The Dark Half

The May selection for the Constant Readers Book Club is Stephen King’s “The Dark Half.” It’s a re-read for me, as I first read it in 2018. I had forgotten quite a bit about the story, so I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting it.

Thad Beaumont, a writer, used the pen name George Stark to conceal his inability to write in his own name. For twelve years, Stark served as an alter ego. Now, with life changes such as marriage and the birth of infant twins, Beaumont is ready to reveal the truth about Stark. A magazine journalist writes an article about Beaumont, and the symbolic death of Stark is staged for thematic purposes. However, Stark is not entirely on board with this decision.

The story is set in Castle Rock, Maine, where Sheriff Alan show more Pangborn investigates the gruesome murder of a local man on his way home from the bowling alley. Fingerprints matching Beaumont are found at the scene. Pangborn visits Beaumont, and unexpectedly, he finds himself entangled in the most unimaginable scenario.

The Dark Half, a captivating King novel, boasts incredibly likable characters and a unique perspective on the concept of author pen names. It seamlessly weaves together classic horror elements that King is renowned for, while also enduring the test of time. While reading it this time, I kept thinking about King’s alter ego, Richard Bachman. I would love to engage in a conversation with King to learn of the real-life similarities between the characters in The Dark Half and King and Bachman. I’m curious to learn what insight my fellow book clubbers have on this intriguing aspect of the novel.

I have photos, videos, and additional information that I'm unable to include here. It can all be found on my blog, in the link below.
A Book And A Dog show less

A late-80s Stephen King novel about an author whose pseudonymous alter-ego/absorbed-in-the-womb evil twin comes to life and goes on a brutal rampage right out of one of his own crime thrillers.

It's a really great premise for a horror novel, and one that hints at some intriguing themes of identity, creativity, and the dark side that may be hidden in good people. Mind you, King doesn't really go into any of those themes in any depth, but I think they're lurking in there, anyway, under all the supernatural weirdness and the gore. Mostly it doesn't tingle the spine the way the best of his stuff does, but the prologue does contain what may be one of the creepiest images he's even written, so I have to give it some points for that. And, as is show more usual for King, it's a very readable book.

On the other hand, while I was more than happy to accept its bizarre-but-fascinating premise, other aspects of it did stretch my suspension of disbelief, including a sheriff getting ridiculously chummy with a guy who's a suspect in his murder investigation, and a whole lot of thoroughly unconvincing dialog. And while, at about 430 pages, this is downright slim compared to some of King's later work, it does drag some in the middle in a way that makes me think it could have been cut down by 50 or even 100 pages and been the better for it. Plus, the resolution is... odd. It's well built-up-to throughout the novel, which is more than you can say for some of King's endings, but it's still odd.

Basically, this is middle-of-the-road King. Definitely not his best, definitely not his worst. show less

Stephen King's 1989 novel The Dark Half presents an intriguing premise wherein author Thad Beaumont, who achieved greater success writing under the name of George Stark, decides to figuratively kill off the pseudonym and write again under his own name, with the Stark's "burial" played out in a People magazine article that garners Thad some good publicity. But the dark and savage Stark, labeled "not a very nice guy" on his mock tombstone, resists, and sets of on a rampage of vicious murders in a quest to write just one more book with Thad under the name of George Stark. With King dedicating The Dark Half to his own pseudonym, Richard Bachman, you can clearly tell that King had a grand time writing this story, clearly drawing on his own show more alter ego for the story's inspiration. The sense of dread builds nicely during the first half of the novel as the mayhem ensues, but midway through, the story begins to bog down with the characters' long and repetitive internal musings, and conversations stretched much too far, needlessly slowing the pace and dampening the tension. Some judicious editing could have sliced sixty or more pages, leaving a much tighter story. show less

Little known literary author Thad Beaumont has a secret: he is also the author of four bestselling gut-bucket crime novels written under the pen-name George Stark. He’s recently gone public and George has symbolically been laid to rest. But George (described by Thad as not a very nice guy) isn’t so ready to lie down and die.

