Revival - Hardcover

King returns to his more familiar horror genre with a bang in this book and what makes Revival so genuinely scary a read is his uncanny skill in juxtaposing the minutiae of ordinary suburban or rural American lives with another, scarcely glimpsed, parallel world of chaos, darkness and monstrous evil. * Irish Independent * A serious book by a major writer. * New Statesman * Simply superb . . . classic King: intimate, readable and convincing . . . tastier than most bestsellers out there. * Independent * The strongest thing he's written for a decade, with the nastiest ending of any book this year. -- Tim Martin * Telegraph * He shows he can still pull off scenes with a characteristic combination of intensity and oddity. * Sunday Times * There are few writers able so effortlessly, so naturally and so intimately to lay out the details of a life. Perhaps that's why, when the book begins to slide away from our own reality, we're happy to follow where Jamie leads. * Guardian * King at his regal best, fully in command of a terrifying story, a great cast and page after page after page of top-notch writing . . . the darkness of genuine horror. Absolutely superb. * Daily Mail * Scary and profound. * Mail on Sunday *

A spectacularly dark and electrifying novel about addiction, religion, music and what might exist on the other side of life. In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister, Charles Jacobs. Soon they forge a deep bond, based on their fascination with simple experiments in electricity. Decades later, Jamie is living a nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll. Now an addict, he sees Jacobs again - a showman on stage, creating dazzling 'portraits in lightning' - and their meeting has profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings. This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It's a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.