Clare’s Reviews > The Tommyknockers > Status Update

Now we're diverting the entire story to discuss the pediatric dental hygiene of a minor side character? This is tedious. I really do not care about all these characters.

This is A LOT of tangents and side stories. I really don't need any of them. I'd say you have to choose: either lean into it, and make Tommyknockers an actual anthology, or cut it down drastically.

I agree with Steven King: this novel needed a ton more editing.

I dislike Gard and resent having to read a book from his perspective. That said, I want a rewrite with the Gard character as a woman. Keep the alcoholic writer at rock bottom bit, but ditch the history of abuse and assault. Keep the weird Lovecraftian aliens. Keep the anti-nuke thread. Hell, keep it in Maine. But just make Gard a woman. The word needs more 1980s cocaine-fueled lesbian sci fi.

Another King novel where I'm left wondering why I'm in the position of reading a story through the eyes of an alcoholic asshole who shot his wife and thinks juvenile fatphobia is the height of wit. Especially when there's a perfectly interesting, competent woman in the mix. This is more of a theme than I realized.