The Dark Half Paperback – February 16, 2016

When someone discovered literary writer Thad Beaumont was also crime writer George Stark and tried to blackmail him, Beaumont and his wife decided to go public and kill off George Stark themselves. But when the pseudonym takes on a life of his own and starts killing people connected to Thad, can anything stop him?The Dark Half is an underrated book. Thad Beaumont had a parasitic twin removed from inside his skull when he was 12. Since then, he's become a critically acclaimed literary writer and a blockbuster crime writer under the pseudonym George Stark, who goes on a murderous rampage when Thad kills him off.This is one of those books where the main character is the least interesting one. Alan Pangborn is a great viewpoint character and a lot more interesting than Thad. He's a small town sheriff trying to do his job despite some crazy stuff happening.Basically, The Dark Half is Parker chasing down Donald Westlake. Since I've read all 23 Parker books Richard Stark wrote since the first time I read this, the reread was a much richer experience. I noticed some Richard Stark influence in the George Stark chapters. Also, I enjoyed the Creepshow reference, although I might have to check the timeline to see which one actually came first. "Call me Billie, everyone does!"Aside from the psychopomp business with the sparrows and Stark falling apart, The Dark Half is pretty much a crime book. It doesn't feel nearly as long winded as some of King's books and the ending didn't suck for once. George Stark was a chilling villain and since I forgot the ending, I had no idea if Thad would live or not. Four out of five stars.

Stephen King published this fine novel in 1989. The plot exhibits King's wild imagination and creative gifts! Thaddeus Beaumont is an English professor at a Maine college and the author of several novels. His most famous works star his "dark half" nom de plume creation the evil George Stark. As the novel begins Beaumont and his wife stage a fake burial for Stark in a spooky Castle Rock Cemetery in rural Maine. People magazine sends a reporter and photographer to cover the unusual literary event. The idea behind it is that Beaumont has decided to stop writing the Stark thrillers and concentrate on more substantial works using his own name. the only problem is that George Stark is alive and emerges from the cardboard tombstone covered hole in the ground! He kills everyone connected with the photo shoot and People story including several policemen who have been called on to guard the innocent victims of Stark's murder spree. The novel ends in a spectacular showdown between Thaddeus and Stark his evil dark half. Beaumont and his wife have twin children reminding us of the duality of Beaumont's life. The book is autobiographical in that Stephen King reveals thoughts on the art of writing and the entire creative process of making fictional characters come live. A dark and eerie book!Stephen King is hard to beat for excellent fiction which will keep you on the edge of your chair!

The opening chapter does not pull any punches and immediately throws some gore and a shiver up your spine. We get further hits of this through the antagonist Starks point of view scattered throughout the novel, his actions are truly grotesque... I wanted to cover my eyes until it was over – but of course you can’t do that if you’re reading a book.I felt moments in-between when reading, where the narrative dragged out – embellishing characters and their back-stories, or descriptions of the landscape of the novel that slowed the pace and had me speed-reading through. Though my interest in the novel never waned. I always wanted to know what was going to happen next. Eager to learn the secrets of Thad and Stark.Thad was an interesting protagonist. I related to him immediately being a writer, and how he would get lost in a fugue of writing as if being taken over by another presence entirely. Though the smoking, drinking, patriarch stereotype that edged its way into this character annoyed me a little. But on the whole I found Thad to be intelligent, imaginative and a real risk taker; all with layers of love and compassion. I found perfection in his layers of imperfection.As I did to his wife, Liz. I frequently was reminded of the phrase about poking a mumma bear with a stick when her twin children were threatened. Liz was always the quintessential homemaker, adoring her little family and supporting her husband. But the moment any of that was endangered she roared and snapped like a wild animal. Her protective spirit and tenacity created a deep respect.Our straight-man (so to speak) being Sheriff Alan Pagborn filled the much needed critic against the supernatural. He guides the reader and grounds the narrative. The sceptic who deals only in facts and proof to form a conclusion. His added point of view helps to add credence to the theories Thad and his wife instinctively know.I found the cast interesting, fully developed and added something unique to the story line, ultimately rounding it in some realism. Though the plot itself did fell drawn out a little too long, the journey there was paced well and held my interest. Stephen King’s writing style is prominent, though more intimate than his earlier works. For a novel nearly 600 pages long, I seemed to fly through it.I was a little disappointed in the mythology of the novel – I’d read about the significance of sparrows before in Trent Jamison’s Deathworks novels, so this aspect was not a huge surprise to me; though Thad’s role felt like it was left hanging. Why had this event taken place in the first instance? Does Thad have some sort of ability? Was it Stark all along, clawing his way back from some dark place? I felt like I was wanting more resolution to this, or even a paragraph explaining why, but we didn’t get an answer.I’ve read creepier, gorier books from King. But I have to say, ‘The Dark Half’ had just enough of both to satisfy this genre without making it difficult to read. The thriller-suspense is light, but a great story to ignite the imagination of any wanna-be writer.It could have been a tad shorter, a tad more intense, and ended with more of an exclamation point, but a novel I’d be happy to recommend to all. I’d have to rank it in the top half of my King favourites.Not until I had written this review did I discover that ‘The Dark Half’ had been adapted into a film in 1993 – silly me, I should have checked, with so many of King’s titles being optioned for screen adaptations, it’s kind of a given.

