The Regulators [Hardcover]

Stephen King (Author), Richard Bachman (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996

On a perfect summer afternoon in Wentworth, Ohio, many of the citizens who live on Poplar Street are killed mysteriously, and at the center of the mystery is a young boy named Seth Garon, whose supernatural powers are just awakening. 1,250,000 first printing. Lit Guild, Doubleday, & Mystery Guild Main.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Richard Bachman is really Stephen King, and The Regulators is a kind of companion novel to Desperation, which was published simultaneously. These books mark the return of the Stephen King of old; the Stephen King of The Stand and Pet Sematary, where good and evil were at war and blood and gore flowed through the pages. The companion novels center around a new personification of evil that goes by the name of Tak, unearthed by an evil mining company that's destroying the earth in the name of profit. In each, the characters and situations are altered as King plays with questions of identity and form. But the real point here is what's on Tak's mind? Does it want to "Eat pork rinds? . . . Screw some NFL cheerleaders? . . . Rule the earth?" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Why revive the Bachman byline more than a decade after Stephen King was found lurking behind it? Not for thematic reasons. This devilishly entertaining yarn of occult mayhem married to mordant social commentary is pure King and resembles little the four nonsupernatural (if science-fictional) pre-Thinner Bachmans. The theme is the horror of TV, played out through the terrors visited upon quiet Poplar Street in the postcard-perfect suburban town of Wentworth, Ohio, when a discorporeal psychic vampire settles inside an autistic boy obsessed with TV westerns and kiddie action shows and brings screen images to demented, lethal life. The long opening scene, in which characters and vehicles from the TV show Motokops 2200 (think Power Rangers) sweep down the street, spewing death by firearm, is a paragon of action-horror. The story rarely flags after that, evoking powerful tension and, at times, emotion. The premise owes a big unacknowledged debt to the classic Twilight Zone episode "It's a Good Life"; echoes of earlier Kings resound often as well?the psychic boy (The Shining), a writer-hero (Misery, The Dark Half), etc. But King makes hay in this story in which anything can happen, and does, including the warping of space-time and the savage deaths of much of his large cast. The narrative itself warps fantastically, from prose set in classic typeface to handwritten journals to drawings to typewritten playscript and so on. So why the Bachman byline? Probably for fear that yet another new King in 1996 in addition to six volumes of The Green Mile and Viking's forthcoming Desperation might glut the market. Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is certain: call him Bachman or call him King, the bard of Bangor is going to hit the charts hard and vast with this white-knuckler knockout. Main selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery Guild and Science Fiction Book Club.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1St Edition edition (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525941908
• ISBN-13: 978-0525941903
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (229 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #727,021 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Vintage Stephen King? I think not!, June 30, 2000

By 

Top Dragon (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Regulators (Paperback)

I read more than 75 novels each year and have read most of King's stuff. Obviously, with so much output from one writer, there are bound to be hits and misses. This one was a miss, in my opinion but there is still enough here to make it worth the read.

I had already read Desperation, the companion book to this volume, and came away with the feeling that I had just experienced a pretty good King novel. It also was far from his best but I enjoyed it none-the-less. So, naturally, I turned to this book, The Regulators, hoping for a similar experience. Stephen King is well known for marketing gimicry, pushing the envelope in the publishing business. At first it was through using brand names without permission. Then it was the alternate ego, Richard Bachman, followed by the serial novel (Green Mile) and now it is a "dual novel." Frankly, I don't think it worked this time. I just couldn't get the parallel between the two books/settings. Same names but different people and places. What was the point? Really, they are two seperate books.

In this novel, King definitely displays his famous talent for scene setting. The opening chapter is one of the best I've read, setting the stage for the coming horror. The plot was also pretty good, although the evil 'Tak' seemed somewhat ordinary. King uses a great mechanism to deliver the horror this time. The manifestation of the mind of a small autistic boy. The horrors come in the form of all of those things that frighten young children and, consequently, frighten us. The text is sprinkled throughout with other tidbits as well that help to tell the story: letters, postcards, diary entries, even a script. Another King tool to attack from all directions.

But somehow, it didn't all flow well together. There were so many characters that I lost track of who was who and as they started to die off, I found myself not caring too much who was left. Perhaps I was a victim of having read Desperation first. I guess I was expecting the same characters to survive.

Overall, a middle-of the road King entry. King purists will want to read this one but King samplers should pass.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Who knew that earth demons like Chef Boyardee?, October 21, 2006

By 

Susanna (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Regulators (Paperback)

'The Regulators' is not quite on the literary level of 'Desperation,' but that makes it more fun in a way, especially as it's less preachy. I liked that 'The Regulators' adds a little more information about the mysterious Tak. Here we see a more terribly playful, oddly fastidious, and possibly younger Tak who loves spaghetti, chocolate milk, westerns, and Cassie Stiles. And while most of the characters of 'The Regulators' are flatter than those of 'Desperation,' 'The Regulators' gives us a glimpse of what some inhabitants of Desperation might have been like before Tak possessed them, particularly Audrey and Collie who were never shown "pre-Tak" in 'Desperation.'

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Regulators, December 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Regulators (Paperback)

A good book, but Desperation was better. I read Desperation first, and expected it to be similar, but the two books are completely different. The force of evil in both novels is the same, and the characters have the same names but different personalities, and different people survive at the end. The ending is also different, Desperation's is far better. The story involves an autistic boy named Seth who seems to have some special powers. Soon, it becomes apparent that he is infested by a being/power called Tak, which feeds on peoples' "life-force". Tak is using its limited but growing powers to turn a pleasant summer afternoon in this pleasant Ohio suburb into a living nightmare for all its residents. I think the biggest problem with this book is the characters. There are so many of them that it becomes confusing, and that the author doesn't spend much time on character development for any of them. As a result, we really don't get to "know" any of them (except maybe one), which for me is one of the things that makes a Stephen King (but apparently not Bachman) novel good. Still, it's a very amusing (and gory) story. The ending, while not quite the "epic" finish of Desperation, is still good.