Riding the Bullet

3.5 stars.
Not quite 4, because the King often falls just short of greatness, as in this one.
Not just 3, because this is one of the best between his short stories. Not particularly scaring or horrifiyng if you are used to Stephen King's tropes, and if you are not extremely sensitive to old graveyards and un-dead automobilists straight from an Eighties teenage horror movie. But sad, universal in his existential metaphor about the choices we all need to make between living our potential out there in the world and staying close to our family. We sometimes feel as if we were performing an act of betrayal, no matter how well we know that the people who raised us and made sacrifices for us did it all so we can do precisely that, fly the show more nest.
SPOILER AHEAD
In this perspective, I am glad that the story ended as it did, with an apparent whine rather than a bang, even if I was slightly disappointed upon finishing it. I was savouring the psychological horror at the realisation that your bargain with the devil was not at all about your mother dying before you; how naïve, you sent her burning in HELL!
I wanted the good ol' King shiver down my spine, and all I got instead was life.
Thirty, twenty or even fifteen years ago I woud have stayed thoroughly disappointed. Today, having become quite good at making up existentially horrific scenarios by myself, I appreciate an honest offer of inspiration for existential reflection.
Also, if you have seen Stranger Things, you will agree with me that the un-dead townie guy in the car MUST have the face and style of Billy. That's a plus. show less

Stephen King sabe contar historias. Es un narrador nato. Pocos escritores te arrastran con sus palabras página tras página, y King es uno de ellos.

‘Montado en la Bala’ (Riding the Bullet, 2000) es un relato largo de terror, protagonizado por Alan Parker, un joven universitario de veintiún años. Un buen día Alan recibe una llamada de su vecina con malas noticias: su madre ha sufrido un derrame mientras trabajaba y está hospitalizada. Alan, sin vehículo propio, no tiene más remedio que hacer autostop para llegar al hospital ese mismo día. Lo que parece un viaje inofensivo, se convertirá en una pesadilla.

En poco menos de cien páginas, King es capaz de meternos el miedo en el cuerpo. Buena historia del Maestro de Maine.

As a longtime Stephen King fan, I have read a lot, and I mean a LOT, of his books. But given how prolific of an author he is, and given how long he’s been at it, there are still plenty of King books, novellas, short stories, et all that I haven’t read yet. And while I’ve hit most of his more popular and famous works, it’s the ones that I’ve never heard of that continuously surprise me on my reading adventures. Be it “The Long Walk” (written under his Richard Bachman pen name) or “Charlie the Choo-Choo” (a children’s book based on the book within his “Dark Tower” series), King has popped up and shown me new things in the past couple of years. So when I was looking for something to listen to in the car, I just show more punched King’s name into the search bar to see what was available. It was then that I saw a title I had never heard of before: “Riding the Bullet”. Seeing that it was short and that I’m always trying to expand my King repertoire, I downloaded it.

Even in a novella such as this one, King has created a cast of characters who feel so well explored and real that I got a sense for who they were and what motivated them. Specifically Alan Parker, our narrator and protagonist who is picked up by a ghost on the night his mother is sick in the hospital. As you read the story you get the sense that Alan has a strained relationship with his mother; though they are really all the other one has, Alan also notes moments in their past that could be seen as abusive. You understand the love he has for his mother and why he would drop everything to try and hitchhike down to see her when she has a minor stroke and ends up in the hospital. But taking this into account, even without King saying how deep this tension and complexity to their relationship goes, it makes things down the line seem believable in the face of incredulity.

I really enjoyed how king took the old urban legend/ghost story of the Phantom Hitchhiker and turned it on it’s head, with the hitchhiker being the one who is potentially in the presence of a ghost who leaves a trinket behind. In the usual story a person picks up a hitchhiker on the side of the road on a dark night. Usually it’s a man picking up a young woman. They talk and connect, telling each other their names and about their lives, and the driver drops the hitchhiker off to wherever she wants to go. They part on friendly terms, but as the driver is driving away he realizes that she left a sweater, or a scarf, or something behind. He tracks down where she lives based on her name, and when he brings the object back to the house, a family member will ultimately tell the driver that “She died ten years ago” or something to that effect. It’s a classic. In this case the ghost is George Staub, the ghost of a man whose grave Alan had seen in a cemetery on his journey south. While on the short but terrifying ride with George, Alan notices the button that the ghost is wearing: “I Rode The Bullet At Thrill Village, Laconia”, a rollercoaster that Alan once had the chance to ride when he was a child. But when he and his mother got to the front of the line, he chickened out. Now instead of trying to return the forgotten object (as there is no question that Staub is a ghost from the get go), it serves as a reminder for what happened that night, and the consequences to what happened in the car between Alan and Staub.

