Michael Cummings

Catapulted to one of my favorite King books on this first reading. You can see so many elements that were later used in It here, but still raw and only slightly developed. Well written, the human tragedy of this book almost outweighs the horror elements.

Having watched the Sissy Spacek movie all my life, I thought I knew this story. Sure, I knew the highlights, but the book was so much better.

I could not do this to myself. When halfway through the book I still felt no interest in any of the characters or even the scenario as it was being portrayed, I decided to walk away. Based on the other reviews of this book, it looks like you, fellow reader, will fall into one of two camps (and only TWO!) - you will either enjoy this book, or you will question the Bram Stoker award, the publishing industry, and what passes for well-written horror these days.

For myself, I'm in the latter camp.

Loved the Troop, enjoyed the Deep, but this...I didn't like our characters even before things went downhill. 

Like every Tad Williams book I've read, it takes 100+ pages to get the story going, but once set it's worth the wait. My only complaint (hence the spoiler marker, sorry) is that the answer to one of the mysteries was very much Deus ex Machina - the death caused by a thing we hadn't even heard of until the moment it was revealed to be the murderer. Otherwise, a great read, looking forward to the rest of the series.