Joyland

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Michael Kelly

Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

"Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book.... Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved."
—Charles Ardai, Edgar- and Shamus Award-winning editor of Hard Case Crime.

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. Joyland is a brand-new novel and has never previously been published.

©2013 Stephen King. All rights reserved. (P)2013 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

King in his Summer Finest

I read Ray Bradbury's "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (1962) years ago and never forgot it. I've reread it several times, and always find something new in the story of a traveling carnival lead by Mr. Dark, whose followers are marked by tattoos.

I felt the same way when I listened to Stephen King's "Joyland" (2013), even though the plots of the books are quite different. The atmosphere is the same, and so is the sense of evil. The carnival rides play a key part in both.

"Joyland" is a regional 'Six Flags' type of amusement park, not an international destination like Disneyland. I loved the new 'carny' language I learned. Guess that makes me a 'greenie', but at least I'm not a 'rube' if I know the lingo. That makes this the perfect book for a patient parent to listen to/read if she's been drafted as chaperone on one of those long, hot summer days of not-quite-cutting edge rides, junk food, and sunburned children excited enough to throw up on her shoes.

"Joyland" is a true mystery. Solving the mystery does not rely on the supernatural elements in "Joyland", so mystery fans won't be disappointed by vague clues from beyond being the key to figuring out 'who dunnit'. Finding the killer was no easy task for Devin Jones, the protagonist (aptly narrated by Michael Kelly) and it isn't easy for the listener/reader either.

"Joyland" is also a sweet coming of age story of love lost and love found, set against the backdrop of the most powerful love of all.

This book has some mild, not explicit sex. There is some violence, but it doesn't come near the violence in J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" series. It's good for 'young adult' readers. For Stephen King fans, there are plenty of references to his other works - and it's fun to find them. However, the book stands on its own - you don't need to get the inside joke from King's "The Dead Zone" (1979) to love the story.

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great Stephen King crime/mystery

I enjoyed this Stephen King novel as much as any I have read of his in a long while. King captures the life of a 21 year-old in 1973. At the center of this novel is an unsolved murder on one of the rides at an amusement park, Joyland. Some claim that the ghost of the murdered woman comes out at times. King drew me in to the time and place, and I liked the fact that there was just a small supernatural twist to this. Mostly, it's a college student and his friends enjoying their summer and trying to solve an old murder on the side. I found myself caring about the main character and the subplots. It's a short, fun, fast-moving novel. The reader is good. Overall, it was a 4.5 star book to me. It's a perfect summer book (light, escape fiction), with a good ending that made me round my rating up to a 5.

Somewhat Typical

I have had a love/hate relationship with Stephen Kings writings over the years; I either loved or hated many of his books and TV miniseries. In this case Mr. King takes us back to the 1970s in a mystery/horror tale about a young college student struggling to come to grips with the loss of his first love. Mr. King's 70s are a bit anachronistic as he mentions things that either were not prevalent or hadn't been heard of in 1973. Devon Jones, is a bit too sensitive and effeminate for my tastes as the big hero of the piece, and the carnival talk he learns as he works at the Joyland Amusement Park sounds a bit clichéd'. I really couldn't decide if this was supposed to be a mystery, a horror story, or a coming of age story. We have the usual King potboiler cast of characters, the sensitive youth, psychic handicapped child, a somewhat lack-luster psychic who goes around giving Devon dire warning that he doesn't heed, and the ghost of a murdered woman who lives in the haunted house of the park. The performance of the reader was very good and I certainly don't fault him for my mixed emotions about the story. If you are expecting big chills you're bound to be disappointed, but the mystery part of the tale is entertaining without the help from the paranormal part of it.

Final analysis: Joyland is somewhat of a hodge podge of the types of things you've come to expect in a King novel--if you like his usual stick, you'll like this, if you're kind of over the formula than skip it. It rather fails as a mystery novel or a supernatural one--it's a book that didn't know exactly what it wanted to be when it grew up.

A Fine Novel

I like Stephen King's writing, particularly his flair for character, but I've always preferred his shorter work. Some of his novels are so massive and ambitious that for me, they suffer a bit. This lean, tightly written tale doesn't have that problem. It's a coming of age story, a mystery and a ghost story all rolled into one and King's ability to write believable, interesting characters is definitely on display. It's less "hard" than many of the other entries in the Hard Case Crime library but it's the most enjoyable thing I've read or listened to by King in quite some time. I recommend it but not for King fans expecting a horror novel.

Michael Kelly's reading of the book was superb.

A Ghost Story Sweet as Cotton Candy

The idea of a haunted amusement park draws you in and holds you until the end. Who doesn't remember walking through the sleazy and dirty carnivals when we were younger--looking for thrills and fun, the games and the rides--and maybe a kiss in the haunted house?

Devin is the young, innocent boy/man who learns a lot about life that summer in the early 70's. He loses his first love, finds more gratifying sexual fun with an older woman, and helps solve an old murder that happened in the much desired haunted house ride. As it happens a ghost of the murdered woman is still hanging around hoping someone will free her of her prison and solve the mystery surrounding her death.

Devin loves the "carny life" and is a natural at fitting in. He's given a 10 minute lesson on running the rickety rides and then thrown into his jobs to sink or swim. He especially has a gift for making the kids laugh while dressed as a big dog --this is known as "wearing the fur" -- and this becomes his usual gig.

This was a sweeter more innocent era, and a fun story worth the credit. It isn't one of SK's best, nor scariest, but he still has you relishing the memory of those teenage years while delivering a few chills along the way.

An infectious performance

Shortly after listening to Joyland the week after its release in the summer of 2013, I gave Michael Kelly's performance three stars. It was professional, it was nicely paced, and it was pleasant, but it didn't blow me away the way that Craig Wasson did with Mr King's previous novel, 11/22/63. Listening to it again now, I can't find anything that directly contradicts that first impression, but in the intervening months, my thoughts have often drifted to Mr Kelly's reading. His quiet performance fits in so perfectly to the canon of Summers Past, where Scout Finch is drinking a Co-Cola, where Gordie and his friends walk the tracks in search of a body, where Radio Raheem blasts Public Enemy from dawn to dusk. Joyland is a nice piece of writing and well representative of Mr King's past decade of work, but it's Mr Kelly's performance that is sticking with me months later in the dead of winter.

Terrific story and narration

I had not heard much about this book and found it by chance on audible. What a pleasant surprise. Compelling story made even better by a very good narrator. Two thumbs up!

Great fan. Not disapointed

Stephen King is a master story teller. You will enjoy this book from beginning to the end. It made me laugh many times, It also made me cry. Please do not pass this book up.Overall rating for this book should be a 10, but I am only allowed to rate this a 4

Very Enjoyable

What did you love best about Joyland?

the details, the narration. King's use of dialog has reached Elmore Leonard skill level.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The story itself was very entertaining, but i would say that it does not pace itself very well. I found that i enjoyed listening to it, but it really isn't until the last third of the book that it gets really, really interesting.

Loved it!

What about Michael Kelly’s performance did you like?

I am pretty sure that I could listen to Michael Kelly read the phonebook and be impressed. This story was already great but it became awesome when read by Michael.