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The Colorado Kid (Hard Case Crime #13) Mass Market Paperback – October 4, 2005

by Stephen King (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 9,736 ratings
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A rookie newspaperwoman learns the true meaning of mystery when she investigates a twenty-five-year-old unsolved and very strange case involving a dead man found on an island off the coast of Maine. Original.
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  1. Part of series
    The Hard Case Crime Novels of Stephen King
  2. Print length
    184 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Dorchester Publishing Co.
  5. Publication date
    October 4, 2005
  6. Dimensions
    4.75 x 0.5 x 7 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0843955848
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0843955842
  9. See all details
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  1. ‘When you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left — no matter how improbable — must be the answer.’
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  2. For a woman a man will do many things that he’d turn his back on in an instant when alone; things he’d back away from, nine times out of ten, even when drunk and with a bunch of his friends egging him on.
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  3. If everyone knows what there is to know, it stops a lot of tongues from a lot of useless wagging.
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Hard Case Crime series is a wonderful idea: a mix of original and reprinted hard-boiled detective novels by some of the best writers in the field, packaged to look like lurid 1940s and 1950s thrillers. And getting Stephen King to write a new novel as part of the series was quite a coup. King is the author of record when it comes to fiction set in America in recent decades, and here he is with a noir detective story. Alas, what he actually turned in was a cozy, a sort of Jan Karon take on the hard-boiled genre. And at the end, it turns out to be rather arty - if by "arty" you mean "doesn't answer any important questions." Fresh out of journalism school, Stephanie McCann is an intern at a weekly newspaper in an obscure corner off the coast of Maine. She is writing homey features and reporting on trivial stories, but she rather enjoys it. Then a big-city reporter comes to town to gather stories about "unsolved mysteries." The paper's owner and the managing editor send him away unsatisfied, and then tell Stephanie the only real unsolved mystery on the island. The banter between the two old men provides all kinds of local color, but it also means the pace of the storytelling is glacial. It takes most of chapter one to explain why they filch the cash the big-city reporter left to pay for a meal. We're in chapter five before they start telling the story that gives the book its title. Years earlier, two high school sweethearts found a dead body on the beach. There was no identification, and only a few items found with the body gave any hope of telling where he was from. It isn't until too many chapters later, after much meandering, that the old men tell Stephanie (and us) how they found out the man was from Colorado, which led to the identification of the body. Nor do we actually care, since none of the characters do. They're only telling the story in order to explain that it's not a story at all-a conclusion with which readers will heartily agree. The real mystery: why would the editors publish a story that will only frustrate anyone looking for the kind of hard-boiled detective novel they're promised on the cover? Stephen King is a very good writer, so even when telling a non story at elaborate length he is quite readable. I would have enjoyed this piece in a magazine. It's the misleading presentation that will rankle.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

There’s nothing like a good noir crime novel, and The Colorado Kid is nothing like a good noir crime novel. King’s refusal to play by the time-honored rules of the genre exasperated critics, who might have been more forgiving had King delivered a compelling story. The plot, related by two crusty newspapermen entirely in conversation, develops at a glacial pace, and the characters’ exaggerated Yankee accents bog down the dialogue. Granted, the story’s endearing protagonists won over a few reviewers, but even the most generous critics were forced to concede the book’s many flaws.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Dorchester Publishing Co.; First Edition (October 4, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 184 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0843955848
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0843955842
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 4 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.75 x 0.5 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 9,736 ratings

About the author

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Stephen King

Stephen King

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Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His first crime thriller featuring Bill Hodges, MR MERCEDES, won the Edgar Award for best novel and was shortlisted for the CWA Gold Dagger Award. Both MR MERCEDES and END OF WATCH received the Goodreads Choice Award for the Best Mystery and Thriller of 2014 and 2016 respectively.

King co-wrote the bestselling novel Sleeping Beauties with his son Owen King, and many of King's books have been turned into celebrated films and television series including The Shawshank Redemption, Gerald's Game and It.

