The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King

Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape shifter, a "skin man," Roland Deschain takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast's most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Magic Tales of the Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime, "The Wind through the Keyhole." (The novel can be placed between Dark Tower IV and Dark Tower V.)

The Wind Through the Keyhole fits into the Dark Tower series between book four and five when Roland and his Ka-tet are forced to take shelter from a storm. While waiting the storm out Roland tells a tale from his past where he and Jamie DeCurry are sent to investigate some murders that involve a shape shifter called a skin-man. During this tale Roland tells the tale of “The Wind Through the Keyhole” to a scared child just as his mother did for him when he was a child. This addition to the Dark Tower series does not affect the story in the other seven books but instead adds a little insight to Roland's past and Midworld itself. Though not an essential story to the Dark Tower, it is a short fun read for any fan of the Dark Tower series and is also written well enough that readers do not need to read the first four books to enjoy it!

This was so much better to read in sequence. The first read was when it initially came out which was several ?years? after the series ended and my memory of details was let go.

Great flow, great story telling, it is a bit tricky to remember that there is one story around a campfire within another story around a campfire. Warning, this book is still more world building, no progress towards The Tower.

It was nice to re-visit Roland and his friends, although there was a little less of them than I had hoped. The primary story while taking place in Roland's world has little to do with Roland or his friends.

A decent tale that enlightens us a bit more about Roland and his ka tet. It's not up to the best that King wrote in the other Dark Tower novels, but neither is it his worst. Fans of the series will certainly get their money's worth and be eager for more afterwards.