The book is in fine shape. Intact and all. However, this gets 1 star because it stated it was a 1st print and it is not. More likely than not a book club edition considering there is no price on the inside of the dust jacket. Copyright page and front flap pictures show the proof. So not so happy about that. But it’s readable.

Im an avid reader. Some books plod along like an old draft horse.Stephen King’s books start out at Trot and finish at a gallop while the reader holds on for dear life!

There is another version of this book on Amazon Kindle. Buy the other one. I was spending most of the reading trying to figure out what certain words were because of the VERY bad transfer to Kindle. Hopefully, the other version is much better. But otherwise, I really liked this book. Was dark, for sure. But I enjoyed reading it.

When novelist Thad Beaumont dreams up pseudonym George Stark, he allows a different side of his imagination to emerge and, weirdly, the books ‘Stark’ writes turn out to be way more successful than Thad’s usual fare. However, when the writer decides to get rid of his other half, things don’t go to plan, and a series of gruesome murders threaten to land Thad in jail, if not the nearest asylum.Whenever I read a Stephen King novel, I’m always rewarded with great writing and sharply-drawn characters, and this one is no different. King’s own foray into the world of pseudonyms (as alter-ego Richard Bachman), was the inspiration for this tale of dark deeds and deadly doings. Taking the idea of ‘killing off’ the Bachman side, King has his hero Thad Beaumont put out press releases and stage photographs at the dead writer’s graveside. Unfortunately, that’s when things begin to go wrong.I loved this book – it kept me guessing all the way through, wondering if King’s hero was just completely mad, or if his belief in the reality of George Stark was justified. As always, the writing is tight and clever, though it also had me laughing out loud in places, which is nice.A must for fans of horror, murder and imaginary authors coming to life and killing loads of folk.

After asking my good friend and aspiring writer who his favourite author was, I was surprised with the answer of 'horror writer' Stephen King. My knowledge of him was 'he wrote the book the Shining was based on' and not much else. He pointed me towards this book as his guilty pleasure as he can relate to the subject matter (that of the main character being an author, not having a Dark Half...) and imagine himself as the protagonist, so I thought I would start from there.I am thrilled to now call myself a fan having devoured nine of his books in the last few months. Kings literary prowess was unknown to me and now I am hard pushed to name an author that I would prefer to read.The Dark Half starts strongly, injects the trademark King bizarre-ness, and rolls inexorably towards the final climactic scenes. The main characters are painted so well, King carefully reveals their flawed, vulnerable, sometimes repellant personas, yet somehow manages to keep the reader steadfastly emotionally invested in them. I feel many of Kings book are slow burners that sometimes rush to a finale, as though he has run out of time before deadline day, but The Dark Half kept me hooked from beginning to end.My advice - read this book, it started my journey with Stephen King 'the horror writer' and finished with Stephen King 'my favourite author'

Have to say, I found this one slow. It pains me to say anything negative about Stephens kings work but this one really didn’t have much going on.

Oh how right Thad Beaumont was, if he had known how right he was maybe he would have helped himself and the people who helped Stark's writing career end.Thad Beaumont is a normal writer, a man with a wife and children but something happened when he was a child, something that has not and will not happen again.George Stark is the Author of such novels as Alexis Machine etc. and he pays Thad's bills.Thad decides that George Stark is no good for him and needs to get him out of his life. How easy that will be, you will have to find out.A brilliant book with many twists and turns along the way. Beautifully written as always and kept in the horrific context I have come to expect from this legendary thriller writer.

Not his best novel, but better than any competition out there.The used copy I purchased was in acceptable condition despite it being almost thirty years old.