King was the recipient of America's prestigious 2014 National Medal of Arts and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for distinguished contribution to American Letters. In 2007 he also won the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He lives with his wife Tabitha King in Maine.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
9,736 global ratings
Beauty of a Mystery
4 Stars
Beauty of a Mystery
A book about the beauty of a true mystery. #onesentencesummaryFinished this one while taking a work break. Definitely a different type of read but one that I liked because the book became very much like the story being told within the book. I like that touch and how it evoked my appreciation for the obscureness and beauty of a really great mystery.
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Top reviews from the United States

Nillspace
5.0 out of 5 stars What a smooth read.
Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2024
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A story with an end leaves a mental place with a hole in it so your imagination has to try to fill in the rest for mental completeness. Strange but fun.
One person found this helpful
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Daniel Jolley
4.0 out of 5 stars King has really done something interesting here
Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2005
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I would say that Stephen King has earned his wily old codger wings with the publication of this Hard Case Crime novel. The Colorado Kid is unlike anything King has done before. For starters, this King fan didn't even know about this little red book until after it was published. It doesn't even look like a Stephen King novel, with its nour-ish cover and provocative tease line. It didn't read like Stephen King, either - not the first chapter anyway. My first impressions were in no way encouraging. When King starts telling the story of the mystery, though, I was intrigued - so much so that I didn't put the book down until I had finished it. I can't say I'm a big fan of the ending, but I don't have a problem with it either. King does an eloquent job of explaining what he has done here in the Afterword. There, he admits that readers will most likely either love or hate the book - and I think he's right, at least to a degree. As intrigued as I was by the story, I can't say I love it, just because of that ending. Those who criticize The Colorado Kid, though, have legitimate reasons for doing so.

The Colorado Kid is the initial moniker given to a middle-aged man who turned up dead on the beach of Moose-Lookit Island (off the Maine coast) back in 1980 - just another John Doe to the local cops. He would never have been identified without the help of the two old men running The Weekly Islander; they did more investigating than anyone with a badge ever did. Over the courser of a quarter of a century, they've returned time and again to the mysterious death of this stranger on their little island. They've turned up a number of facts about the dead man, every one of which only seemed to deepen and complicate the whole picture of who this man was and how he came to die there on a beach far away from his home in Colorado.

In these pages, the two old newspaper men tell the story of The Colorado Kid to Stephanie, a young intern there at The Weekly Islander. It's a rite of passage in a way, showing the young lady she has been fully accepted into the local island family. It lets the two vets test their young charge while also providing her with important insights into the twin arts of journalism and storytelling. I found myself just as intrigued as Stephanie with the increasingly confusing depth of the mystery; like her, I wanted a solution to clear up all of the confusing facts. And there we have the proverbial rub.

