Customer Reviews

The Colorado Kid

5 star:		(41)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(53)
2 star:		(51)
1 star:		(51)

 

 

I got this book hoping it would give me some more the back-story to Haven (SyFy show based on book). Well it really didn't help me much there and it wasn't the best story. But I still did enjoy reading it. The only thing I wish was that there might have been a bit more of hints to why the Colorado Kid was in Maine, or even some more theories on why by the characters. I guess that was just left more to the reader though, which is fine by me.
So if you want to get this hoping it will give more info for Haven, you probably won't learn anything of use. If you are looking for a mystery with a solution, you also out of luck. But if you want a shorter mystery story that could leave you thinking of the possibilities, this should be good for you.

As I read this enjoyable page-turner, The Colorado Kid, some sixteen years after opening my first Stephen King book, it occurred to me that King might just be the wisest fiction writer ever to live. Who else delivers so many small, unexpected grains of wisdom in his books? Who else could work so many life lessons into the otherwise limiting genres for which he is best known? And yet King does just that, and he does it every time, The Colorado Kid no exception. I won't point out what I'm talking about, but if anyone who has ever read Stephen King truly stops to think about it, the fact comes clear.

The Colorado Kid is yet another "post-retirement" release from Maine's favorite son. In its fast-moving two-hundred pages the facts of a beguilingly unsolved (there's a hint there for you) mystery is told to an interning journalist (hey, from Cincinnati, no less) by two veteran newsmen, one in his nineties, the other a mere slip of a boy of sixty-five. The story concerns the discovery a generation back, in April 1980, of an unknown and for a time unidentifiable man found dead on a local beach. The body appears to have fallen victim to natural causes, and yet yields no identification, only a handful of clues that set off more questions than answers. The tale---not a story!---of who this man was, where he was from, and why against all logic he came to be alone on a beach in Maine, as well as how he met his most unusual death, is explored by the two old journalists and the intern, and for those learned in the Zen maxim about "the tale being journey sufficient in itself; the end unneeded" The Colorado Kid should be a pleasing read. For others...

This is a tedious novel. It's only 180 pages long and I still had to push myself to bother finishing it. This is really nothing more than a short story padded out to short novel length and that's one of its many problems: The central mystery is uninteresting. The way it is written, 2 old men telling the story to a young woman, allows for no real action or confrontation. The 2 old men telling the story are irritating and long-winded, having much difficulty coming to a point, there is no resolution at the end and no point in the story being told. This is not a 'hard-boiled' crime novel as the cover suggests.

I'm not really sure what this book is besides dull. Stephen king is a wonderful writer and it's enticing to see him try a new genre, but if anyone else had written The Colorado Kid, it would not have been published in this series.

I have no problems with a story that has questions unanswered. As a matter of fact, the story of The Colorado Kid is an intriguing one. If executed properly, it would make a wonderful addition to the new Pulp series. However, the execution is frightfully dreadful. The whole setup, with the two jolly old guys and the wide-eyed intern, is embarrassingly contrived. I literally cringed at many parts of the story. After writing so many books that range anywhere from mediocre to brilliant, it's amazing that Stephen King is still capable of writing something that's so reminiscent of a high school sophomore's first attempt at novel writing. I read this book on a flight from Washington DC to Southern California, I wish I had opted the in-flight movie instead.

I bought this older book since it is the basis for SfFy Chsnnel's "Haven" series. While the TV series is a bit different, and deals with many more mysteries, I found the book was an easy and good read. Steven King's story telling leads the reader just as the two older gentlemen of the local newspaper lead a person in the story as they reveal the details. I was lead to 'discover' certain ideas just before they were revealed in the narrative. This lead me to keep reading, looking for the ending of the tale.

How it differs from the TV series, what happens, how it ends, well, that's up to a reader to discover - the most pleasurable part of it all.

I brought this book on my Kindle because of the show Haven...I am also a Stephen King fan...for the most part...the story was just ok and I didn't find it had much if anything to do with the SciFi series...if that is why you want to read this..do not waste your time...it really isn't worth the seven or eight bucks...

Since the show "Haven" first aired I have been trying to find a copy of the story on which it was based. I have to say I was not disappointed. It is as eerie as the show and as with a lot of Mr. King's work, it leaves you with more questions than answers. If you haven't read it or seen "Haven", I heartedly reccommend both. But if you are not a King fan, maybe you won't get it. LOL

King says in the Author's Note section of The Colorado Kid that people are going to either love this book or hate it outright. No middle ground. I think he's pretty close to being right on here. The Colorado Kid is not going to make a lot of Stephen King junkies very happy. But...the fix is in. Just like heroin or nicotine or sugar-laced junk food snacks, Stephen King is an addiction that a lot of us have (myself included) and it's good to get a little jolt from our favorite author once in a while, even if it's just a little blurb to tide us over until his next masterpiece comes along. Well...and I say this lovingly, having been a Stephen King junkie for more than half my life now, having read pretty much everything he's written...The Colorado Kid is like the '05 version of Gerald's Game. That's not a good thing. Gerald's Game is probably the only Stephen King book I would never read again. Why? Because it is crap. Written in a two-week period, it's was pushed out at a time when Steve-O had a glut of work going on and dollar-signs were in the air. I get the same feel from The Colorado Kid but not as much. This effort seemed more like Steve-O flexing his writing muscles after the long bout with The Dark Tower and threats of retirement. Bottom line is this: The Colarado Kid is readable and mildy entertaining and for us King Junkies a great chance to hear our favorite author's voice...and that's it. Those who think this is a clever mystery or an attempt at art are trippin'. This is an over-bloated short story with no real resolution. If you think about it, what other author would have gotten away with a book like this? Who? If this was someone's first novel it would never have been published in a million years, so let's not mince words with favorable reviews and hinted-at nuances that aren't even there. Please. Steve-O will be back with something much cooler than this, but like I said, in the meantime, The Colorado Kid was the injection, the filched smoke, the midnight snack until he produce something of substance. Enjoyable read, and nothing more.

Dig it!

Three characters. One room. And not one bloody thing happens.

At times this book feels like an endless one act play starring Ye Small Town Maine Stereotypes; at other times it's more like being stuck in some airless retirement home. Is King trying to entertain anyone except for himself? Maybe his fans enjoy this stuff, but pulp noir readers would be better served by any other title from Hard Case Crime.

I gave this book 2 stars - not because it was a bad book, but because it's only about 2/5 of a book. The story itself was more a a local color character study, and an easy pleasant read. The problem is the story was about a mystery, and finished up leaving it a mystery. In other words, the story went absolutely nowhere.

King doesn't follow his own advice. One of the aging reporters in the story explains that nobody wants to read about a mystery that doesn't have a conclusion - leaving a story open ended leaves people thinking the writer failed his job, and they'd be right. King crapped out on this one - although in his self-important preening he takes the view that he did it right. No, Steve, you didn't.

So, you get a quality 2 stars for the 2/5 of a book. You want the other 3, then get back to work and finish the damn story.