Blaze: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard Bachman (Author), Stephen King (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: January 22, 2008

Once upon a time, a fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but this last gripping Bachman novel resurfaced after being hidden away for decades -- an unforgettable crime story tinged with sadness and suspense. Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., was always a small-time delinquent. None too bright either, thanks to the beatings he got as a kid. Then Blaze met George Rackley, a seasoned pro with a hundred cons and one big idea. The kidnapping should go off without a hitch, with George as the brains behind their dangerous scheme. But there's only one problem: by the time the deal goes down, Blaze's partner in crime is dead. Or is he? Includes a previously uncollected story, "Memory" -- the riveting opening to Stephen King's new Scribner hardcover novel, Duma Key.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written circa 1973, this trunk novel, as Bachman's double (aka Stephen King) refers to it in his self-deprecating foreword, lacks the drama and intensity of Carrie and the horror opuses that followed it. Still, this fifth Bachman book (after 1996's The Regulators) shows King fine-tuning his skill at making memorable characters out of simple salt-of-the-earth types. Clayton Blaze Blaisdell has fallen into a life of delinquency ever since his father's brutal abuse rendered him feebleminded. King alternates chapters recounting Blaze's past mistreatment at a series of Maine orphanages and foster homes with Blaze's current plans to follow through on a kidnapping scheme plotted by his recently murdered partner in crime, George Rackley. Blaze talks to George as though he's still there, and the conversations give the tale tension, with Blaze coming across as a pitiable and surprisingly sympathetic contrast to prickly George. Despite its predictability, this diverting soft-boiled crime novel reflects influences ranging from John Steinbeck to James M. Cain. Also included is a previously uncollected story, Memory, the seed of King's forthcoming novel Duma Key. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Blaze—Clayton Blaisdell Jr.—is a big dummy, very big: six-seven, 270. But not exactly very dumb. He was a smart little boy until his drunken father threw him downstairs three times in a row. He relearned to read a bit, mostly comic books, but was thereafter an otherwise learning-challenged ward of the state with a horrendous dent in his forehead. Now a mid-twenties adult, he has just lost his bosom buddy and partner in petty cons, George, who still speaks to him somehow, especially about the big score, the one to retire on. Blaze realizes that George isn't really haunting him; in fact, Blaze possesses an excellent, though highly selective, memory. In honor of George, he decides to do the big one, the kidnapping of a wealthy couple's baby. He succeeds, albeit imperfectly enough that the state cops and FBI know whodunit within a day, and he surprises himself by bonding with the infant, which for readers makes the hunt for Blaze an Alfred Hitchcock–like exercise in moral ambivalence. It's impossible not to root for Blaze, especially since Bachman flashes back copiously and with maximal sympathy to the damaged man's past. Stephen King, who "buried" Bachman in 1985, here revamps a 1973 manuscript by his alter ego that he says is something of an homage to James T. Farrell, Jim Thompson, and Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men. Powerful and moving, it's a worthy tribute, especially to Steinbeck. Olson, Ray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books; Reprint edition (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416555048
• ISBN-13: 978-1416555049
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (209 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,545 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 61 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Old Stephen Kings Hits The Spot For Constant Readers June 18, 2007

By Mr. Sinister

Format:Hardcover

Those of us who have been Constant Readers of Stephen King for years and years (since I was 13 years old) we knew about the dead novel called Blaze. It was a trunk novel that King wrote before the likes of Carrie and decided not to try and publish because he thought it was crap. For a long time out of mind Blaze sat in a carton at the Fogler Library at the University Of Maine at Orono in there Stephen King archive. Well...we love King, right? But most of us weren't afforded the chance to hop a plane across America to head to Orono to read that little hidden gem. Most of us. So it became the legendary unpublished novel by the world's most popular author. Mysterious. Wow! All these years later, King remembers Blaze and decides to give it a second chance. A little sprucing up and here it is for all the world to finally see. Written in 1973, this is nothing new. This is old Stephen King, starving, unpopular, unnoticed King. This is King when he was still struggling to keep his family eating. Great!

The basic story is centered round the 6'7" Clayton Blaisdell Jr., an all around dumb-as-a-ditch-post petty criminal with a heart of gold. When his partner is killed in a craps game, Blaze remembers the idea of the big score. He decides it's time to go through with the plan of kidnapping the infant heir of a rich family. Everything goes down with a few complications and Blaze is on the run for his life and the life of his little passenger.

