Stephen King Book Reviews:

BLACK HOUSE

BAG OF BONES

BLOOD AND SMOKE

COLORADO KID

CYCLE OF THE WEREWOLF

CARRIE

CUJO

CELL

CHRISTINE

DANSE MACABRE

DARK HALF

DEAD ZONE

DESPERATION

DIFFERENT SEASONS

DOLORES CLAIBORNE

DREAMCATCHER

DRAWING OF THE THREE

EYES OF THE DRAGON

EVERYTHINGS EVENTUAL

FIRESTARTER

FROM A BUICK 8

FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT

GERALDS GAME

INSOMNIA

HEARTS IN ATLANTIS

IT

MISERY

Stephen King Book Reviews:

NEEDFUL THINGS

NIGHTMARES AND DREAMSCAPES

ON WRITING

PET CEMETERY

RAGE

REGULATORS

RIDING THE BULLET

ROADWORK

ROSE MADDER

SALEM'S LOT

SKELETON CREW

SONG OF SUSANNAH

STORM OF THE CENTURY

THE DARK TOWER

THE GREEN MILE

THE GUNSLINGER

THE LONG WALK

THE PLANT

THE RUNNING MAN

THE SHINING

THE TALISMAN

THE TOMMYKNOCKERS

THE WASTE LANDS

THINNER

TOM GORDON

WIZARD AND GLASS

WOLVES OF THE CALLA

 Riding the Bullet, like The Plant, was originally released on the web in digital format. The novella, now included in the Everything’s Eventual collection, was Stephen King’s first venture with internet publishing and, unlike The Plant, was made into a made-for-television movie like many of King’s other fictional works such as The Stand and, more recently, Nightmares & Dreamscapes.

The story follows the character of Alan Parker, a college student who must travel to his mother’s bedside following a near fatal stroke. If it truly is the journey and not the destination, then Riding the Bullet delivers.

Fixated on the destination before him and what sort of state he will find his mother in when he arrives there, Alan pays little attention to the world around him as he makes the journey to Lewiston, Maine much to his detriment and, of course, the reader’s enjoyment.

After bumming a ride from a foul smelling driver and, eventually, opting to walk instead of continue with said driver, Alan meets another driver by the name of George Staub, who just happens to share his name with that of a deceased man whose tombstone Alan came across while trekking on foot. It is within the first moments of this meeting that the story turns from a tale of a young man trying to reach his dying mother to that of a young man struggling with fear of the unknown.

As can be expected, George knows a bit too much about Alan’s life just to be a stranger. Continuing toward Lewiston, George presents Alan with an impossible choice: let George take Alan to the underworld now or sacrifice his own mother. It is within the next moments that Alan must face what emotion runs more hotly through his blood: his fear of death or his love for his mother.

Again, King seems to draw off the classic Twilight Zone tales penned by Ray Bradbury and Richard Matheson in the fifties. Riding the Bullet, while sticking to formula, remains a worthy read, keeping the reader in suspense until the last words drop from the page.