Joyland
Stephen King
A Hard Case
Crime Novel
Titan Books,
2013
283 pages
Devin Jones,
a college student on the verge of serious heartbreak, makes an impulsive choice
to spend the summer working at Joyland, a large carnival stationed at Heaven’s
Bay, a small, seaside town. Little does he know that heartbreak is just the
beginning of his summer passage to manhood. In his future lies a dark mystery,
the death of a special friend, and some other things that will change him
forever.
Joyland is
both a novel of coming of age and of growing old. It’s about new beginnings and
terrible ends. Yet, in between these things, there’s tender love, great passion,
personal loss, mystery and even horror.
Written in
the vein of such beautiful stories as Stand by Me and Hearts in Atlantis,
Joyland holds its own as a work of crime—with a touch of horror. Not as
innocent as Stand by Me, nor as deep as Hearts in Atlantis, this story reaches
for one man’s understanding of himself during a most unusual summer, both the
worst and the best of his life.
This is a
mature Stephen King we experience. A man looking back over his own life and
attempting, once again, to capture those bittersweet moments that tend to shape
us all. A master working his craft as no other can.
Copyright ©
2014 Clayton Clifford Bye
For more of Clayton Bye's writing, visit his website or become a fan.
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