From a Buick 8 (Mass Market Paperback)

by Stephen King (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author
Stephen King is the O. Henry Award-winning author of more than thirty books, including Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Bag of Bones, The Shining, The Stand, The Green Mile, and the stories on which the Academy Award®-nominated films Carrie, Stand by Me, and The Shawshank Redemption are based. He is also the author of "Storm of the Century," an original screenplay written for television. His most recent volume in the Dark Tower series is Wizard and Glass. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (September 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416524312
• ISBN-13: 978-1416524311
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,850,237 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Thriller with a Scientific Approach, September 11, 2006

By	Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Lately I have read each new Stephen King book with apprehension, not knowing what each will bring. My apprehension was unfounded with this intriguing thriller that combines the threads of human lives with the investigation of a mysterious phenomenon.

We meet teenage Ned Wilcox at the very beginning of the story. His father was the late Curtis Wilcox, a state highway trooper with Troop D of the Pennsylvania State Patrol. Ned helps around the barracks; cleaning, sweeping, and talking with the troopers. We immediately identify with Ned, seeing his activities at the barracks as one way of connecting with his lost father, killed in the line of duty. Ned becomes so much a part of the troop that the troop lets him in on a secret they have kept for 20 years; a mysterious, chilling secret.

One day, a long time ago, a man in an overcoat stopped at a gas station and asked the attendant to fill the car with gas. The man disappeared around the corner of the gas station to where the restrooms are. A long time after filling the car the attendant realized the man had not come back from the restroom, and went looking for him. The man was no where to be found and the attendant called the highway patrol.

One of the two troopers responding to the call was rookie Curtis Wilcox. Their investigation of the car was anything but routine. The car's engine had many of the correct components, but they were not connected to each other. The configuration of the engine was such that there was no way the car could ever have run. The state highway patrol decides to impound the car. During the initial investigation of the car, Curtis's partner disappears, further compounding the mystery of the car.

Curtis Wilcox becomes obsessed with investigating the mysterious car. Soon strange things begin happening; mysterious brilliant flashing lights that accompany electronic disturbances; things come from the trunk; things left in the car disappear from their cage. There is something very wrong with this car.

Stephen King has written many horror novels where the villain is a werewolf, a vampire, a spirit, or even Satan. In this novel we never meet the real villain and we are forced to try to understand the nature of that villain from the artifact that the villain created. The car itself is not evil, but what it does is evil, and perhaps where it comes from we might perceive as evil. The troopers treat the car scientifically, investigating the car as methodically as they can. They form theories and test their theories. They record their observations as would any scientist. They are also careful and cautious with their discovery, because they have found that bad things can happen to the unwary.

The story of the investigation of the car is told from multiple viewpoints, in the past and the present; an extended story told to Ned Wilcox about the passion his father had for investigating the car, a passion that Ned was unaware of even as he neared adulthood. The story telling can be a bit confusing if you lose focus on the story, but keeping track of the multiple main characters and their perspective is rewarding to the reader.

I liken the story-telling style of this novel to "Rendezvous with Rama" by Arthur C. Clarke. In that novel Clarke tells the story of humans investigating an alien ship that has entered our solar system. There is speculation as to why the ship is there, where it is going, and the nature of the ship's creators. The story is told in a scientific way that in many respects is boring because there is no "Alien" hiding around the corner; but the story is still intriguing because these investigators are in a totally unique situation and they deal with it as best they can.

King's approach to this story is similar as he centers the story on a place that most of us would consider an unlikely location for a suspense, thriller or horror novel, a highway patrol barracks. Yet, we find the scientific approach of these officers to be plausible.

The story has its slow moments, but I remained intrigued once King intimated the nature of the car. By the last 50 pages I found myself glued to the book to see what was going to happen. This book will not please Stephen King fans expecting a ghost story or something with fangs. For fans with eclectic tastes that run to science fiction, particularly if you enjoyed Arthur C. Clarke's "Rama" books, this novel is a good read. Fans expecting a scaly claw grabbing a victim by the throat and pulling the victim into the car will be disappointed.