Horror supremo weighs in with message about pulling together
HHHH by Stephen King Hodder & Stoughton, £14.99
STEPHEN King is a prolific writer, with more than 50 novels to his name. However, even by the horror maestro’s standards, the past six months have been especially busy.
Hot on the heels of The Outsider, the 71-year-old’s gripping supernatural murder mystery published in May, he edited Flight Or Fright, a collection of short stories based on the fear of flying.
His latest novel, Elevation, is a curious, rather tenderhearted tale that begins with an unsettling mystery.
Scott Carey lives in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine, the setting for many of King’s stories over the years. He is divorced and lives alone with his ex-wife’s cat.
When we first meet him he is paying a visit to Bob Ellis, a retired family doctor he knows from the local tennis club. Scott has come to discuss a problem that he doesn’t understand – he’s losing weight.
However, there is a twist. While the numbers keep going down on the scale, Scott’s body hasn’t changed. He is no thinner and his belt stubbornly remains on the same notch.
On top of this, he feels great, full of energy with a healthy appetite. Yet the pounds keep
ldisappearing, one or two each day, leaving Scott perplexed and worried. And Doctor Bob is just as mystified.
Meanwhile, Scott is involved in a dispute with his neighbours. Deirdre and Missy are a young couple who recently moved to the area to open a restaurant.
Scott is frustrated because their two dogs foul his garden and when he complains about it, Deirdre accuses him of being homophobic.
However when he finally gets photographic proof of the dogs doing their business, he sets off to confront the women for the second time.
These two storylines gradually intertwine and Scott realises that the town he calls home isn’t always as welcoming as he once thought.
But Elevation is a story about finding common ground where at first it appears there is none.
King has been an especially vocal critic of Donald Trump and this novel, which at its heart is a story about respect, tolerance and friendship, feels like a rebuke to the Trumpian world view.
While fans of King hoping for killer clowns or buckets of blood may be disappointed, there is much to enjoy in this tale that ends with an unexpected emotional punch. King’s message here is that we really are better together.
It may not be subtle but perhaps in the current climate the only way to make it heard is to hammer it home. is almost like a Swiss watch in terms of the meticulous detail. I vividly remember getting to the revelation in this and having an almost physical shock. It’s so possible but you don’t think of it.
MAKING COCOA FOR KINGSLEY AMIS
by Wendy Cope
Faber, £9.99
My favourite living poet. I’ve always loved poetry that has a strong musical quality but at university I found myself studying heavy verse.
When I was moaning about it, my mum handed me this book and my heart lifted. It was about human nature and relationships.
A DARK-ADAPTED EYE
by Barbara Vine
Penguin, £7.99
At university, my initial degree programme, modern languages, was wrong for me so I couldn’t bear to buy any of the set texts.
HHHHH by Jeffrey Archer
Macmillan, £20
LENINGRAD, 1968, and the Cold War still rages. Young Alexander Karpenko tells his friend Vladimir of his ambition to become the first democratically elected president of Russia. At the time it’s a laughable thought. But his father Konstantin shares his dangerous idealism and tries to establish a trade union at the docks where he works.
When Vladimir betrays him to the authorities, Konstantin pays with his life. And the wolves of the KGB are on to Alexander and his mother Elena.
Corrupt and dangerous, the USSR is no place for either of them after Konstantin’s murder. They plan their escape.
Tension peaks when a KGB bully attempts to rape
Elena, only stopping when Alexander wounds him, making a dangerous enemy for the boy.
MOTHER and son board a cargo ship where they have a choice of crate to climb into. One will sail to England, the other to the US. Alexander asks Elena, “Heads or tails?” and their future is decided on the flip of a coin.
The story then splits into parallel tales where we see Alex’s new lives unfold in both countries at the same time.
Alexander was a brilliant chess player in Russia. In England, where he is known as Sasha, he becomes captain of Cambridge University’s chess team. But in the US, Alex uses his talent to make money with a KGB thug.
His life is harder in America where every Russian is seen as a potential threat. So Alex enjoys But in the bookshop, I noticed a line of books by Ruth Rendell, who was also Barbara Vine. I got addicted. This is a psychological suspense novel that doesn’t put a foot wrong.
THE BLACK PRINCE
by Iris Murdoch
Vintage, £9.99
The best all-round novel that I’ve read. It’s a brilliant crime novel and a love story that’s beautifully written.
Murdoch is also one of the few writers who recognises that life is utterly ridiculous, without detracting from the seriousness of her overall aims.
HOUSE RULES
by Rachel Sontag
Ecco, £10.76
A memoir about growing up in a psychologically dysfunctional American family, where the father is abusive and bonkers and the mother and sister go in and out of being able to see that. There’s no starving, locking in cupboards and beatings but it’s chilling. To order any of the books featured, post free (UK only), please phone The Express Bookshop on
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