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Revival -- November 2014
During his CBS Q&A, King said that he's halfway through a novel called "Revival"
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In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of 13, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
November 11, 2014: New York City
November 12, 2014: Washington, DC
November 13, 2014: Kansas City, MO
November 14, 2014: Wichita, KS
November 15, 2014: Austin, TX
November 17, 2014: South Portland, ME
From Publishers Weekly and Booklist, respectively:
This spellbinding supernatural
thriller from MWA Grand Master King chronicles one man's efforts to, as narrator
Jamie Morton phrases it, "tap into the secrets of the universe."
Charles Jacobs, a Methodist minister in rural Harlow, Maine, loses his faith
when his wife and child die in a hideous car accident, but not his obsessive
interest in electricity. Over the next 50 years, Jamie—a devoted congregant of
Jacobs's when young, but a wary skeptic as he matures—crosses paths with his
friend as the constantly experimenting Jacobs graduates from carnival huckster,
to faith healer, and finally to mad scientist convinced that he can harness a
"secret electricity" to get a glimpse of "some unknown existence
beyond our lives." King (Mr. Mercedes) is a master at invoking the
supernatural through the powerful emotions of his characters, and his depiction
of Jacobs as a man unhinged by grief but driven by insatiable scientific
curiosity is as believable as it is frightening. The novel's ending—one of
King's best—stuns like lightning. Agent: Chuck Verrill, Darhansoff &
Verrill Literary Agents. (Nov.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2014 PWxyz LLC
Saying that this is one of King's most harrowing, most fatalistic works shouldonly endear it to his base—this is horror, after all; we're not here for the
positive vibes. In the kind of loose, garrulous voice that has marked his last
decade, King spins the yarn of Jamie Morton and Reverend Charles Jacobs, whose
lives wretchedly intertwine for 50 years. Jamie is six when he meets the
wholesome preacher whose hobby, electronics, makes him a hit with the Methodist
youth. A tragic accident leads to Jacobs' loss of faith—readers will also be
scarred—but only increases his devotion to electrical experimentation: one of
God's doorways to the infinite. Jamie grows up to be a drug-addicted rhythm
guitarist, but a reunion at Jacobs' electricity-based carnival act proves the
curative potential of secret electricity . . . despite unsettling side effects.
Frankenstein is a touchstone here, but more so is Lovecraft, as King edges ever
closer to the madness of the unknowable and eventually, to his courageous
credit, stares directly at it. Though narrative wheels spin in place on
occasion, the book's engine is powered by high-octane dread, and few fuels run
stronger. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This is old-school, capital-H horror the likes
of Thinner, Pet Sematary, and The Shining. Readers will be up for the endurance
test. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews
KIRKUS REVIEW
In his second novel of 2014 (the other being Mr.
Mercedes), veteran yarn spinner King continues to point out the unspeakably
spooky weirdness that lies on the fringes of ordinary life.
Think of two central meanings of the title—a religious awakening
and bringing someone back to life—and you’ll have King’s latest in a nuthouse.
Beg pardon, nutshell, though of course it’s madness that motivates all his most
memorable characters. In this instance, a preacher arrives in a small New
England town—always a small New England town—with an attractive wife and small
child. Soon enough, bad things happen: “The woman had a dripping bundle clasped
to her breast with one arm. One arm was all Patsy Jacobs could use, because the
other had been torn off at the elbow.” And soon enough, the good reverend,
broken by life, is off to other things, while our protagonist drinks deep of
the choppy waters of sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. “My belief had ended,” Jamie
Morton says, simply—that is, until Rev. Jacobs turns up in his life again,
after having spent time at the horrifying North Carolina amusement park that is
Joyland (for which see King’s 2013 novel of the same name) and mastered not
just the carney’s trade, but also the mysterious workings of “secret
electricity.” Well, as Victor Frankenstein learned, electricity can sometimes
get away from a fellow, and though young Jamie pleads with the bereaved pastor
to get himself back on the good foot (“The newspapers would call you Josef
Mengele.” “Does anyone call a neurosurgeon Josef Mengele just because he
loses some of his patients?”), once it sets to crackling, the secret
electricity can’t be put back into the bottle. Faith healing run amok: It’s a
theme that’s exercised King since Carrie, and though this latest is
less outright scary and more talky than that early touchstone, it compares
well.
No one does psychological terror better than King. Another
spine-tingling pleasure for his fans.
Lastly, from Library Journal:
King's latest (after Doctor Sleep)
is narrated by Jamie Morton, who is six years old when he meets Rev. Charles
Jacobs. New to Harlow, ME, Jacobs, along with his pretty young wife and
toddler, quickly become the local attraction. Jamie and his family discover
that Jacobs has a love of electricity and is quite ingenious with his
inventions. Soon, though, tragedy strikes the reverend, and the losses he
endures cause him to give a sermon that gets him fired from the ministry and
banished from town. Years later, Jamie, now in his 30s and addicted to heroin,
meets Jacobs again. Noticing how Jacobs has changed, Jamie worries about the
man's constant tinkering with what Jacobs calls "secret electricity."
Jacobs begins to heal people using his knowledge of electricity, but Jamie
finds that there are terrible side effects. VERDICT King (The Stand) fans will
rejoice that the horror master is back in fine form. While there are fewer
characters than in many of his other tomes, each character is well drawn and
worth following. The ending is exquisitely horrific and will leave the reader
hoping this is only a work of fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 5/19/14.]—Jason L. Steagall,
Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI
http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2014/11/10/amazon-reveals-its-best-books-of-2014/18796437/
Seattle Times review:
http://seattletimes.com/html/books/2024958339_revivalstephenkingxml.html