Stephen King Fans discussion

Below is a synopsis of the story

(view spoiler)[The narrator, Robinson, is a schoolteacher who lives in Las Vegas. He has become widowed after Dolan, a wealthy crime-boss, has his wife murdered in order to prevent her from testifying against him. The murder remains unsolved, and Robinson, unskilled in the arts of revenge, has no recourse. Over a seven-year period, however, Robinson—mentally haunted by his wife's voice—devises a scheme of retaliation.

Discovering that Dolan regularly makes the same route when travelling to Los Angeles in his Cadillac, Robinson decides to trick Dolan into taking a fake detour, on which the Cadillac will crash into a ditch and be buried alive. He takes on a summer job with a road paving crew so that he can learn to operate the heavy equipment needed to excavate an oblong ditch just long and deep enough to contain the car, but not so wide as to allow escape through its doors.

The trap works, and Dolan is stuck in his Cadillac as it crashes into the pit. One of the bodyguards in the car with Dolan is killed in the crash; the other, crushed by the engine block, screams out of pain and panic, prompting Dolan to kill him. Robinson greets Dolan and announces his intent to bury him alive. Dolan addresses Robinson by name, prompting him to lean over the roof of the car as Dolan fires a few bullets skyward. He misses Robinson, who proceeds with the burial.

Dolan, increasingly desperate, pleads with Robinson for his freedom, offering him a large sum of cash. Robinson merely tells him he will be released if he screams, gleefully listening to Dolan's cries as he completes the burial and paves over the car. With what must be the last gasp of air left to him, Dolan screams out, "For the love of God, Robinson!" (An allusion to The Cask of Amontillado) as the latter drops the last piece of paving into place.

Robinson pays a relatively small price of undergoing much physical and mental exhaustion, but he feels satisfied that he has done a great service to the memory of his late wife, whose voice finally falls silent; this silence is something of a relief to Robinson. The press reports Dolan missing, joking that he is "playing dominos or shooting pool somewhere with Jimmy Hoffa." (hide spoiler)]

Dolan's Cadillac (view spoiler)[: Loved the revenge tale, of course. I did grow rather sleepy-eyed and weary with all the technical details of digging a hole, but they were necessary I guess. Oh, if you read the notes at the end of the book about it, he talks about those details. Pretty interesting. (hide spoiler)]

I liked this one a lot but it really did depart from anything I'd previously read by him. It was very dark and Robinson seemed creepily invested in his revenge. It wasn't that I couldn't understand why it just seemed very extreme. I'd only recently read "The Cask of Amontillado" around the time I read N&D (I was a freshmen in high school at the time) so the comparisons were definitely there for me as I read.

This is like my 4th attempt to read this book, the first two attempts I made ended in the middle of this story when Robinson is digging the hole. That part is too loaded with info that it bored me. Now, on this new attempt I found it fascinating (in the creepy sort of way).
I just don't understand this, if Dolan was supposed to be this bad guy (he lives or almost always is in Vegas, so, drugs?), how can he immediately knew it was Robinson. It was years since he order the murder of his wife, and if he's a bad guy we suppose that wasn't the only murder he order, so i just thought it was a bit weird he knew instantly it was Robinson.

If somebody killed one of my loved ones, I would WANT to think of a revenge this devious, but my mind just doesn't work like that. I think that's why the story impressed me and creeped me out at the same time.

Scarlet86 wrote: "This is like my 4th attempt to read this book, the first two attempts I made ended in the middle of this story when Robinson is digging the hole. That part is too loaded with info that it bored me...."

Yeah, a bit of a stretch, but what the heck. The story is really good.

Rachel wrote: "If somebody killed one of my loved ones, I would WANT to think of a revenge this devious, but my mind just doesn't work like that. I think that's why the story impressed me and creeped me out at t..."

I agree; but I also think most of us don't have a clue how we would react. We like to think we would not become obsessive and turn the other cheek.... but that in itself doesn't seem human. We are more primal when it comes to our loved ones. I think of my children and know that I would plot, plot, and plot some more....

Alondra wrote: "Rachel wrote: "If somebody killed one of my loved ones, I would WANT to think of a revenge this devious, but my mind just doesn't work like that. I think that's why the story impressed me and cree..."

I agree.. when you love someone and you snap you never know what you could end up doing.

I think this was a great opening story to this thick book. It was kinda creepy. Who digs at 3 am in the middle of the desert... Very spooky!

Ditto, Daisy.

What I particularly enjoyed about this story is how I felt like I was there with Robinson. I knew what he was doing, what he was thinking, how he was preparing. I felt like I was listening to a friend (albeit one who is hell-bent on revenge) plot out a plan and witnessing him carrying it out.

As a fairly new King reader, perhaps this is something others who know his writing style find as the norm. For me, it was a breath of fresh air to be so connected with the character and "inside" his head, if you will.

I have to share, I keep seeing blue Cadis everywhere when I never used to see them ever. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration (and now I likely only notice them because of the awareness built to them in the story), but in all seriousness I did see one just after finishing this story and again on my drive to a relative's home for Thanksgiving. Of course, it immediately made me think of our read and my fellow GR SKF members.