... “Desperation” was released in conjunction with Richard Bachman’s (a name long known to be Stephen King’s pseudonym) “The Regulators”. Resurrecting a long dead author and releasing 2 books at once, the second under a different author name that everyone knows is really King anyway so that ... Read review
Every town has its secrets.Welcome to the town of Desperation, Nevada: population ... more
practically nobody...and falling. Horror master Stephen King and an impressive cast team for a heart-racing, palm-sweating terror spree set in the modern but hardly tamed West. A hellish hulk of a sheriff rules Desperation, and he has a lot more than a sidearm in his arsenal of weapons. A posse of demon-possessed desert beasts and human beings join the lawman in plunging passersby, including a young boy with a profound faith in prayer, into a demented game of life or death inside the Desperation jail. Terrified, the captives unite in a frantic bid to escape their otherworldly tormentors. And a little child shall lead them.
In This Town There Are No Accidents. Unsuspecting travelers take a detour to terror when ... more
they're arrested by a small-town sheriff and jailed in a desolate town whose streets are littered with the dead bodies of local residents. The captives manage to escape only to discover that Desperation Nevada is more than just a town gone wrong - it's the terrifying source of unbridled evil.
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Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), also recruited by Stephen King to remakeThe Shining, ... more
knows how to capture King's horror aesthetic on film.Desperation, based on a more recent King novel, is a pastiche of earlier King novelties, such as the psycho in uniform, this time Sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), and dogs summoned by the devil, this time by TAK, an ancient Chinese demon. A town called Desperation in Nevada has a collapsed mine full of Chinese immigrant ghosts, whose spirits are trapped with TAK until they're accidentally unleashed. The TAK-possessed local sheriff is killing everyone, save a few travelers who stumble through on road trips. In the opening scene, Mary (Annabeth Gish) and her beau are pulled over by Sheriff Entragian, framed by his placing of marijuana in their trunk, then read their rights with a Satanic "I will kill you" thrown in. Later, Steve (Steven Weber), Cynthia (Kelly Overton), and Vietnam vet John Marinville (Tom Skerrit), ride into town, and they too encounter the evil policeman's wrath. They all meet a brave, imprisoned boy, David (Shane Haboucha), with whom they team up to end the mayhem.Desperationuses blue and green lighting to embrace the funhouse look, and camera shots highlighting the Sheriff's deranged face make the film occasionally spooky. But the rehashed plot detracts from the fear-factor, leaving one to pine for earlier King story adaptations, such asMiseryorCujo
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Director Mick Garris (Sleepwalkers), also recruited by Stephen King to remakeThe Shining, ... more
knows how to capture King's horror aesthetic on film.Desperation, based on a more recent King novel, is a pastiche of earlier King novelties, such as the psycho in uniform, this time Sheriff Collie Entragian (Ron Perlman), and dogs summoned by the devil, this time by TAK, an ancient Chinese demon. A town called Desperation in Nevada has a collapsed mine full of Chinese immigrant ghosts, whose spirits are trapped with TAK until they're accidentally unleashed. The TAK-possessed local sheriff is killing everyone, save a few travelers who stumble through on road trips. In the opening scene, Mary (Annabeth Gish) and her beau are pulled over by Sheriff Entragian, framed by his placing of marijuana in their trunk, then read their rights with a Satanic "I will kill you" thrown in. Later, Steve (Steven Weber), Cynthia (Kelly Overton), and Vietnam vet John Marinville (Tom Skerrit), ride into town, and they too encounter the evil policeman's wrath. They all meet a brave, imprisoned boy, David (Shane Haboucha), with whom they team up to end the mayhem.Desperationuses blue and green lighting to embrace the funhouse look, and camera shots highlighting the Sheriff's deranged face make the film occasionally spooky. But the rehashed plot detracts from the fear-factor, leaving one to pine for earlier King story adaptations, such asMiseryorCujo
Postage & Packaging:Check Site. Availability:Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
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Desperately Poor!
Advantages: Well...it's a long book, so the price per page is fairly low. Disadvantages: Did it need to go on, and on, and on, and on?
...most of the population of Desperation with work, either directly or by serving the mining community. Closed down several years before, it has been reopened, and the evil released.
The good are a bunch of people, mostly travellers who happen to be passing near to Desperation on the nearby Interstate. None of them have any business in Desperation and would simply pass it by at 55 miles an hour if they hadn’t been unfortunate enough to ... ...Desperation jail. Apart from those who were travelling together in a family unit, there’s no links between any of them, apart from their desire to be somewhere else.
