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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135188 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-24
• Released on: 2006-10-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 528 pages

Amazon.com
Since his first novel was published in 1974, Stephen King has stretched the boundaries of the written word, not only bringing horror to new heights, but trying his hand at nearly every possible genre, including children's books, graphic novels, serial novels, literary fiction, nonfiction, westerns, fantasy, and even e-books (remember The Plant?). With Lisey's Story, once again King is trying something different. Lisey's Story is as much a romance as it is a supernatural thriller--but don't let us convince you. Who better to tell readers if King has written a romantic thriller than Nora Roberts? We asked Nora to read Lisey's Story and give us her take. Check out her review below. --Daphne Durham

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Guest Reviewer: Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts, who also writes under the pseudonym J.D. Robb, is the author of way too many bestselling books to name here (over 150!), but some of our favorites include: Angels Fall, Born in Death, Blue Smoke, and The Reef.

Stephen King hooked me about three decades ago with that sharply faceted, blood-stained jewel, The Shining. Through the years he's bumped my gooses with kiddie vampires, tingled my spine with beloved pets gone rabid, justified my personal fear of clowns and made me think twice about my cell phone. I've always considered The Stand--a long-time favorite--a towering tour de force, and have owed its author a debt as this was the first novel I could convince my older son to read from cover to cover.

But with Lisey's Story, King has accomplished one more feat. He broke my heart.

Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man.

Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy.

Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance.

Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems.

A few of them have sharp, hungry teeth. --Nora Roberts

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From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Following King's triumphant return to the world of gory horror in Cell, the bestselling author proves he's still the master of supernatural suspense in this minimally bloody but disturbing and sorrowful love story set in rural Maine. Lisey's husband, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Scott Landon, has been dead for two years at the book's start, but his presence is felt on every page. Lisey hears him so often in her head that when her catatonic sister, Amanda, begins speaking to her with Scott's voice, she finds it not so much unbelievable as inevitable. Soon she's following a trail of clues that lead her to Scott's horrifying childhood and the eerie world called Boo'ya Moon, all while trying to help Amanda and avoid a murderous stalker. Both a metaphor for coming to terms with grief and a self-referencing parable of the writer's craft, this novel answers the question King posed 25 years ago in his tale "The Reach": yes, the dead do love. (Oct.)
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From The New Yorker
In his intricate new novel, King explores two hidden worlds - the private life of a recently deceased best-selling writer, as seen from the perspective of his widow, and the imaginative landscape that formed the foundation of his work. As the novel opens, Lisey, Scott Landon's widow, is a sardonic observer of toadying academics, dangerously obsessive fans, and fame-struck bystanders. As she sorts through papers that Landon has left behind, she also becomes a traveller in a fantastical parallel world called Boo'ya Moon, to which he retreated during a horrific childhood and on which he drew throughout his creative life. It takes some time for these narrative strands to converge, but when they do Lisey moves between worlds at an exhilarating pace. Along the way, King also reveals, with subtle precision, the profound strangeness of widowhood, when someone who was present for so much of a shared life is gone.
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Customer Reviews

grabbed my imagination all the way through
I was entranced by the book ... not wanting to put it down to attend to other matters (oh like eating a meal.) As to the negative comments about having phrases that a family would use that mean nothing to others... like YEAH. My family does... I thought all families did.
... guess not..
I wonder if the readers who found this book lacking in some ways, have some amazingly different approach to reading than I do? Yeah... I am sure of that. I enjoyed this book and it grabbed my imagination all the way through.

Not bad, but not great
This wasn't a bad novel, and I suppose I had high expectations considering the author. However, it wasn't until after about 300 pages did I really start to sink my teeth into the plot. It wasn't laborious, but it shouldn't take so long to become hooked. This length of time did allow me to really get to know the characters on a personal level. The teasing with little crumbs of the mystery he has yet to reveal provided some motivation to continue reading. But this was not one of those books I just couldn't put down.

Not one of King's best, never completely engages

Lisey's Story by Stephen King is the first Stephen King book I've read in some time. I used to be a big fan of the horror king, but at some point I stopped enjoying his overdoses in gore. Lisey's Story appealed to me as the the story of an ordinary woman caught up in extraordinary events. Lisey is the widow of a famous author, and she still hasn't completely dealt with the grief from his death. Two years after he is gone, she has just started sorting through his papers. The plot is convoluted and involves a sick psycho obsessed with obtaining those papers, an alternate world with stalking monsters, and Lisey's sister Amanda who has fallen into a catatonic state and just may be channeling Lisey's husband. First of all, I had a lot of trouble with the main character's name. I wanted to pronounce it Liz-ee, but King gives the phoenetic pronunciation of lee-cee on the first page. Despite that, every time I came across her name in the story I pronounced it my way, then stopped and did it his way. It made my reading jerky because I was constantly removing myself from the story. It's a small silly thing, but it really effected my enjoyment of the book. I went along with King' story until Lisey's encounter with a can-opener wielding psycho who gives her an at-home lumpectomy. Ick! I read through the rest just to be done. I was so frustrated with Lisey's refusal to do the commonsense thing and go to the authorities. The story was compelling and intriguing; I just never quite lost myself in it.