What I liked most about this story is that there is a certain ambiguity to it. The ambiguity isn’t whether or not Alan was picked up by a ghost that night, as that much is clear. But the ambiguity is placed within the choice that Alan makes (which I don’t want to reveal), and whether he ultimately has any culpability in the potential consequences that may, or may not, come because of it. It kind of digs into philosophy about what children owe to their parents, and what parents want from their children. As the story carries on beyond the encounter with the ghost, Alan has to grapple with these questions. He’s convinced that because of his actions, something bad will happen to his mother…. And the tension of this, of finding out whether or not this is the case, definitely had me on the edge of my seat in the car. I think that there wasn’t really a good release for the tension I was feeling, and that I could have used more story to really unwind from all of it. As it was, it just kind of tapered off, and I was left wanting a bit more.

I should also mention that Josh Hamilton was the narrator for this audiobook, and I thought that he did a great job. I know him best from when he played Serge on “Absolutely Fabulous” and also from a driver’s ed video I watched when I was a teenager (I WISH I COULD FIND THIS VIDEO). It’s so important to have a person who really dives into the story they are reading, and I was totally immersed in his narration.

Overall, I enjoyed “Riding The Bullet”, both for it’s effective suspense and for the bittersweet pathos that it had. Stephen King is so good at both horror and humanity, and “Riding the Bullet” is a solid example of both. show less

College student Alan Parker receives a call from his mother's neighbor telling him that Mrs. Parker has had a stroke and he needs to come home. Alan's car is out of commission so he decides to hitch a ride to the hospital in Lewiston, Maine. He is offered a ride by a man with an odd smell about him and soon Alan notices the stitch marks around the man's neck which can only mean the gentleman's head was reattached to his body at one point. Unsurprisingly Alan desperately wants out of the car but the driver asks Alan if he has ever ridden the Bullet, referring to a roller coaster in Laconia Park. Alan at first lies and says that he did but the man confronts Alan with the knowledge that Alan and his mother had stood in line for hours to show more ride the coaster when Alan was 12 years old but when their turn to board the ride was upon them Alan chickened out. Out of frustration his mother struck him and they left the park soon after. Now the driver gives Alan a choice: the death of Mrs. Parker or the death of Alan.

This audio book started out really well - nice and creepy and that tingly "What's gonna happen next?" feeling but it didn't follow through. I was left wondering why there was such a great build-up for such a wimpy ending. show less

Classic Stephen King ghost story - not over the top scary - but enough to give you the chills. A college kid gets the call that his mother had a stroke and she's in the hospital - he drops everything to go to her. The only problem is... his car isn't working. He decides to hitchhike the 120 miles because he is desperate to make sure his mom is ok - she's the only family he has. He thumbs a ride and then another - but the drivers aren't who they appear to be. In fact there is something wrong about the whole evening. It might take him a lot longer to get to his mother - if he ever gets to see her again. Quick, suspenseful, and satisfying. I thought the ending was particularly thought provoking and not what I expected.

Hitchhiking is dangerous now days as you don't know what kind of a person is behind the wheel of the vehicle, but it is more dangerous if you are reading about it in a Stephen King book!

A college student is trying to get home as he finds out that his mother is dying and he decides to hitchhike to get there faster. His first ride is twilight zone weird (what do you expect as you are in a King book), but his next ride makes him go cold and shivery as the man behind the wheel is supposed to be dead.

Thus begins the ride of his life and he then remembers the warnings from his mother about hitchhiking. What happens on his ride with the ghost man? Does he make it in time to see his mother? No spoilers here as you will just have to read the show more book.

This was a short and to the point kind of book which encompasses the fear of hitchhiking as you never know "who" or "what" will be picking you up.

Moral of the story: Do not hitchhike and if it is Stephen King behind the wheel, all I can say is: RUN!

Four stars for this one! show less

Book 73 that I have read from Stephen King. Was able to sacrifice some sleep last night to finish this book. So some time between 11pm last night and 1am this morning I was able to get this book completed. So its a really quick read and a nice teasing story that makes you think twice or thrice about hitching a ride especially late at night. I have hitched rides back in my college days but that's a long time ago now and they were short rides to campus and back home, I never really tried hitchhiking long distance. What surprised me most about hitch hiking was not who gave me lifts but who didn't "see" me standing on the side of the road. Folks falling into this category would be neighbor's, people who I though were friends turns out you show more get to know who your friends really are by hitch hiking. Anyway back to the story, it is fast paced, easy reading and will provide a though provoking read, nuff said. show less