Lisey’s StoryBy Stephen King$28.00

Stephen King enters new territory for ‘Lisey’s Story’ and proves he still has plenty to bring to the horror genre. It’s a love story with a twist that is uniquely King.

Unlike in ‘The Secret Window’ and ‘The Dark Half,’ in which he wrote about writers, King turns his attention to a writer’s wife. Lisey’s late husband, Scott, is a clear substitution for King himself. The prolific writer’s most successful books are never his most critically acclaimed, and are often turned into sub-par movies. Lisey’s relationship with Scott feels so real and unique it could only have come from some of King’s experiences. She struggles over sharing her relationship with the millions of die-hard fans of her husband’s books. As she looks over the publications Scott has saved, she realizes how often she was present, but not pictured, or referred to in passing as a ‘gal pal.’ Dedicated to King’s wife, Tabitha, the book feels like a personally-charged reflection of his own marriage.

However, once the reader settles into the story of their relationship, told in flashbacks as well as Lisey remembering in the present how Scott was in the past, the book takes an almost too-familiar turn. The reader learns about Scott’s troubled childhood, his supernatural healing ability, an alternate world and deeply frightening monsters.

At first glance, the return to monsters and cheap thrills seems like it would ruin the reality of the relationship King has set up, but he does it so gradually and expertly it almost seems natural. The reality of the marriage always included these things, and it feels more as if they’ve revealed their deepest secrets, so we feel closer to their relationship than we could otherwise. The narration even uses the secret words Scott and Lisey use to explain these things, bringing the reader even closer to the pair.

As Lisey has more vivid memories of her late husband, King begins to mix his tenses and present actions begin to run parallel to the past. The flashbacks appear in present tense, cluing the reader in even more to the way Lisey is reliving these events. At one point, the book shifts between Scott doing something as a child, Scott telling the story to Lisey and Lisey remembering the story in the present. Despite these fast-paced changes, the book isn’t confusing.

‘Lisey’s Story’ is truly a new direction for King. While most of his books are just finding a new monster, ‘Lisey’s Story’ has a new protagonist. King’s tale of a woman fighting her husband’s demons proves that after three decades, more than 50 books and countless short stories, he still has a lot to offer.

Published on November 6, 2006 at 12:00 pm