Stephen King's Joyland: An Illustrated Edition of the Classic Thriller

James Heaton: Stephen. King has many faces. This story was magical and my new favorite King read. The master strikes again. Thank you for your words Mr. King.

United States on Sep 09, 2023

avid whatever: Always the masterful storyteller, King once again spins a tale of believable wonder. Always a a joyful ride, with a drop of terror. Delightful.

United States on Sep 05, 2023

Guilherme: Great book!

United Kingdom on Aug 28, 2023

Mr JJ Morland: A fascinating and spellbinding story. Steven Kings style draws the reader right into tht story and you feel as if you are there witnessing events as they happen. A brilliant read.

United Kingdom on Aug 23, 2023

G-Way: I just hate that Mike died. It should have been his granddad. Sorry, but characters like that are automatic. That's why I'm glad Mr King is different and real. We know the happenings of our time, previous and possible future and it sucks! I have no lengthy word for it, just cutting to the sad point. Bravo Sir!

United States on Aug 14, 2023

LTJ: “Joyland” by Stephen King is an underrated gem that takes you on an emotional ride while being so relatable, it’s incredible. You’re getting a powerhouse of a read that has a horror, mystery, murder, and crime aspect to it. I found it to be pretty mind-blowing that King pulled this off so brilliantly that it kept me guessing all the way to the end while giving me my horror fix.

Before I jump into my review, I wanted to let everyone know about two trigger warnings I found while reading. They’re on suicide/suicidal thoughts and rape but don’t worry, there is nothing descriptive or too graphic with these trigger warnings. If either topic being mentioned while reading triggers you, please don’t read this.

Moving along, considering I’m reading this right before the summer hits the beautiful city of New York, this is a perfect summer read. I loved the authenticity of this novel when it came to that as well as dealing with love and heartbreak as a young adult, especially in long-distance relationships. This hit home with me since I’ve been through similar experiences and the way King wrote “Joyland” totally brought me back to those days as a young...

United States on May 24, 2023

Mr Mark: So if you have read my review of Titanic Thompson the man who bet on everything.you will know I have an affinity for the grifter and con-man being interested in such matters, I also have a passing interested in carnivals (fun fairs if you are from UK like me). If you have been following this blog you will also know that I am a fan of noir as Money Shot by Christa Faust and The Moving Target will attest to, you may also might have noticed a like a good horror story along the lines of A Head full of Ghost. You might have also have read that me and Stephen King have not the best relationship Stephen King’s IT: A book that that I couldn’t finish. So if you take a Noir story set it at a carnival, with a ghost written by Stephen King, I am not going to know what to to, could I suffer another 280ish pages of King again?

Joyland at it's heart is a murder story against a backdrop of a carnival the titular Joyland. Add a dying child in a wheelchair who has a gift (I believe the King fans will call the is the shining), mix in a young man's story of love that was lost, drop in a story of friendship, whisk then add a ghost. You have one of the most unique pieces of noir fiction...

United Kingdom on Sep 10, 2017

Mark West: It's 1973 and Devin Jones is a 21-year-old college student, recently dumped by his long-term girlfriend (though still a virgin) and looking forward to working his summer vacation at the Joyland amusement park in North Carolina. Over the summer and into the Autumn, he'll meet new friends, a boy with a psychic gift and encounter the ghost of a murdered girl.

Told as a reminiscence by Devin in 2013 ("I'm in my sixties now, I'm a prostate cancer survivor, but I still want to know why I wasn't good enough for Wendy Keegan"), this is what I would consider as prime King (and it's the first book of his I've read in almost ten years). It does take its time to get going (and the structure isn't immediately clear) but as you read you quickly realise the pace works perfectly - we get to know his friends, the park and its people and history, the owner of the guesthouse, the area and the times (music plays a key part in that, but there're plenty of pop culture references and there's a lovely in-joke in the name of a travelling circus). The characterisation is spot on and so deftly done you feel you know these people almost immediately. From Devin, who we desperately want to see succeed...

United Kingdom on Jul 29, 2013

G. J. Matthia: Da ist ihm wieder einmal etwas ganz Besonderes gelungen, dem Stephen King. Der Verlag Hard Case Crime, in dem dieses Buch erschienen ist, steht eigentlich als Synonym für Krimis, aber »Joyland« ist kein Krimi. Kein klassischer Krimi jedenfalls. Es ist ein warmherzig geschriebener Roman über das Erwachsenwerden, es ist aber auch die Geschichte vom Sterben eines Kindes, vom Abschied nehmen. Und die Geschichte des ersten großen Liebeskummers. Und die Geschichte der Tochter eines gefeierten TV-Evangelisten im weißen Anzug. Und, ach ja, sogar ein Kriminalfall wird gelöst. Und … und … und …

»Joyland« schlägt uns das Buch des Lebens auf und lässt uns für ein paar Stunden teilhaben am Schicksal des jungen Devin Jones und seines ganz besonderen Sommers.
Der Autor nimmt uns mit in das Jahr 1973 nach South Carolina. Mobile Telefone gibt es genauso wenig wie Computer. Statt dessen liest man noch Bücher (Tolkien), hört Schallplatten (The Doors, Pink Floyd) und man schreibt noch Briefe.

I shrugged, the way you do when it's small s*** but annoying s***, all the same. "Girlfriend broke up with me. Sent me a Dear John letter."
"Which in your case," Tom said,...

Germany on Jun 17, 2013

😺- CatChat -💬: I want to start my review by copying/pasting a post I wrote in the amazon discussion boards in response to all the complaints about there not being an e-book for this novel available at this time. This also goes out to everyone posting a 1 star review for the same reason. Also I use the words TRUE FANS in my review title because real and true fans of Stephen King could care less about the publication form and collect his works because there are few authors who can write the amazing novels/short-story collections that are so imaginative and descriptive and in so many genres as SK does. I understand that there are some readers who need e-books for reasons of eyesight, arthritis, etc. I have enough faith in SK that he will eventually put this novel in other forms besides paperback like he has in other publications that were released in only one form to start with.

SK has a long history of publishing his stories/novels only in certain formats for the express purposes of creating an atmosphere. The ones that come to mind are The Mist, The Storm of the Century, the joint publications of The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer and Rose Red, and finally UR. The Mist was originally published as...

United States on Jun 13, 2013