As is often the way, their group is whittled down, mostly through various random killings, which seems apt given that they were supposedly thrown together in fairly random circumstances, to a manageable size. It is this group that can manage an escape and attempt to battle ... more
Whether you like this novel or not, whether you like King or not, you do have to admire the brilliance of the people who give Stephen King marketing advice. “Desperation” was released in conjunction with Richard Bachman’s (a name long known to be Stephen King’s pseudonym) “The Regulators”. Resurrecting a long dead author and releasing 2 books at once, the second under a different author name that everyone knows is really King anyway so that people will buy both books is a bit of a masterstroke. And King used the same set of characters, although he switched some of the names around so he got 2 sales when he’d really only written the one book. As a marketing idea it’s a stroke of genius but one which left “constant reader”, as King calls us, feeling just a little ripped off. King gets 2 books for the price of one, I got at best 1½ books for the price of 2. And the reasoning behind how Bachman came to publish another book is as flimsy as parts of the story itself.
It’s interesting sometimes to look through the lists on Ciao and Dooyoo to see how many people have reviewed something you’re reading or listening to and see how well they thought of it. I did that while I was reading Stephen King’s “Desperation”, and got quite a shock. From the ratings it’s been given, it seems that to read “Desperation” is to love it.
That came as quite a surprise to me. Maybe there’s something I’m missing, but as far as I can tell, "Desperation" is not a good novel. Don't get me wrong, I am a huge fan of Stephen King, but he had a bad run during the 90's, with "Gerald's Game” and "Dolores Claiborne" being very poor. Then came "Insomnia", and you get to thinking that he was back on track, a slight blip there, but it happens, no problem, here we go again. And then...oh, dear!
It’s a fairly simple story, in essence. It’s based on that old favourite of good versus evil or even God versus evil. Evil in this case is embodied by a local policeman in the town of Desperation, Nevada, who has been taken control of, infected even, by an evil presence that has for many years lurked patiently in the mine that has provided most of the population of Desperation with work, either directly or by serving the mining community. Closed down several years before, it has been reopened, and the evil released.
The good are a bunch of people, mostly travellers who happen to be passing near to Desperation on the nearby Interstate. None of them have any business in Desperation and would simply pass it by at 55 miles an hour if they hadn’t been unfortunate enough to be singled out by Officer Entragian and dragged into the Desperation jail. Apart from those who were travelling together in a family unit, there’s no links between any of them, apart from their desire to be somewhere else.
As is often the way, their group is whittled down, mostly through various random killings, which seems apt given that they were supposedly thrown together in fairly random circumstances, to a manageable size. It is this group that can manage an escape and attempt to battle the evil that is in Desperation, all held together by a young boy who has already lost his mother and sister to the force of evil that is Officer Entragian and his faith in God.
Unfortunately, this isn’t a terribly original idea. It’s been done better elsewhere, by other authors and, indeed, by Stephen King himself. This novel is, essentially, a watered down version of “The Stand”, only without the road trip part that bought the characters in that novel together in the beginning. Whereas in “The Stand”, there was a constant state of moving on with the story, with very little attention paid to the past, it seems like there is a constant back trail to “Desperation”, with a lot of the reasons behind what is going on based in the past, rather than the present. As a result, the story seems to take too long to get going, circling around issues rather than progressing the plot. It makes for a book that feels longer than it is which can’t be a good thing, especially as it is a pretty lengthy read to begin with.
There’s a great deal of suspension of disbelief required to get through all this. If anything strange happens, it’s largely down to the power of God. Whereas the basics behind “The Stand” were a little more interesting than that, this is what underpins the whole thing in “Desperation. To draw the comparison further, whilst the God of “The Stand” is a force for good, the God of “Desperation” is a cruel God, which makes the boundaries between His side and the supposedly evil side a little less clear. Although “bad” is clear, the line that marks the start of “good” isn’t at all obvious. You don’t end up cheering for the wrong side, but it’s difficult to feel any great sympathy for or kinship with the right side. If you were forced to pick a side to cheer on in the battle for Desperation, the real problem wouldn’t be choosing which side is the right one, but whether or not you can be bothered to nail your colours to either mast.
Whilst the basis behind “Desperation” isn’t a bad idea for a story, it’s not told terribly well here. This in itself is fairly unusual for Stephen King. Although he frequently takes us through too much back story than is necessary, he does usually have a pretty good eye of the way a story should be told. Here, he somehow seems to miss that mark, and the effect is one of boredom and a lack of interest in how things are going to pan out.
If you’re not a Stephen King fan, this certainly isn’t going to change your mind, and I can’t recommend you buy this. If you are a Stephen King fan, I can’t really recommend you buy this either. Chances are, you already have a copy of “The Stand”, and you’d be far better placed to re-read that instead. The basic idea is the same, and it’s more engagingly told. There’s a very good reason that it was that novel and not this one that made the BBC Good Read lists – “The Stand” is a heck of a lot better.
However, if like I am, you’re a big enough Stephen King fan to be a completist and be missing this from your collection, you’ll want to buy regardless. To you (and even to myself, although it’s a bit too late for me) I would pass on this advice. “Desperation” quite simply isn’t worth the cover price of £7.99. It’s not even worth the Amazon price of £6.39. But if you find it on eBay, or Amazon Marketplace, or even in a local charity shop or second hand bookstore, for no more than about £2 or so, then you might not feel as badly done by as I did, and still do.
