Revival by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


There are few authors that can match King when he's on form & this novel like 11,22,63 is a welcome return to form. Eric Clapton m the blues musician was asked once how he kicked heroin and remarked part of the process involved being hooked up to a black box and given electrical impulses.

King runs with this idea and weaves a tale of how a local pastor, Charlie Jacobs befriends a young boy, James Morton in a small town. Jacobs has a fascination with electricity and when he suffers a tragedy, he becomes a healing preacher who takes a revival on the road.

Morton becomes a musician and lives the high life, becoming an addict. The two men meet, Morton is healed but in all Faustian pacts, what appears miraculous comes with a heavy price. As their paths cross year after year, Morton discovers that Jacobs has a plan for the ultimate electric shock and sets out to stop it.

a superb book that allows the characterisation to grow and like a great Hitchcock movie, only releases the horror in well placed junctures.



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