Mile 81

Includes bonus story 'The Dune'

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Thomas Sadoski, Edward Herrmann

Mile 81 is Stand by Me meets Christine—the story of an insatiable car and a heroic kid.

At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded-up rest stop, a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It’s the place where Pete Simmons, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out. Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.

By the time Pete Simmons wakes up from his vodka nap, there are half a dozen cars at the Mile 81 rest stop. But two kids and a horse are the only living things left...unless you maybe count the wagon. With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, Mile 81 is Stephen King unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs.

In the bonus story “The Dune,” originally published in Granta’s October 2011 horror issue, retired Florida Supreme Court Judge Harvey Beecher tells his lawyer about a mysterious sand dune on an unnamed island a short distance off the Gulf coastline of his family’s property. Harvey first visited the island at the age of ten in 1932, after his grandfather, a scoundrel and land speculator who’d created the family fortune, told him Blackbeard’s treasure might be buried there. Traveling to the island became a daily addiction for Harvey…and now his lawyer is about to discover the shocking reason why.

Didn't like Ending

Is there anything you would change about this book?

It's a short story but I would have liked it to have an ending

Would you recommend Mile 81 to your friends? Why or why not?

No, because it did not have an ending

Did Edward Herrmann and Thomas Sadoski do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

Yes, the differienation was obvious

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

NO

You can't go wrong with Stephen King

I soooo enjoy this book. Found my self listening to it again. Hope you like it as much as I did.

auto bite

Mile markers hold new meaning. Rest stops too. Sometimes you find things for reasons not immediately obvious. Loved it. 3rd reading.

This chiller took me a ride :)

Where does Mile 81 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I really enjoyed Mile 81. Great narration, and I didn't have to put forth any effort to be carried along with the story.

What did you like best about this story?

Like many of King's stories, this one will also connect to your youth. I found it easy to relate to the characters and smiled often remembering doing many of those same things.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Absolutely

Any additional comments?

Great job! I listen to audio books most everyday while I work. Aside from a great form of self hypnosis, a great audio book will draw you in and transport you.

A Fun Listen

This was a fun listen. The mile 81 story was pretty good, but of the two, I really preferred The Island, both for the story and the narration. Worth a listen if you have just a couple hours to kill.