Advantages: Promising beginning, some very good characters, can be used as a very effective door-stop Disadvantages: 720 pages when perhaps half that would have sufficed, very disappointing ending
I bought the hefty-looking Desperation from a market stall recently, knowing that the least I would get for my 95p would be a decent pennies-to-pages ratio. Having now compiled more or less all of Stephen King's novels, I'd still only managed to read about a third of them (though not through lack of trying!) and on this occasion made the naughty decision to judge Desperation by its cover and dive into straight away. It had a certain dark, minimalistic ... ...on that mammoth series.
Desperation was first published in 1996, in that continually uncertain period whereby fans weren't sure whether King's next book was going to be a rip-roaring classic or a waste of space. Desperation presents elements from both of these categories, with my ultimate view of it being somewhere in-between; a fine introduction brimming with potential being severely negated by a half-baked and forgettable second half.
The story ...
tom1clare 15.10.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Desperation - Stephen King
This book is really one of the better books out there. It sort of stinks as a whole that everybody doesn't love it.
Everybody should try and obtain this book.
I hope everybody who buys books, will please go out and spend their good money on this one.
This review used to be better. But I cannot write reviews for free.
Come and see my wonderful reviews at Epinions.
the web address is www.Epinions.com
Look for Scapp70
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Scapp70 05.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Desperation - Stephen King
Advantages: Page turner, good solid read Disadvantages: Religious aspect may put people off
...case) against Evil. Desperation is a lowly populated mining town in Nevada, a group of people are stopped whilst travelling along a main road nearby seemingly by a policeman. They are taken group by group to the town of Desperation and imprisoned in the jailhouse.
What follows is their escape from imprisonment, to hiding unsucessfully in the town then to taking on the Evil that has been uncovered down the recently re-opened mine.
Some of the group ... ...that Desperation does have it's moments and delivers both in plot and characterisation, making it a readable, enjoyable and unsettling experience.
I would recommend this novel because it's well-written, fast-paced, chilling, menacing and gory too. But it is, as with all Stephen King's books, a good story well told. ...
kitty17 11.07.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Desperation - Stephen King
Advantages: Two ways of viewing the same story concept from different angles Disadvantages:
...re-arranged- a married couple in Desperation are a young pair of siblings in The Regulators for example.
The themes are good v evil, and also how various people and personalities cope in the face of sudden and horrific adversity. As usual King/Bachman handles these with authority, and the characterisations in both books is concise and fautless. In each book, the initial scene set is innocent enough- a cop picks up a couple on finding drugs in their ... ...guy stops at a store for directions and cigarettes in the middel of a long journey. Things quickly get very weird, on a rising scale throughout the books. The couple notice odd things about the cop- he slips swearwords and odd sounding phrases in his speach, and becomes increasingly unstable during the drive. The guy in the shop witnesses a vicious driveby killing of a paperboy. One by one other people get hauled into the horrific scenarios that ...
bannonc 24.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Desperation - Stephen King
Advantages: Great story and characters Disadvantages: Religous theme may but some off, don't let it.
Desperation. Small Nevada mining town, just off Highway 50. Population: Few.
The story begins with a couple, Mary and Peter driving a relatives car along Highway 50 to New York. When a cop, Collie Entragen (sorry, that's not spelt right) pulls them over for a missing license plate they think they have nothing to worry about, that's until he finds a stash of dope in their car, and carts them off to jail.
The Carver family suffer a similar fate, ... ...and says it was planted by some convict, and drives them into town for safety.
Later on writer Johnny Marinville, travelling on his Harley happens to be taking a leak, when Collie drives by. Surprise, surprise, Collie happens to find dope (same lot that was it Mary and Peters car) in his bag, and he's off to jail too.
When each of the families/ people arrive in town they notice that it is strangely quite, and the cop seems far from normal. He's ...
bjlangley 07.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Desperation - Stephen King
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Advantages: Decent lead character Disadvantages: Not King's best work
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"At midnight comes the point of balance. Of danger. The instant between two beats of a heart, an alternative reality can slip through, like a blade between the ribs, and switch you into a new and terrifying world.
Four Past Midnight: four heart-stopping accounts of that moment when the familiar world fractures beyond sense, the fragments spinning away from the desperate clutching reaches of sanity?"
As the blurb suggests, Four Past Midnight is another spine-tingler from StephenKing. The edition I have runs to nearly 1000 pages, so it does look a bit off-putting at first. However, as it's spilt into 4 separate stories, it does make it less intimidating.
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Desperation is a deserted mining town in the Nevada desert. It's not a place to visit by choice, and the few unhappy travellers who are forced to stop there witness the familiar-looking town undergo a terrible transformation. In the struggle between good and evil, sacrifice may be the only answer.
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