The Rennie's(possible spoiler)

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Lundahl

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Nov 20, 2016
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Greatest father and son bad guy duo ever?

Also, as long as the book was, it came to a riveting and abrupt halt the last 100 pages or so. I absolutely loved it, but
I would've liked to see Big Jim make it out alive and have one more antagonist-protagonist meeting before finally dying, either unexpectedly or from a final crushing blow.

Anyways, as much as I hated Jim and Junior reading the book, they were fantastic characters. This is the only REALLY long Stephen King novel that kept me interested from cover to cover(The Stand and It were good, but I felt they drug along at some points).
 
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GNTLGNT

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Jun 15, 2007
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Greatest father and son bad guy duo ever?

Also, as long as the book was, it came to a riveting and abrupt halt the last 100 pages or so. I absolutely loved it, but
I would've liked to see Big Jim make it out alive and have one more antagonist-protagonist meeting before finally dying, either unexpectedly or from a final crushing blow.

Anyways, as much as I hated Jim and Junior reading the book, they were fantastic characters. This is the only REALLY long Stephen King novel that kept me interested from cover to cover(The Stand and It were good, but I felt they drug along at some points).
...I would nominate the Merrill's......old fashioned hoodlums.....
 
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preciousroy

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Apr 4, 2018
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What happened to Big Jim? There was no comeuppance. While reading the book I couldn't help but imagine the grisly payback coming to the Rennie's. The payback that never came. Junior's ending was too kind to him for what he had done.
Big Jim just got lost in the dark with his monsters? I even recall that some of Junior's victims were the relationship partners of some of the newly recruited police, and they never got to find out It was Junior responsible and not Barbie. I was waiting for those people to find out and it never happened. Chef found out what Junior had done but Frankie DeLesseps died before he ever learned Junior had murdered and raped his girlfriend.

Does anyone think this was purposeful to be in line with the theme? That as the observer there's something wrong with us for wanting to see the pain of others, no matter how deserving/undeserving they may be? Was Mr. King saying it was wrong? Or was it more a matter of indifference, as with the bully who came back to help their victim but felt no pity or regret for what they had done?

I really had a hard time liking this book in the beginning but by the end I couldn't put it down. There were too many characters to become acquainted with so quickly and I actually couldn't visualize them at the pace of their introduction. They were just blank names to me while I tried to keep up. I still don't feel like I got a good grasp on all the characters and their identities by the time I finished. Yet somehow, the ending was tearful.

I'd really like to read Misery again but I've moved on to Duma Key because it's new to me.
 

William8675309

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Mar 9, 2018
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Just finished this, it took a while as you might imagine. I had seen the 1st season of the TV series when it premiered and the book was absolutely 100% better. I stopped watching the show after season 1. I agree that the last 100 pages flew by, there was a lot happening. I had to read about Jim again to make sure I read correctly what had happened and would have preferred a harsher conclusion for he and Jr.