[RQP]⋙ Read Free Joyland Hard Case Crime Stephen King Books

Joyland Hard Case Crime Stephen King Books

Download As PDF : Joyland Hard Case Crime Stephen King Books

Joyland Hard Case Crime Stephen King Books

I am not going to describe the plot. It has been done in many other reviews, probably more adequately than I could do it, as the book has been around for several years. I just want to say that this book renewed my faith that the old Stephen King is alive and well, and his story telling skills are still very much intact. I was absolutely enthralled by this book. I felt swallowed up by the story, immersed in the atmosphere of Joyland amusement park and particularly, in our protagonist, Devin Jones', and his 21st summer. I enjoyed the collateral characters, all of them. They were sufficiently developed and I felt I knew who they were. This is a book I will read again and most probably, I will purchase the audio version for further enjoyment. It was one of those books I didn't want to stop reading but dreaded finishing. It is a favorite, for sure, and I highly recommend it, especially if you are waxing nostalgic about the good old days when you loved reading Stephen King.


Tags : Amazon.com: Joyland (Hard Case Crime) (9781781162644): Stephen King: Books,Stephen King,Joyland (Hard Case Crime),Hard Case Crime,1781162646,Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled,Amusement parks,Amusement parks;Fiction.,Carnivals,City and town life - North Carolina,City and town life;North Carolina;Fiction.,Cold cases (Criminal investigation),College students,College students;Fiction.,Ghost stories,Life change events,Murder - Investigation,Mystery fiction,Nineteen seventies,North Carolina,AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE FICTION,City and town life,Coming of Age,Crime & mystery,FICTION Crime,FICTION Ghost,FICTION Mystery & Detective Hard-Boiled,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Fiction-Mystery & Detective,FictionComing of Age,FictionGhost,GENERAL,General Adult,Ghost,Ghost stories,KING, STEPHEN - PROSE & CRITICISM,Life change events,Murder - Investigation,Mystery & Detective - Hard-Boiled,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Mystery fiction,MysterySuspense,Nineteen seventies,North Carolina,United States,crime; ghosts; murder; thriller; suspense; crime fiction; serial killer; thrillers; crime books; murder mystery books; noir; mystery books; detective novels; detective; stephen king books; mystery; mystery thriller suspense; mystery and thrillers; mystery and suspense; mystery novels; ghost; ghost stories; fiction; mysteries; fiction books; haunted; ghost story; mysteries and thrillers; haunted house; haunted places; haunted houses; short stories; stephen king; halloween; king; anthology; thriller books; supernatural,stephen king books;mystery;crime;ghosts;mystery books;mystery and thrillers;mystery and suspense;crime books;police;ghost;mystery novels;ghost stories;murder mystery books;detective novels;haunted;ghost story;fiction;novels;mysteries;fiction books;mysteries and thrillers;books fiction;haunted places;books mystery;haunted house;crime novels;crime fiction;mystery thriller suspense;haunted houses;collusion;horror;thriller;short stories;noir;fantasy;thrillers;supernatural;murder;thriller books,Coming of Age,FICTION Crime,FICTION Ghost,FICTION Mystery & Detective Hard-Boiled,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,FictionComing of Age,FictionGhost,Ghost,Mystery & Detective - Historical,Fiction - Mystery Detective,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,King, Stephen - Prose & Criticism,City and town life,Fiction,MysterySuspense,Crime & mystery

