Thinner

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Joe Mantegna

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

The unpause-able novel of one man's quest to find the source of his nightmare and to reverse it before he becomes...nothing at all. This number-one national best seller from Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman, "pulsates with evil...it will have you on the edge of your seat" (Publishers Weekly).

Billy Halleck commits vehicular manslaughter when his lack of attention results in the death of an old gypsy lady on the street. Overweight Halleck is a lawyer with connections, though, and he gets off with a slap on the wrist. After the trial, the victim's ancient father curses him with a single word: "thinner". Shedding weight by the week, Halleck is desperate enough for one last gamble...one that will lead him to a nightmare showdown with the forces of evil melting his flesh away.

With an introduction by Stephen King on "The Importance of Being Bachman", Thinner is a novel of "undeniable suspense" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) and "genuine chills" (Kirkus Reviews).

©1984 Richard Bachman (P)2009 Penguin Audio

Annoying music played throughout

The story was decent, not one of Kings best but I didn't hate it, the actual voice of the narration was good but there is terrible music cast over durring the whole story very annoying.

20 people found this helpful

Great book, badly produced…

This book is not new, but it is well done. The writing and narration are superb. The only downside is the production value (which is a rare complaint with Audible). The book has no chapter breaks. Instead, music plays to denote a shift in scene or a time lapse. The timbre and timing of the music is poorly suited to the tone and pacing of the story. This "background music" is not in the background. Instead of helping to increase suspense and retain the audience's attention, the music becomes a distraction. It often plays over the narration, forcing an excellent narrator to compete with what amounts to background noise. It's annoying.

6 people found this helpful

Amazing book, terrible movie!

Watched the movie right after finishing the book, and boy did they mess that story up for the big screen! This book is really great, you can follow the main character as he transforms from dopey fatty to desperate, betrayed loner on a mission to save his life. The movie tried too hard to stay true to the source material and ended up a jumbled mess.

5 people found this helpful

the music

I don't know why anybody would add music to this. It did nothing for the story It was annoying.
I find myself trying to go to sleep to these books on audio the next thing you know is that you're hearing the most God awful music if you can call it that at the beginning of a chapter in at the end.

10 people found this helpful

Love this book

I notice it was different from the movie. Glad I notice it. I much from now on read and listen to the book then watch the movie for that particular book. Great work again from my favorite author Stephen King.

3 people found this helpful

Great!

Narrator was mostly awesome, really great male voices. But the female voices did get kind of ridiculous sometimes. Still great though!

3 people found this helpful

Music is a little annoying, but worth it anyway

The other reviews are correct that the music added at certain times is annoying and doesn't add to the recording; however, this is a really good book and Joe Mantegna does a great job reading it. The music is only at certain times, like in between chapters. I almost didn't get this book because of the reviews, but I love this story so I decided to try it anyway and I am glad I did. If you can't decide whether you should give it a try or not, go for it!

2 people found this helpful

Loved the movie so had to try the book.

As usual the book was better and I really loved the narrator. Would have been way more exciting and the ending would have had more of a punch had I not seen the movie a gazillion times already but it was still good. I love Kings work!

2 people found this helpful

Great Story

I liked the story and the performer's voice. Would recommend this tale to those who like Stephen King as well as those who aren't sure if they like him yet!

4 people found this helpful

The Bachman Books

Loved it! I'm reading all the king/Bachman books back to back, the whole catalog from start to finish in a year's time. I started Jan 2016. Now I'm reading the Bachman books. I had seen the film Thinner but hadn't read the novel til now. The film was a good adaptation, surprisingly cuz Kings books usually are murdered when turned to films. Only small differences and things left out. The book was lean and mean, just the way I like them. Great story, one of the Masters best, and a great narration.

3 people found this helpful