Riding the Bullet [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio CD]

Stephen King (Author), Josh Hamilton (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2002

A Stephen King ghost story in the grand tradition, Riding the Bullet is the ultimate warning about the dangers of hitchhiking.

A college student's mother is dying in a Maine hospital. When he hitches a ride to see her, the driver is not who he appears to be. Soon the journey veers off into a dark landscape that could only be drawn by Stephen King.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Riding the Bullet was originally published in March 2000 exclusively as an e-book and has now found its way to print and audio. It's a classic King ghost story/urban legend about a college student who hitchhikes across Maine to visit his hospitalized mother and gets more than he bargains for during his rides. Film and theater actor Josh Hamilton provides an excellent reading, with a promising command of pace and characterization. However, for many libraries, the economics of buying an audio version of a single, extremely short story may be questionable. Recommended with that reservation only.
Kristen L. Smith, Loras Coll. Lib., Dubuque, IA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are Full Dark No Stars, Blockade Billy, Under the Dome, Just After Sunset, the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was recently re-released in a tenth anniversary edition. King was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007 he was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America.  He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Josh Hamilton's films include Diggers, Kicking and Screaming, The House of Yes, Alive, Online, and Outsourced. New York Stage work includes The Coast of Utopia, HurlyBurly, Proof, This is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery, The Cider House Rules, As Bees in Honey Drown, and Suburbia.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (May 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743525876
• ISBN-13: 978-0743525879
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #872,532 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #53 in Books > Books on CD > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > King, Stephen

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

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's all about choices, August 26, 2006

By 

Rennie Petersen (Copenhagen, Denmark) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riding the Bullet (Audio CD)

Stephen King first published "Riding the Bullet" as an online e-book in 2000. This was the first time a story by a top-selling author was first published electronically, and only later in traditional media, and because of this it got a lot of publicity at the time.

Since then "Riding the Bullet" has been released as an audio book on CD or cassette, and as an audio download. It is also included in "Everything's Eventual", a collection of 14 short stories in print form.

In his introduction to "Everything's Eventual" Stephen King bemoans the fact that "Riding the Bullet" got a lot of attention just because it was the first e-book-only publication by a major author, but absolutely no attention based on the merits of the story itself. So now I'll focus on the story, just in case Mr. King happens by - wouldn't want to disappoint him, right?

"Riding the Bullet" is a ghost story about a young guy who is hitchhiking home to visit his sick mother and gets picked up by a dead man driving a Ford Mustang. The dead man gives him a simple choice: either you or your mother die, and you get to choose which one!

The young guy in the story has to make a choice. You, the reader, also have to consider what you'd choose if you were in this situation. Come on, now, be honest, who would you choose?

There's a flashback to when the young guy was a 12-year-old boy visiting an amusement park together with his mother. He pestered his mother to stand in line with him to ride the scariest attraction, "The Bullet", but when they finally got to the head of the queue he chickened out. He made his choice then, not to ride The Bullet.

What will he choose now?

The story is not too complicated or sophisticated, but it is well told. In particular, the characters seem very real, even the ghost, and the story is told in a way that makes it believable and entertaining.

The audio version is read by Josh Hamilton who has just the right youthful voice to make it sound correct. It is only 1 hour and 33 minutes. (The cassette and CD versions say "approx. 2 hours" on the packaging, but this is deceptive marketing.)

Recommended, although the audio version is over-priced compared to buying "Everything's Eventual" as a book and getting an additional 13 stories.

Rennie Petersen

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading Item Description, May 11, 2010

By 

Kurtchan - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Riding the Bullet (Kindle Edition)

Although the story was enjoyable, I based my purchase of the Kindle edition on the Print Length of 400 pages listed in the item description and was disappointed to discover that, rather than a full-length novel, I had received a short story.

Amazon, please correct your misleading item description!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Misleading item description, August 12, 2010

By 

Laureene Piwinski (Syracuse, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Riding the Bullet (Kindle Edition)

As did some other reviewers, I decided to purchase this based on Amazon's description of it being 400 pages, and was surprised and disappointed when it ended just as I was settling in for a good read. I do enjoy Stephen King's short stories, but this one was just okay. Next time I'll actually READ the reviews before purchasing!