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by: Stephen King Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54 EAN: 9780743520959 Format: Audiobook, Unabridged ISBN: 0743520955 Label: Simon & Schuster Audio Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Audio Number Of Items: 8 Publication Date: September 01, 2002 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Release Date: September 24, 2002 Sales Rank: 1225229 Studio: Simon & Schuster Audio Related Items:
Editorial Review: Product Description: The state police of Troop D in rural Pennsylvania have kept a secret in Shed B out back of the barracks ever since 1979, when Troopers Ennis Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox answered a call from a gas station just down the road and came back with an abandoned Buick Roadmaster. Curt Wilcox knew old cars, and he knew immediately that this one was...wrong, just wrong. A few hours later, when Rafferty vanished, Wilcox and his fellow troopers knew the car was worse than dangerous. Curt's avid curiosity took the lead, and they investigated as best they could, as much as they dared. Over the years, the troop absorbed the mystery as part of the background to their work, the Buick 8 sitting out there like a still-life painting that breathes -- inhaling a little bit of this world, exhaling a little bit of what world it came from. In the fall of 2001, a few months after Curt Wilcox is killed in a gruesome auto accident, his eightee-year-old boy, Ned, starts coming by the barracks. Sandy Dearborn, Sergeant Commanding, knows it's the boy's way of holding onto his father, and Ned is allowed to become part of the Troop D family. One day he looks in the window of Shed B and discovers family secret. Like his father, Ned wants answers... From a Buick 8 is an audiobook about our fascination with deadly things, about our insistence on answers when there are none, about terror and courage in the face of the unknowable. Amazon.com Review: Stephen King, an evil car, and a teenage boy coming to terms with the fragility and randomness of life.... Wait, haven't we read this before? Diehard King fans, worry not. Aside from the titular car playing a main role in the story, From a Buick 8 could not be less like King's 1983 masterpiece, Christine. If anything, this story resembles King's serial novel The Green Mile, with reminiscing police characters flashing back on bizarre events that took place decades earlier. The book's intriguing plot revolves around the troopers of Pennsylvania State Patrol Troop D, who come into possession of what at first appears to be a vintage automobile. Closer inspection and experimentation conducted by the troopers reveal that this car's doors (and trunk) sometimes open to another dimension populated by gross-out creatures straight out of ... well, a Stephen King novel. As the plot progresses, the veteran troopers' tales of these visits from interdimensional nasties, and the occasional 'lightquakes' put on by the car, are passed on to the son of a fallen comrade whose fascination with the car bordered on dangerous obsession. Unlike earlier King works, there is no active threat here; no monster is stalking the heroes of the story, unless you count the characters' own curiosity. In past books, King has terrorized readers with vampires, werewolves, a killer clown, ghosts, and aliens, but this time around, the bogeyman is a more passive, cerebral threat, and one for which they don't make a ready-to-wear Halloween costume--man's fascination with and fear of the unknown. While some readers may find this tale less exciting than the horror master's earlier works, From a Buick 8 is a wonderful example of how much King's plotting skills and literary finesse have matured over his long career. And, most of all, it's a darn creepy book. --Benjamin Reese Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Recognizably King...Another link in the King puzzle. Good but not his best work, still, if you are a King fan you cannot leave any word unread. There are always precious nuggets to be found. Rating:  - Worst of King"I am a huge Stephen King fan - normally. However, I have to say that this is one of the worst books he has ever written. I must add that, in all fairness, the writing style is vintage King. The story progression was terrific. It was the ending that was so lacking it left you feeling like you had just fell asleep and missed the ending to a movie that was only going to be shown once in your lifetime. It was as if King came up with this great idea, an idea so epic that he ... Read More Rating:  - From a Buick 8What a nightmare this story is! And Stephen King does a breathtakingly adept job of guiding us through it with ease. State Troopers in Pennsylvania encounter a Buick, which is not really a Buick. The horrific and impossible plot is made so incredibly real with King's masterful skill. The plot meanders between the past and the present, as the story of the Buick unravels. The characters, as always in a King novel, are amazingly authentic and readily invoke our compassion. This is one of my favorite ... Read More Rating:  - A chore.**REVIEW HAS SPOILERS** Now don't get me wrong, I'm a pretty big King fan, but this book was absolutely terrible. I really only have two complaints about this book: 1. It was too wordy. I know that King is known for this, but in this novel it was out of control. This 500 page book should have been a short story, or maybe a novella at most. Instead of plot, 90% of this book is filled with pointless descriptions and fluff. There were times when I skipped pages at a time ... Read More Rating: - Middle of the road King; it's still fun."From a Buick 8" is neither King's best nor his worst. It strikes me as about average for his recent (ie: post-accident) books. Still, it is a fun read. If the story lacks a bit in the substance department, it is more than compensated by King's always reliable story TELLING talents. I swear the man could make a recounting of what he had for breakfast interesting. Bottom line: if you are new to King, there are better titles of his that I'd recommend to cut your teeth on; if you're a King fan, "From ... Read More |
