A Face in the Crowd

After listening all of Stephen King's books that have ever been published, I am still excited to read another title from SK, even if its just a very short story. As a SK's follower, the constant reader knows that King have a passion for baseball.

I even read the "Faithful", about the Red Sox winning in 2004. It's not a surprise that he would write a story on the game, but what is surprising, that he had a co author for "A Face in the Crowd." Maybe because Stewart O'Nan was a co author of the "Faithful" also.

It is a perfect match between the two authors because they are both die hard into baseball.

Nevertheless, SK's novels and his novellas never gets old.

Unless you are a huge Red Sox fan, skip "Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season", because its a baseball diary between Stephen King and his friends.

As for "A Face in the Crowd", its a classic writing, short and demented.

Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan combine to create a haunting tale of baseball and ghosts in A Face in the Crowd. Have you ever watched a game of baseball and paid attention to the people in the crowd sitting behind home plate? Probably not, but after listening to this story you might look a little bit closer.

Dean Evers is a baseball fan, newly moved from New England to Florida. While watching baseball on his new HDTV, he starts to notice people from his past sitting behind home plate. He sees his childhood dentist, a kid he used to make fun of in school, his deceased wife, his business partner. Through these characters we explore Dean's life and learn his story. His story is haunted and interesting. I was genuinely excited to see who would show up behind home plate next, and what this character would teach us about Dean.

This setup is very well done, but unfortunately it doesn't follow through to the end of the story. The ending was a major disappointment. It's so abrupt, that I honestly thought my iPhone hadn't downloaded the complete audiobook or something. There was a lot of potential in this story, and I think I'd have a much higher opinion of it with a stronger ending.

Craig Wasson's performance is excellent, and fits the style of this novella very well.

This is not one of Stephen Kings best but it was interesting enough to keep me reading.

This was an interesting little short story, a surprising ending to an old mans life, written beautifully, and narrated well.

As always, Stephen King (this time with Stewart O' Nan) can create a great character, and he does so once again here. The premise is the main character Dean Evers is seeing faces from his life in the crowd of a televised baseball game. Many of them are deceased and it doesn't seem possible. He is determined to get to the bottom of it. There is a nice surprise in here and its a fun quick listen with Craig Wassen giving a very strong performance. As is sometimes the case with a Stephen King book, the ending is a bit anti climactic, but overall I found it enjoyable.

Good story, but way too short. Wish the whole this was fleshed out in the usual style.

A clever tale, wonderfully told, ably narrated, uncharacteristically brief (at least for Steven King).

This is a great one-hour (or so) listen ~ a morality play of sorts ~ with BASEBALL.

The spotting of the third person in the crowd was a 'tell' for me. Mr. Wasson was great and the story was OK. I would not discourage any King fan from this story because there is a message here.

I ran across Stephen King and Stewart O'Nan's "A Face in the Crowd" (2012) while I was looking for King's more recent release "Joyland" (2013).

King and O'Nan are true baseball fans (they collaborated on 2004's "Faithful", the story of the Red Sox 2004 season) and catch the nuances of baseball fandom perfectly. Not baseball itself, but the diehard park going fan who wears the annoying foam finger and drinks watery beer at the park - and the diehard tv watching fan that times dinner preparation to the start of a game, and drinks a six pack in front of the television.

What if one if those at-home viewers was a not-so-nice old retired man living in Florida, who watches a game on tv and sees a loathed person far from his past sitting behind home plate, looking like he hasn't aged in the 60+ years since the old man last saw him? What if the next game, the old man sees a hated business rival buried years ago - and the rival is wearing the same suit he was buried in?

I suppose there is an argument to made that "A Face in the Crowd" is a morality tale, but I'd hate to reduce it to the level of a lesson: "A Face in the Crowd" is, to me, the story of a well-deserved haunting.

The plot was a little too predictable, which is why my rating is a 3. The narration was serviceable and not too memorable.

At the time I wrote this review, the story was only available as an e-book or on Audible. I am glad I found it and listened.

As always, SK delivers again on the short story! Face in the Crowd reminds me of his wonderful early stories in Skeleton Crew.