Joyland Hard Case Crime Stephen King Books Reviews

I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but avoided reading this when it was first published, because I read a lot of reviews which stated that it wasn't "classic" King, or something along those lines. I was not familiar with Hard Case Crimes, either, which further put me off. I'm happy to say I picked it up at my local library on a trip where I had not found much else to interest me, and discovered that - lo and behold! - my beloved Stephen King was just as present in Joyland as anyplace else he's written about. Part of my delight was grounded in nostalgia, as my parents grew up in the Tidewater, Virginia area, and all during my childhood, my sisters and I would visit our grandparents, who took us to Buckroe Beach and its little amusement park every summer, until they finally tore it down when I was in my twenties. Joyland was like finding an old friend and adding a spooky mystery to the reunion. That said, King's writing style is easily identifiable here (like another old friend) and the story was terrific! I liked all the characters (even the bad guy) and enjoyed learning a bit about amusement parks behind the scenes. All of the characters were believable and the murder mystery itself pretty classic. The ghost aspect was not overdone - the mystery of who did the killing is front and center, along with the main character's journey to get past his first broken heart. I enjoyed that library book so much I went out and bought it, which is about the best compliment a reader can give. I've reread it several times (you always miss a few things). If you're looking for The Shining or IT here, you'll be disappointed; approach it like the straightforward mystery it is and open your heart to it.
I was convinced this book was absolutely perfect until the very end, then it seemed a bit contrived. Enjoyed the story, the people and the TALK. I wish Mr. King was still answering questions on Good Reads. I would ask if he sometimes cracks himself up when he is writing. It may just be me, but I enjoyed the levity in this book and found myself laughing hardest at two incidents that shouldn't have been funny. One involving the young girl and a hot dog - I was eating a corn dog at the time; and two an incident at Joyland that involved Ticka. OMG I laughed until I had tears running down my face. The jargon King created to tell this story was very entertaining. I'm probably as old as Devin was when he told the story, so reading about "wearing the fur" and just having fun at a job brought back memories for me. I was 15 and ran a soda fountain/grill in a pharmacy. I took the orders, cooked and served the food and did the dishes. Most fun of all my jobs. Thank you for this nostalgic tale.
It's kind of a misnomer for this to be in the "Hard Case Crime" series as there's no real hard crime in this. Other books in the series have more of a noir flavor to them, but this is more of a coming-of-age story. Since it takes place in an amusement park, it makes me think of "Adventureland" or "The Way, Way Back." Basically a kid graduates from high school and spends the summer working at Joyland, an amusement park in North Carolina. Along the way he falls in love and learns about love and stuff.

Since it's Stephen King there's a ghost and psychic powers a la "The Shining" involved as well. Most of the story is really well done. The part where the girl in the red hat chokes on a hot dog felt like a punch to the gut emotionally.

The murder part is actually the weakest aspect of the story. The final confrontation felt so cliche that all the bad guy needed to say was "If it weren't for you meddling kids..." and it could have been an episode of "Scooby-Doo."

Still, it's a very good book overall. More the Stephen King of "The Green Mile" or the Richard Bachmann novels than "The Stand" or "It" or his horror novels. So don't go into it thinking it's a horror book.

That is all.
Although I have not been enamored by all of Stephen King’s books, I keep reading them because I know that the ones that I don’t particularly enjoy are few and far between and the gems are plentiful.

This character driven mystery is one of those gems. It is a murder mystery with just a bit of the supernatural. Also, for readers of a certain age, this story, set in 1973, can bring back memories of a different era, when amusement parks and carnivals were an entertaining but tawdry world, full of fun with an underlying current of danger.

I was not sure that I was going to really like this book at first, since the early pages put a lot of emphasis on carnival lingo. However, I found the characters to be so interesting and was quickly invested in the plot. Stephen King has such an ability to bring his characters to life and make readers care about their outcome. The suspense is sustained until the very satisfying ending.
I am not going to describe the plot. It has been done in many other reviews, probably more adequately than I could do it, as the book has been around for several years. I just want to say that this book renewed my faith that the old Stephen King is alive and well, and his story telling skills are still very much intact. I was absolutely enthralled by this book. I felt swallowed up by the story, immersed in the atmosphere of Joyland amusement park and particularly, in our protagonist, Devin Jones', and his 21st summer. I enjoyed the collateral characters, all of them. They were sufficiently developed and I felt I knew who they were. This is a book I will read again and most probably, I will purchase the audio version for further enjoyment. It was one of those books I didn't want to stop reading but dreaded finishing. It is a favorite, for sure, and I highly recommend it, especially if you are waxing nostalgic about the good old days when you loved reading Stephen King.