A story without a story.

One of the earlier reviewers nailed this story perfectly. This is the story of a story. I have to admit that I am biased. I have read almost everything that Stephen King has written and there is very little that I didn't love. Taking that into account I enjoy this story most because of it's differences from the "normal" King story. The style is still very much King but the tale is unique among his works. All in all, this is a great story and well read, too.

Listienng to this book will cure all your insomnia issues. It was truly the worst book I have ever listen to, or read by Stephen. It was like a really bad episode of CSI, and I hate CSI the show, I like and respect real CSI documentories. The reading was so over bearing with the New England accent, it only added insult to injusry.

Don't be scared off by reviewers who expected a formulaic clone, and are angry they got something more complex and nuanced.

All of the vitriol in other reviews seems to come from expectations that as a reader, you deserve clear solutions; that you shouldn't be left to speculate, or actually made to think about a story; that the answer should be spelled out in nice big letters. It would be a shame to see this gem tossed aside because it's not enough like other books.

To start with, this is not a mystery story. It is a story about the nature of mysteries. The point of the novel is not to tell the story of an unexplained death; it's to tell the story of the story, it's impact on those who hear it, and to explore how unanswered questions affect us.

It's fantasy to think that every mystery can be solved, that every loose end can be neatly tied up, and that every story has a tidy ending. This one doesn't, and it's a much better book because of it. Go in to this audiobook with an open mind, and you're sure to enjoy it.

You,ve got the latest Stephen King in hand and you're ready for something strange and wonderful. A tale that is more than what it appears, and then again, not, posessing that something that unsettles then slyly reassembles in a somehow different way. Isn't it just like King to give us just that? And isn't it just like Your Strangeness (affectionately) to deliver a "fooled you, didn't I?" I wasn't expecting a supernatural-free yarn, that hints at The Unknown but never really goes there. It is not often that King steers clear of otherworldly matters and becomes the storyteller of old. Although I think he handled the task much better in "The Body" and my personal favorite, "Shawshank Redemption"... as someone once said everyone loves a mystery; and I indeed enjoyed this one. We are presented with an inexplicable death (or was it a murder?), while being introduced to three "sweet" and interesting journalist on a small island newspaper. I missed the depth of characterization seen in most of King's work, but I liked them all the same, and added them to the list of people I know in Maine but haven't yet met. Mystery fans will enjoy this one, especially if like me, you like to don the cap with the puppy ears tied atop while proclaiming that "the game is afoot".