a badly abused, slightly mentally damaged man just trying to make a life. Sadly, he does not go about it the right way and kidnaps a baby in hopes of gaining a million dollars, but he proves to be an incredibly lovable character, growing more so as you get a look into his childhood. I could have done without the dead guy, George,... more info
It's not wrong to want the bad guy to win!:
You know how, when you meet an exceptional person, you feel honored to have been able to know them? You feel that you were lucky to have known them, to have been able to glimpse their life, to have been a part of it. Well, that is how I feel about Blaze. I feel honored to have known him for such a short time. I feel I was entrusted with the secrets of his past and his innermost thoughts, feelings, and fears. Richard Bachman is one of Stephen King's alter-ego's I guess you could say. The story of... more info
Stephen Kings does of Mice and Men:
Really reminds me of Mice and Men. I enjoyed it. Not the best book ever or the worst but was a good read.
BLAZE IS GOOD!:
Blaze was written in the early part of King's career but never published. He dusted it off and released it--and we should be glad. It's top notch; the characters are great and the story is touching, a bit like Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men actually. So you know, Blaze doesn't read like the first five Bachman books--with a flat mean tone. The writing style is more like Skeleton Crew or Misery; the sentence structure flows smoothly and the story breathes a bit. The story is not horror, nor is it as soft as... more info
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