Blaze

A Novel

By: Richard Bachman, Stephen King

Narrated by: Ron McLarty

Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 (from "cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006, King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!") and decided that, with a little revision, it ought to be published.

Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., and of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own.

He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character, as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.

©2007 Stephen King (P)2007 Simon and Schuster Inc. All rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"This diverting soft-boiled crime novel reflects influences ranging from John Steinbeck to James M. Cain." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great by anyone else's ability, good for Stephen King. It's exactly as he states in the forward.

In the forward by Stephen King he describes the story as an early effort that has its faults. The story is heartbreaking but somehow lacks punch.
It is a great early effort and I look forward to seeing what this author does next. Ha,ha,ha!
Definitely worth the read, if for nothing else to see where it began and how awesome it became!!!

Really Enjoyed

Enjoyed from start to finish. Great narrator. I would definitely recommend this book. Couldn't put it down.

Meh, not so great

I was expecting something seemingly well put together, and was dissapointed. A rather poor job.

Criminally Underrated!

Don't listen to the nay sayers on this one. King himself is even negative about it to some degree. Skip his intro because it's a bad primer for expectations. This book was amazing and I would rank it as my favorite RB work. Blaze is a wonderfully complex character; equal parts sympathetic and loathsome.

BLAZE

Wow! I couldn’t put this down. So many issues addressed in this book. Perfect Characters, dialogue…..everything a story should be!!

Excellent!!!

I really enjoyed this book by Stephen king. I like that he gives a little information about himself and writing of other books. He’s a true artist!

Enjoyed it

Not my favorite King book but definitely enjoyed the characters and the story was pretty good.

Surprising Find

I was looking for an easy listen that would capture my attention. I am not a big Stephen King fan but this older novel with a nice little into by King gave me just what I was looking for. His character development of Blaze kept my attention and had my rooting for him throughout the book. Sometimes people are not who they seem on the face of it...

Good, but lacking

The book is written well and in Stephen Kings often dilluted style. With that being said, i love stephen kings writing, however, after reading too much of him the writing is almost see through.

Overall the book has an emersive story and is interesting right down to the last, however, the book also has some faults. Stephen King identifies his faults right in the preface, which may be where i got them from, or perhaps the book itself gave them to me. Regardless, the fact that the flashbacks are more entertaining than the actual story and the constant demented simplicity of the current situation in the story makes for a boring main storyline.

Characters are well developed and the story is well rounded. Good read, hard to stay interested though.

Close to but better than Of Mice and Men

A story where you'll find yourself loving the bad guys. I thoroughly enjoyed this story and think it would make an excellent movie. The reader gave great personalities to the characters.