King calls the striking resemblances to Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men an homage, and maybe it was, way back when, or perhaps it was a still-shaky author trying to flesh out his own novel with the structure of an old favorite. Either way, it works pretty well. The ending is a little rushed and there are a few spots of gratuitous flashback sequences that lend nothing to the tale as a whole, but it is Old King and that is Good King. Right away I fell into the story and was hooked. I can't say that about Lisey's Story or Cell or the abortion that was The Colorado Kid. This is King at his most honest. We Constant Readers appreciate that. Definitely worth the cash. At the end is a short story called Memory which enlarged into an idea that became King's next novel, Duma Key out in January of '08. Hmmmm. It's ok. Nothing fancy. Kinda choppy. Overall, Blaze is a nice reminder of why Stephen is one of my favorite authors of all time!

Dig it!

109 of 125 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Blaze burns bright! Early, and great, King tale. June 15, 2007

By George Beahm VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Back in 1988, when I was researching my book, THE STEPHEN KING COMPANION, I spent time at the Special Collections at the Fogler Library at Orono, Maine, where the original, typed manuscript of BLAZE had been deposited, along with a number of other unpublished novels. This was what King calls a "trunk" novel, meaning it's a book that he never published; he wrote it and put it in the trunk, thinking it was unpublishable.

Well, when I read it, page by page, from first until last, I felt differently: Unlike, say, SWORD IN THE DARKNESS (a novel about a race riot), which is another trunk novel by King, BLAZE shone with a gritty kind of storytelling that marked King's early fiction. Clearly a homage to John Steinbeck's novella "Of Mice and Men," the story centers on Clayton Blaze Blaisdell, who is party to the kidnapping, along with his party George Rackley; Clayton, whose checkered past -- in and out of orphanages and foster homes -- strikes a sympathetic tone with the reader, as he finds love (albeit one-sided) where he least expects it: the infant he has helped abduct. (You may recall the famous Lindbergh kidnapping in all this, as I did.)

The most difficult thing in fiction is to make the bad guy seem sympathetic, but King pulls it off. In spades. Just as we feel for Lenny in Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," so, too, do we feel for Clayton, who is a criminal on the run; he has stolen the infant but, in the process, has stolen our hearts, as well. That is the art of fiction, the art of storytelling, and King's always had that gotta-read-the-next-page-to-see-what's-happened quality.

In King's fiction, the character comes first; the story then comes out of the character. King's modus operandi has always been that if you grow to care about the character, the story will mean something to you; but if the characters in the novel aren't sympathetic, you won't care about their fates and, by the extension, the book itself. So King starts with compelling characters believably motivated and pursuing their own ends.

What most readers probably don't know is that King's royalties on this book go to fund one of his foundations, set up for indigent creators who find themselves in dire financial straits due to no fault of their own. The Haven Foundation is the beneficiary of King's sales, and it's the only foundation of its kind. It's also King giving back to the community that supported him, which speaks of King's enormous generosity. (Wouldn't it be nice if the publisher matched King's donation dollar for dollar? Then the publisher could give back to the community, as well.)

At the Amazon discount, you can't afford NOT to buy this book if you're a King fan or you're a fan of good old-fashioned storytelling. And, as a bonus, your purchase will help, indirectly, freelance writers who these days are the true mavericks, the last of a dying breed. (Long story here, and this isn't the time or place to talk about it.) Suffice it to say that fans who want a taste of the early King will find their appetites more than satisfied with this relentless and unstoppable storytelling engine that propels the reader from first page to last: BLAZE is a meteor cutting a bright swath across the heavens, and you'll find a lot to mine in this early but wholly satisfying story by America's storyteller, Stephen King.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely riveting! July 8, 2007

By C. Williams

Format:Hardcover

Imagine a man who's spent almost his entire life finding trouble. He's mildly retarded, is a con man and a thief, has been in and out of jail, and has a big dent in his forehead that makes him ugly to boot. Top all of this off with the bone-chilling fact that he decides to kidnap for ransom the child of a rich family--a completely innocent and helpless baby!

Now imagine this: you find yourself unequivocally liking the guy! It doesn't matter that he's a con man and a thief. All of the horribleness he engages in seems justified due to the many difficulties he's faced in life. Heck, you cheer when he beats up the headmaster at his school (actually Hetton House, a county home), and you're even rooting for him to kidnap the baby without getting caught!

So is the mastery of Stephen King, writing as his pseudonym Richard Bachman. Blaze is a book that will have you scratching your head in bewilderment over the fact that you have found yourself in like with a person like Blaze (aka as Clayton Blaisdell, Jr.). Additionally, you'll feel sadness and sympathy, anger and pain. The story of Blaze's unfortunate life will leave you filled with the utmost desire to lift up your head and unabashedly roar at the fates.