Most likely, hard-boiled crime story enthusiasts will have more problems than Stephen King fans with The Colorado Kid - although a right many of King's most loyal subjects may well balk at what the master has done in this odd endeavor off the beaten path. As long as I was flipping the pages, though, I was fully engrossed in the story - it's not vintage Stephen King storytelling, but it's pretty darn good. The trouble only comes at the end, as it's a bit of a let-down. King's Afterword, though, puts everything into perspective and changes your viewpoint of the entire story - it's the saving grace that allowed this loyal King fan to really appreciate The Colorado Kid for what it is.
12 people found this helpful
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R. Hutson
5.0 out of 5 stars Not a typical Stephen King story
Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024
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If you’re looking for something a little different, this is a story about telling a story. There was a mysterious death that the older reporters are telling to the younger reporter, the details unfold, but there are no answers and the story will leave you speculating the way they have all these years.
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Mike 27
3.0 out of 5 stars Really enjoyed the mystery but...
Reviewed in the United States on December 1, 2021
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I have had this book for years and saving it for a time that I needed a good dependable read. King, my all time favorite author ( or GOAT if you prefer) rarely disappoints so now was the time.
Not to long ago I read an enjoyed "LATER" so I figured " The Colorado Kid" would be a safe bet. Turns out that I did enjoy the story; I liked the two older news guys and the young apprentice. I enjoyed the mystery given and the steps taken to solve the mystery. I enjoyed the way the mystery was laid out to the young intern. And I turned the page and there was the authors acknowledgements???
I read the acknowledgement and Mr. Kings argument for no ending and I don't agree with his reasoning. I know that he has been criticized throughout his career for his endings and while I didn't always like his endings it is his stories and he should end them anyway he wants. I always felt like his endings were realistic and glad that he dosen't take the easy way out and end with all being roses and unicorns. But in this case I feel the story is incomplete so I deducted the fourth star that the story or mystery deserves. Still it is his story and he should end it his way.
6 people found this helpful
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Krystal
5.0 out of 5 stars Husband liked it
Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2024
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My husband really likes Stephen king. He always has specific books on his list for birthdays. He enjoyed this book a lot.
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Elizabeth Horton-Newton, Author
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant Dialogue Makes a Five Star Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2019
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I’m Stephen King’s second biggest fan. Annie Wilkes holds that honor, sort of. That being said, I confess I have had “The Colorado Kid” both in paperback and on my Kindle for a long time. Usually, I cannot resist a new King book and plunge in as soon as I grab hold of one. It wasn’t until I started writing my own crime mysteries that I took a second look at this little book.
A good mystery lays out the clues and leads the reader around different theories, allowing said reader to draw a few conclusions of his own. Starting off with the likable team of journalists who make up a small-town Maine newspaper, King sets the stage for the story of the ‘Colorado Kid’. After Vince Teague and Dave Bowie share some stories of unsolved mysteries of the area with a Boston Globe feature writer, they return to their office with intern Stephanie McCann. It’s there that the tale of the twenty-five-year mystery is told.
Vince and Dave talk about other Maine and New England mysteries until Stephanie presses them to reveal the story they wouldn’t share with the outsider. Despite the fact that Stephanie came to the Weekly Islander from Ohio, she had gained the respect of the older men during her three months in the small town.
From the discovery of the dead body by a couple of high school students running near Hammock Beach in early spring, through the clues set out in the story, the story is compelling. The evidence is right there in front of them but putting it all together is a challenge before DNA, computers, and the internet.
Was the man a murder victim? Had he had a heart attack? Did he somehow commit suicide? Or was it some kind of accident? But the most important question is, who is the man?
King’s brilliance is his ability to write dialogue that rings true. It’s like standing behind and listening to the town constable and the local doctor discuss the body and what might have occurred. Each character seems to hold a piece of the story. But it’s only the persistence of “a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics” that the identity of the kid comes to light.
While the story doesn’t end there, it does add to the mystery of what the body of the dead man was doing on a beach in Maine. I leave it to the reader to discover how the story ends… or doesn’t end. A word of warning, not all mysteries are solved. This book is not about answers but about man’s natural curiosity and need for solid endings. In “The Colorado Kid” King brings to mind the Rolling Stones lyrics, “You can’t always get what you want.” But sometimes you get what you need.
47 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Don Levesque
5.0 out of 5 stars Love Stephen King
Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2024
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Great read
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ME LEIDINGER SANDRINE
5.0 out of 5 stars Super
Reviewed in France on January 14, 2023
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Du Stephen King, quoi dire d'autre ?
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Ana Cristina de Carvalho Benevides
5.0 out of 5 stars É ok
Reviewed in Brazil on April 29, 2020
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Livro veio bem lacrado , só capa levemente amassada ,quanto à seu conteúdo está tudo ok,não o li ainda,mas não vai ser uma surpresa gostar de um livro de Stephen King uma vez que se é fã.
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Ana Cristina de Carvalho Benevides
5.0 out of 5 stars É ok
Reviewed in Brazil on April 29, 2020
Livro veio bem lacrado , só capa levemente amassada ,quanto à seu conteúdo está tudo ok,não o li ainda,mas não vai ser uma surpresa gostar de um livro de Stephen King uma vez que se é fã.
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5 people found this helpful
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Jocho
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
Reviewed in Mexico on March 6, 2020
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Nice book
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RayG
5.0 out of 5 stars Just enjoy it.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 27, 2019
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A very satisfying read - as long as you aren't expecting all the answers! Fortunately (and ironically?) this illustrated paperback edition DOES have a beginning, middle and end, in the form of an introduction by Charles Ardai, the main story, and an afterword by King. Be sure to read them in order.
I'm sure anyone reading the story cold (not having been warned the mystery is never fully solved) would feel a little cheated. Would that be perversely satisfying in its own way? I'll never know! But I'm happy with what I did get out of it.

Just one question in my head still. Who was the lady with the red purse???
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