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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
Although I enjoyed the set up of learning about “carny culture” if you will. This book did not hold my attention long enough on the mystery end. The murder is mentioned toward the beginning of the book, but I made it 100 pages in and it hasn’t been mention since. I’ll always love reading King’s writing, but this just wasn’t the book for me.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
Loveable characters:
Yes
Billed as a mystery and published as a Hard Case Crime Novel, it reads as vintage King. It feels good to submerge myself in a work by one of my favorite authors. I am a "constant reader" as King fondly calls his loyal fans. This novel doesn't disappoint...,the characters are fully fledged, sympathetic, real...and they live in distant corner of the world where all King stories abide.
Joyland is whimsical, I don't think I've ever described a Stephen King novel like this before. Does it have horror? Yes. Does it have a supernatural element? Yes. The novel's main focus is taking us back to 1973 at small amusement park, and lead us through the life of Devin Jones who just broke up with the girl he thought he was going to marry and how he got over it. Which if you have read King he can do in his sleep. This novel is good but when I read King, I want great. This story is a little slower than most of his stories, instead of this novel hooking me, it just kept giving me nibbles, The ending is intense but it feels rushed.
The Plot: Devin Jones needed a summer job away from North Hampshire University, and he finds an ad calling for summer help at Joyland a run of the mill amusement park along the beach of North Carolina. Devin thinks he's going to be doing custodial work but when he gets there is main duty is being the mascot Howie the Hound. While at the park he learns of a local legend a ghost that roams the haunted castle ride. The legend goes she was killed midway through the ride, by having her throat cut, and her body dumped out of the car and not noticed for some time, the killer got away. Devin decides to see for himself and invites two friends Tom and Ellen who also work at the park. Devin doesn't see anything but Tom does and he's shaken and scared. Devin and Ellen decide to look into the matter and see if there were other victims. There are and the clues lead to someone who either works at the park or who did in the past.
What I liked: The character's are easily defined, and are all three dimensional. The mystery of the ghost is really exciting and gave me goosebumps, the ending is gripping and unputdownable. The era is defined really well. The Joyland park is described with so much love and fascination. The carney language is a great, you feel as if you have a secret handshake into the world. After the finale goes down there was a sweet little twist that I really enjoyed. The character of Mike was really special.
What I disliked: The filler, there's a lot, it's Stephen King he writes interesting filler, but I needed more teases to the mystery/ghost story. The finale feels so rushed, it's great but it's so fast, as it goes to intense. The flow is really slow. the novel is 180 pages coming of age and the last 100 is mystery and ghost story. I felt the ghost story ending was pretty weak and again it was rushed.
If you're a Stephen King fan there's just barely enough for me to recommend, this novel is way better than the other Hard Case Crime novel he wrote called The Colorado Kid. If your not a Stephen King fan then please start with another book, there's many other's better than this one. Stephen King is my favorite author, I admit I'm hard on him but he writes so good when he doesn't I know he's better than that. I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.
The Plot: Devin Jones needed a summer job away from North Hampshire University, and he finds an ad calling for summer help at Joyland a run of the mill amusement park along the beach of North Carolina. Devin thinks he's going to be doing custodial work but when he gets there is main duty is being the mascot Howie the Hound. While at the park he learns of a local legend a ghost that roams the haunted castle ride. The legend goes she was killed midway through the ride, by having her throat cut, and her body dumped out of the car and not noticed for some time, the killer got away. Devin decides to see for himself and invites two friends Tom and Ellen who also work at the park. Devin doesn't see anything but Tom does and he's shaken and scared. Devin and Ellen decide to look into the matter and see if there were other victims. There are and the clues lead to someone who either works at the park or who did in the past.
What I liked: The character's are easily defined, and are all three dimensional. The mystery of the ghost is really exciting and gave me goosebumps, the ending is gripping and unputdownable. The era is defined really well. The Joyland park is described with so much love and fascination. The carney language is a great, you feel as if you have a secret handshake into the world. After the finale goes down there was a sweet little twist that I really enjoyed. The character of Mike was really special.
