Ratings159
Average rating3.9
This book is about obsessions, letting something consume you, the only thing that makes you stay alive can also be the only thing that leads you to your death.
The protagonist Pete Saubers is the perfect boy, how he cares for his family is unimaginable, her little sister Tina, being the light of his life. He, as the older brother, is very mature, intelligent, and dedicated. Loves reading because books bring him to other worlds.
There is a similitude between him and the antagonist. Morris. Both of them obsessed with the books, the Jimmy Gold novel, they lived in the same house, think of the same hiding spot. It makes you think, what would have happened if the Saubers family had never recovered, would Pete become someone bad?. If the arckys barckys never stopped. He would be a completely different adult. In a way, that vault of money saved him, saved his future, not just financially but psychological too. It saved his humanity.
Or maybe not, maybe one is born bad. Nothing indicates that Morris suffered in any way. He had a bad relationship with her mother, but that was it. Nothing terrible. He has always been that way. A wolf.
Is true that this book would have been fine as a solo, not necessarily with the Bill Hodges trilogy. Bill is almost absent. The whole story is for Pete, so Bill kind of feels like an Ex-Maquina. He appears in the end just to save them. And doesn't really contribute to the story. I really wanted to see how would Pete have won, on his own. Stephen King makes these fantastic stories for kids, and how would kids win against a greater evil. So is really interesting to see what would he have done, alone. Would Pete have burned the notebooks on purpose??, because it was an accident. But we'll never know. Could his plan work?? The notebooks in exchange for his sister?? Maybe. Morris was desperate. They both were enchanted, “My precious”
The only thing I didn't like about this book is what they did to the Mercedes Killer, giving him powers. Stephen King has this trademark that people with a hit on their head, get powers, like in the Death Zone, where the protagonist becomes a psychic. I didn't like it because it's another genre. This book has something special for me, and that is that this story is completely real. There is nothing paranormal or supernatural. So putting that little hint feels kind of off. Doesn't really goes well with the story.