ner3y
Like many a King books, I had to get through about the first half, which I found very tedious. After that, the book picked up speed, but never, never ever, in a way like, for example, “It”. “Billy Summers” was just unnecessary in the end. Yes, unnecessary is an appropriate word for it. And if there hadn't been a nice little twist at the end, which I kind of expected anyway, the book would have been a pure disappointment for me. But as it was, I had some fun reading it at times. But is that enough for a good book or even a King classic? Unfortunately, “Billy Summers” will never rank among his masterpieces.
An absolutely unnecessary sequel. What happens here just seems contrived. It really seems as if they wanted to make money with this title again. The charm of the old series comes through, but the new characters don't like to ignite. Then there is the current Covid theme. No, thanks. And then also an open ending. Please stop.
Lou listened to Will. And then somehow not after all. She mourns and doesn't dare take any bigger steps. But when Will's supposed daughter turns up, her life is turned upside down once again. What Jojo Moyes does with Lou is like a rollercoaster ride, first and foremost of emotions. The book is peppered with good twists and turns. It brought me tears of joy and sadness in equal measure, the latter especially towards the end. The usual humour of the first book was followed up well. Also the drama. Nevertheless, it is - somehow understandably - not up to the first book. On the other hand, I enjoyed Lou's further steps in her life extraordinarily. She is a very special character.
I had tears in my eyes just before the end. They could have been tears of laughter, because the book was not only very exciting and well written, no, it was also very funny again and again. But in fact I had tears in my eyes because the fate of the main character was moving in a certain direction that I did not like. Our “hero”, Ryland Grace, didn't like that outcome either. But then again, it still turned out differently than expected. And that's how it was for the whole book, actually. It was peppered with minor and major twists and turns that kept me involved at all times. The humor was great and the main character was just perfectly written. Then there was this fantastic space adventure about the fate of mankind, I fevered every second. Not to forget the temporally and thematically well interspersed flashbacks with which Ryland found out more about himself and the mission, made this work round and perfect. For me, an absolute highlight that I will gladly read again.
As the story began as a sort of involuntary road trip by Tim, I immediately took him and the book to my heart. An interesting character comes to a small town and becomes a night knocker. Never heard of it before, but all the more interesting I found exactly that.
Shortly thereafter, I met Luke, who would be the focus from then on. He and numerous other children who were held captive in the so-called Insititute. King-typically it was very rough there. So much so that you could almost feel the children's pain yourself. Of course, this was also due to the fact that the character drawing is once again great.
Nevertheless: I was sad. Where is Tim? Only the children? I was a bit disappointed, but only briefly. Because the story about the institute, the background and the children became more exciting by the minute. And as typical for King, I couldn't put the book down after about halfway through, because that's when it really picked up speed.
I had almost forgotten about Tim, but then the two heroes finally met. It was great. A relief and at the same time tension, because how exactly did they deal with what was to come?
Then the end of the book was good. No, it wasn't very good, unfortunately, but still good enough that I will definitely read The Institute again. What I'm getting at is that the showdown felt kind of forced. It was spectacular but not spectacular enough. As if King had to draw a line very quickly.
A fantastic book about time travel and the famous butterfly effect associated with it. But that alone would not be King. His characters literally live. The resulting tension is almost unbearable. And the fact that Jake Epping travels back there precisely to save JFK raises this time travel thriller to unimagined heights. My favorite book.