Apostrophe S

I seem to remember reading an interview with Stephen King a few years back, and I’m pretty sure he said he had decided to retire from writing. He said he would finish up his “Dark Tower” series and that would be it, no more. Well, it’s been at least two years since then, and I’m pretty sure he’s written about half a dozen books in that time. I guess the guy just can’t help himself; he’s prolific. Words just pour out of him and pile up on the page into books. Anyway, I’m not really sure why King decided to do this “noir” piece for Hard Case Crime, an imprint dedicated to republishing classic pulp crime novels from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s, as well as fresh novels from contemporary authors.

I read one other Hard Case Crime book last year, called “Top Of The Heap”, originally written in 1952 by a fellow named Erle Stanely Gardner. It was a fine example of the kind of hardboiled crime story where every main character is a different shade of Sam Spade.

But “The Colorado Kid” doesn’t really fit that mold at all. The story is a box within a box. The main character, Stephanie, is an intern at a small newspaper on an island off the coast of Maine. There, she has gained the trust of two older and wiser reporters, who impart to Steph the “story” of the Colorado Kid, wherin a mysterious dead body is discovered leaning against a waste bin on one of the island’s beaches. Basically the two older reporters are leading Steph on, expecting her to figure out the next clue in the story. Unfortunately, the tale of the Colorado Kid isn’t really a story at all, because despite the fact that how the body ended up on the beach has pretty much been figured out, no one has ever figured out the why part of the story, and the book concludes leaving that little mystery open. That’s where this departs from the “hardboiled” style of the book’s imprint. A hardboiled book should read like a “Law & Order” episode, like a standard police procedural.

But nevermind all that. I’ve never read a Stephen King story that I haven’t liked. I still say students will be reading his books in their American literature classes in another couple of decades. I believe King has defined the American literary voice for the better part of 30 years.

Next book, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell.

[This article is part of the 26 Books project that I'm doing this year.]