Stephen King’s “Lisey’s Story”

This week I’m finally reviewing a book that a friend lent to me: Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story. The story follows two different arcs. The first is that of Lisey Landon, wife of the wildly successful author, Scott Landon. Lisey has grown used to playing second fiddle to her husband’s career. For twenty-five years she has encouraged her husband from his shadow, a position she is quite comfortable with. Now, two years after the death of her husband, attention is finally turned to Lisey. As unsavory eyes fixate on her, Lisey works to uncover the long-buried past of her husband. This second arc, Scott’s story, details secrets that tormented the man until the last of his days, and which still have a grip on Lisey.

This is Stephen King in his best form. Lisey’s Story features some of the most relatable characters King has ever put to paper, all set against a seemingly standard marriage. Of course, nothing in a King novel is typical, but the characters’ reactions and motivations are a fantastic juxtaposition to the slinking strangeness that lies deeper in this novel. In his best novels (The Shining, Pet Semetary, Salem’s Lot), King takes the mundane and presents it in a way that is at once both utterly familiar and downright terrifying. As I’ve said before, there is a sense of wrongness about Lisey’s life. The white picket fences are too white; the death of a husband too cleanly final. Tension is the game in Lisey’s Story, and it is a well-played match by King. Readers can draw more than a few comparisons to the vibe of The Shining with this novel, which, in my book, is a stellar compliment. Due to the nature of the plot, I can’t give many more details about the plot; however, I will say that psychological horror is abound, and empathy for the paranoid is a terror in its own right.

If you are a King fan and haven’t read Lisey’s Story, you should fix that: this is old-school King. Fans of horror that crawls and lurks in the eaves of houses will find much to love here, as will readers that devour compelling relationships between characters. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go prowl through all my favorite authors’ works to see if I’ve missed any other gems.