What I disliked: The filler, there's a lot, it's Stephen King he writes interesting filler, but I needed more teases to the mystery/ghost story. The finale feels so rushed, it's great but it's so fast, as it goes to intense. The flow is really slow. the novel is 180 pages coming of age and the last 100 is mystery and ghost story. I felt the ghost story ending was pretty weak and again it was rushed.
If you're a Stephen King fan there's just barely enough for me to recommend, this novel is way better than the other Hard Case Crime novel he wrote called The Colorado Kid. If your not a Stephen King fan then please start with another book, there's many other's better than this one. Stephen King is my favorite author, I admit I'm hard on him but he writes so good when he doesn't I know he's better than that. I rated this book 3 out of 5 stars.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Story didn’t grab me as much as Stephen King books usually do, but I really enjoyed the writing and the characters like always. The scene where they take the dying kid to the amusement park opened exclusively for him so he can enjoy his first and most likely only time in such a place as much as possible was easily the best part of the book, Stephen King is great at emotional feel-good scenes that are borderline cheesy but never quite pass that threshold. The “murder mystery” part and the related twist was underwhelming.
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
People who know me, know that I like a Stephen King that doesn't need too much of the supernatural, hence why I loved this book :)
"A minor complaint: I got sucked out of the story at one point when a reference is made to a character wearing a South Carolina Mudcats ball cap. In 1973, when this story is set, the Mudcats not only didn't play in South Carolina (they play in North Carolina), they didn't even exist yet."
- adding to this: there's also the mentioning of Hogwarts/ a Harry Potter reference which doesn't make sense when the story plays in the 70s
"A minor complaint: I got sucked out of the story at one point when a reference is made to a character wearing a South Carolina Mudcats ball cap. In 1973, when this story is set, the Mudcats not only didn't play in South Carolina (they play in North Carolina), they didn't even exist yet."
- adding to this: there's also the mentioning of Hogwarts/ a Harry Potter reference which doesn't make sense when the story plays in the 70s
adventurous
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Oof, Stephen King, this was a banger. Just finished it moments ago and then lied down in bed wimpering. Like. Damn.
The only reason this isn't a 5 star is because I felt the ending was a little rushed & too conveniently wrapped up. But. I'd absolutely recommend this to ANYONE. SO GOOD.
Really amazing coming of age story that has a splash of mystery. I really liked our main character, 21 year old, Devin and his interactions with his fellow carnys. Beautiful.
Also that ending was too fucking good, ugh, what a beautiful ending. Okay. Gonna go be hungover from this book now.
The only reason this isn't a 5 star is because I felt the ending was a little rushed & too conveniently wrapped up. But. I'd absolutely recommend this to ANYONE. SO GOOD.
Really amazing coming of age story that has a splash of mystery. I really liked our main character, 21 year old, Devin and his interactions with his fellow carnys. Beautiful.
Also that ending was too fucking good, ugh, what a beautiful ending. Okay. Gonna go be hungover from this book now.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Amazing story, came for the mystery, stayed for the coming of age stuff. I only wish the mystery was more prominent in the first 2/3rds of the book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Cancer, Child death, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Rape
This was basically the perfect summer read. It's a ghost story without being a horror, a coming-of-age story without too much angst, a detective story without any overwrought analysis of the clues, and a Stephen King story without allusions to either the Dark Tower series or Randall Flag. It is substantial without being heavy -- in tone or in book weight (it's less than 300 pages).
Speaking of pages, this book is a bit of an oddity in that it was not released as an ebook, allegedly because King liked paperbacks growing up.
A minor complaint: I got sucked out of the story at one point when a reference is made to a character wearing a South Carolina Mudcats ball cap. In 1973, when this story is set, the Mudcats not only didn't play in South Carolina (they play in North Carolina), they didn't even exist yet.
A second minor complaint: While the book cover is awesome, and gives the book a perfect retro vibe, the image has little to do with the plot whatsoever.