Duma Key [Hardcover]

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416585559
• ISBN-13: 978-1416585558
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (678 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

277 of 304 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Stephen King's best, January 22, 2008

By 

Julie Neal (Sanibel Island, Fla.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Duma Key: A Novel (Hardcover)

Yes, it's scary. Yes, it's long. But this new novel is more than just another Stephen King book. With a streamlined style and a plot that's never predictable, it's King at his crisp, clear, page-turning best. Before you read further, let me acknowledge I'm incredibly biased here. Not only have I been a Stephen King fan ever since 1975's 'Salem's Lot, I live on a small island off the west coast of Florida, exactly where this story takes place. Great sunsets, a beach lined with huge rental homes, a populace of "the newly wed and the living dead".... they're all part and parcel to this story, and all around me as I sit here typing on my little porch.

Beyond the colorful setting, "Duma Key" combines the concepts of bodies gone bad and creativity gone wild -- typical King material -- with the everlasting powers of friendship and love. It's a great beach read, an outstanding character study, a terrific horror story and, eventually, an uplifting tale of moral redemption.

Obviously that's plenty of raw material, but King masters it all, with a writing style that's better than ever. As always his imagery is simply stated yet memorably vivid -- waves, for example, crash on the beach with the sound of "the breath of some large sleeping creature" -- and even the most basic sentences and paragraphs have a perfect mix of energy, grace and wit. This time, however, King really takes his time, with a slow pace that allows for plenty of character development and story detail. Lead character Edgar Freemantle is a bit edgier than the standard King protagonist (he loses his arm in a freak accident, and has trouble controlling his rage) and I was especially riveted by the portrayal of the old woman Elizabeth Eastlake, a lifelong islander with Alzheimer's disease. Some of the best moments occur when nothing much is happening, such as when Edgar argues with his wife or the many times he struggles with his sanity.

Eventually, of course, the plot takes off with a vengeance, and soon the pace winds so tight that by the time terror knocks at the door, you just know it's coming in.

I don't know if I've ever pored through so many pages so fast.

My other favorite Stephen King books are:
The Shining
The Stand
On Writing

91 of 97 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King at his best!, January 24, 2008

By 

Y. Slayton (Washington) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Duma Key: A Novel (Hardcover)

Scary, long, fun, and more than just another Stephen King book. I've read Stephen King for years and I am always amazed at his story lines. His style made me feel as if I was 'in the story,' truly a treat. From Carrie to Duma Key it has been a good ride and I hope it continues for years to come.

In Duma Key, Edgar Freemantle had proven that the American dream works. As a building contractor in the Twin Cities in Minnesota, he made a lot of money and received plenty of acclaim. He and his beloved wife Pam were worth at least forty million by the time he turned 50. They had two children. The end of his "Golden Age" began when he experienced a basic law of physics that being a pickup truck has no chance against a twelve-story crane.

Edgar came out of that crash with a cracked skull, and a fractured left side with broken ribs, a broken right hip and loss vision and his right arm was lost. He was fortunate to have survived. Twenty-five years of marriage ended when a constantly raging Edgar became verbally abusive to Pam who visited everyday as he recuperated. Edgar also suddenly displayed a talent as an artist.

Needing to leave behind people, he flees to Duma Key, Florida where only two other trauma survivors reside. Edgar finds out his new artistic skills enables him to see and change the future life and death of others even as he investigates the tragic history of his new island home.

Readers will sense the rage inside Edgar even as he calmly tells his tale. This is Stephen King at his best as he uses the theme of a person feeling isolated ready to strike out at others even loved ones.

244 of 272 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Personal Vision, January 22, 2008

By 

Tom S. "filmfan3" (New York City) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Duma Key: A Novel (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books ever from one of the best American writers. Stephen King knows what scares us, and he's been proving it for thirty years, but this new novel adds a layer of humanity to the fantasy that makes it all the more surprising. Though the protagonist of DUMA KEY is ostensibly a divorced construction engineer with a latent talent for drawing, he is also clearly a stand-in for the author himself, making this arguably his most personal narrative.

I won't reveal the hypnotically readable plot--it must be experienced to be appreciated--but I will say that Edgar Freemantle's living nightmare plainly echoes events in Mr. King's recent history. A life-threatening accident, like an illness or the loss of a loved one, puts many things in perspective, and DUMA KEY sometimes seems like a personal statement, a portrait of the artist that is as thrilling as it is vivid. For all its entertaining terrors, it is ultimately a celebration of life itself. I urge you to read it. Highly, highly recommended.