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Red Church by Scott Nicholson

Posted on August 16, 2012 by JimsGotWeb in Book Reviews Leave a comment

Scott Nicholson’s opening line in the Red Church, “The world never ends the way you believe it will” sets up a story that takes place in the small mountain town of Whispering Pines in North Carolina, where the “old families” have a secret. What is causing the tragic, violent, unexplained accidents? Is there a mountain lion roaming the town at night? Sheriff Littlefield would like to believe that’s the cause of all the deaths, but Detective Storie sees it differently. She’s a flatlander and doesn’t believe in the old ways and superstitions.

How is the bell ringing in the old red church? The rope has been gone for years, every since, well, that’s part of the “old families” secret. And what is the dark shape in the belfry of the red church? Is that where the laughter and other sounds are coming from? Ronnie knows what it is. He’s seen it scratching at his window at night.

Sheriff Littlefield has heard the laughter. He heard it on the Halloween night years ago. The night of the tragic accident that took the life of his little brother. Was that an accident? Or is it related to all the other deaths that have happened in this small town?

Is it a coincidence that the preacher, Archer McFall is back in town and has bought the old red church? Archer is one of the old families, his mother has lived here for years, and her pregnancy with Archer has been part of intense gossip since his birth.

 

 


Stephen King UR

Posted on August 10, 2012 by JimsGotWeb in Book Reviews Leave a comment

Stephen King – UR

Stephen King

In this Stephen King novel, Wesley Smith is an English instructor at Moore College in Moore Kentucky. Wesley gives in to the pressure from his students and buys a Kindle from Amazon.com. Although he didn’t specify the 1 day delivery, it shows up the very next day, and the charges never show up on his credit card bill. That is strange, but even stranger things begin to happen with his pink Kindle. Yes, Wesley’s Kindle is pink.

While checking out the experimental features on the Kindle he finds one called UR FUNCTIONS.  One of the UR FUNCTIONS is UR BOOKS. Using that function he searches for books by Ernest Hemingway and gets 17,894 results! Wesley was sure that he had read all of Hemingway’s major works, so when he learns that there are a few novels that he has missed his surprise is understandable. He finds the same outcome is true for the works of Edgar Allen Poe, and many others.

He comes to the realization that the UR is showing him alternate realities, well over 10 million of them! In these alternative realities of the famous author’s birth and death dates aren’t what Wesley expected. It seems that

Looking through some of the other UR FUNCTIONS he finds UR NEWS where he reads about Hillary Clinton becoming the 44th president! He also finds out about other news items that are different from our reality.

UR LOCAL is under construction so there is a limit to the information that is available but Wesley gets enough information to turn his life into complete chaos!


Mile 81 by Stephen King

Posted on August 10, 2012 by JimsGotWeb in Book Reviews Leave a comment

Mile 81 by Stephen King

Stephen King

In Stephen King’s Mile 81, Pete Simmons wanted to be a part of his brother’s gang of 12 and 13 year olds, the Rip-Ass-Raiders, but he was only 10 years old, so they couldn’t be bothered to let him hang out with them. So instead he goes to the abandoned rest area on the I-95 turnpike at the mile 81 marker, you know, over where the old Burger King used to be? That is where the older teenagers hang out at night to drink and get high, but during the day he had the place to himself. He finds a half empty bottle of vodka and decides to try having a few drinks, just to get a little buzz. After taking just 3 sips he decides he’s had more than enough and lies down to take a nap.

While he’s sleeping a station wagon pulls into the rest area and the driver’s door opens up but there isn’t anyone inside. The old station wagon just sits there, inviting someone to come on over and take a quick look. Doug the insurance man’s curiosity gets the best of him so he stops to take a quick look. Julie is traveling with her horse trailer and wonders if someone is in trouble, so she stops to take a look. The Lussier family is also curious enough to check on the station wagon sitting at the old rest stop.

Pete sleeps through all of their encounters, but wakes up in time to see state trooper Jimmy Goldberg stop by. Dispatch had received numerous phone calls of people driving by that noticed all of the vehicles sitting at the abandoned rest stop. They were curious too, but just too busy to stop and take a look.

When Pete sees what happens to Trooper Jimmy he knows that he must do something, but what can a 10 year old do in this kind of bizarre situation?

You should read this Stephen King story and find out.


11/22/63 by Stephen King

Posted on August 9, 2012 by JimsGotWeb in Book Reviews Leave a comment

Stephen King

11/22/63 is one of my new favorite Stephen King books. In 1963 I was 10 years old. I have very vivid memories of the 22nd of November. If you were alive in ’63 I’m sure you remember where you were when you heard that the president had been shot. What if you had the opportunity to go back to that day and try to stop that tragic event from happening, would you? Or maybe a better question would be, should you? If we could change history what would the effect be on all of the events that would follow?

Jake Epping is a high school teacher and is convinced by the owner of Al’s Diner to look at something really interesting behind the pantry door of the diner. Jake had just seen Al less than 24 hours ago and is shocked to see that Al was very ill. He had lost 30 or 40 pounds, his hair had turned white, he had lost some teeth, and he was coughing up blood. Al claimed it was lung cancer, but it didn’t seem right that he would have deteriorated this badly overnight. Jake also noted Al’s confusion about time. Al said that he started coughing 7 months ago, in May, but it was June, so 7 months ago would have been December. Seeing that Al was so sick, Jake decided to humor him and take a look at what was so interesting behind the pantry door.

When Stephen King has Jake go into the pantry and walk down the short flight of stairs, he ventures into the past. To be exact, it is always 11:58 A.M. on the morning of September 9th, 1958 when you walk into the past. He can stay as long as he likes and when he returns, only 2 minutes have passed. Wait, you might be thinking, 9/9/1958? I thought this story was in 1963. Well, as in all of Stephen King’s novels, that’s the interesting part. To try and stop the assassination of JFK you would have to spend 5 years, 2 months, and 13 days of your life.

Sounds complicated doesn’t it? Well, no one said that time travel was easy. Good Luck!