Book Review: The Dark Half by Stephen King
Genre: Horror
Age: Adult
Is this where the whole “ate my twin in the womb” trope came from? And by that I mean characters that are portrayed as a little not right off-handedly mentioning eating their twin in the womb, which raises serious questions of how do the parents even know and why would you tell your child that? (Specifically thinking of Rebecca from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Pitch Perfect’s Lily.) Anyway, unfortunately Thad – the main character of The Dark Half - isn’t even aware that he did this, but it does set off a chain of events he has no control over.
Thad Beaumont is a writer, but when his writer career proves a touch dead-in-the-water, he writes something darker and more twisted, tapping into a strange part of himself and creating George Stark to write the novels under. Unlike his other books, Stark’s prove a huge success. But in writing the stories of George Stark, Thad actually becomes Stark, adopting different mannerisms and becoming less himself during the writing process. Until the day he decides Stark has to die. When people related to Thad are murdered, however, the last thing he expects is to be connected to the case, yet it seems some how he is linked – but what does it have to do with him, or Stark?
If you have knowledge of King and Richard Bachman, his pseudonym under which he wrote books such as Rage, The Long Walk, The Running Man, it’s not hard to see where the inspiration for this might have come from. King was outed as Bachman in 1985, and The Dark Half was published in 1989. Although it seems King was fairly decent towards the bookstore clerk who noticed the similarities, the situation Thad faces in The Dark Half is, well, darker, with Thad facing the possibility of a journalist outing him as Stark before he’s quite ready.
I can see why so many consider this King’s masterpiece. It’s a solid blend of thriller and horror, with the ever-present sparrows and Thad’s unique situation acting as permanent reminders of the supernatural horrors hanging over this. There’s plenty of truly tense moments involving Thad’s wife and children, and enough mystery surrounding the whole thing that at the end you’re kind of left with a similar “WTF just happened” sensation as Alan Pangborn is. It’s not my favourite of King’s novels by a long stretch, but it is a damn good one, and for me ranks among King’s best for sure.
Review by Elle Turpitt
Twitter & Instagram: @elleturpitt
www.elleturpitt.com
I purchased this book