The Dark Half feels like Stephen King’s most personal novel. So many of the plot details follow events from King’s life. It is obviously based at least in part on King's forced outing as Richard Bachman. It was in part dedicated to Bachman, though the character of Thad Beaumont/George Stark seems to be modeled on Donald E. Westlake and his own famous pen name Richard Stark rather than King and his alter ego. show more Still, writing the novel must have been cathartic for him.

You'll notice that all my comments are about interesting connections to the book. What about the book itself? Well, I'm a little more ambivalent there. I loved reading the book for the quality of writing and characterization that King does so well. I remember one scene where George is laying in wait in a soon-to-be-victim's apartment. While waiting he observes that she has all of Beaumont and Stark's books, but is insulted that Thad's books are on a higher shelf than his. Nice little throwaway bits of characterization like this are why King is popular even outside the horror ghetto and the book is full of them.

The story itself is interesting, but something about it felt a little distant to me. Maybe it's because we have a strong hero and a strong villain, but for the most part our hero is not under direct threat from our villain. The first half or so of the novel details George's rampage in New York while Thad is safely tucked away in Maine. The book doesn't feel slow and is not boring by any means. But I do think that maybe there was a certain tension missing.

Things do pick up though and the final section of the novel is incredible. As a whole though, The Dark Half would rank somewhere in the high middle of king's work. Still better than most other horror novels for sure. Just not as good as his best. show less

I know I enjoyed this book on the first go-round, possibly because it was so much better than The Tommyknockers. But this go-round? Yeah, not so much.

Remarkably, it was because I couldn't get much of a handle on the lead character, Thad Beaumont. Not sure if that's because his alter ego, George Stark, is such a malevolent presence through the story and overshadows Thad, or if it's because Thad just does some really stupid shit that I couldn't get behind.

Overall, there's some fun stuff in here, and, as I said, it's miles above his previous effort, but this is where, for me, King entered a bit of a dry period, one that I feel he didn't officially pull out of until about seven years, six novels and two collections later, with The Green Mile.

Having read quite a few Stephen King books I was surprised that this was the one that shocked me most right at the start. As a kid Thad Beaumont starts hearing sparrows in his head and suddenly suffers from a seizure. When he is taken to the hospital a neurosurgeon removes what seemed to be a tumor in Thad's brain. What it was, though, really gave me the creeps. As a fetus Thad must have consumed his twin while still in the womb and what the surgeon removed from Thad's head was exactly this: a mass of an underdeveloped fetus that was starting to grow inside Thad's head. Rarely have I read something that terrifying and disgusting at the same time. After the removal of the 'tumor' Thad seems to be able to live a normal life and starts a show more career as a writer. While the novel he published under his own name is not very successful he has written successful novels under his pen name George Stark. It is exactly this conflict between himself and his alter ego George Stark who are fighting for his writing skills as George Stark becomes alive soon after he was symbolically buried by Thad in a PR stunt.

I was intrigued by the idea of this novel but I found it was not the page-turner I am used to with Stephen King. The novel most certainly has its moments and overall I enjoyed reading it, but I found myself unable to connect to the mysterious George Stark character coming alive and wreaking havoc. I was constantly wondering whether in the end it was just one and the same person and Thad Beaumont did all the killing for Stark. As this could clearly not be the case I was a little bit bugged by this supernatural element that is the living and breathing yet decaying George Stark. All in all, 3.5 stars. show less

"The sparrows are flying again." And don't you forget it, old hoss!

"You are talking about a goddam pen name coming to life!" And going on a killing spree too! Yup, that's what happens in this here novel! George Stark, a "HIGH-TONED SON OF A BITCH" if there ever was one, might or might not be real, but his creator, one Thad Beaumont, has his hands full with his pseudonym! I'm glad I re-read this after all these years - I've come to admire Donald E. Westlake's writing in the intervening years, and that of his pen name - Richard Stark! And I'm always liked Mr. King and HIS "dark half", Mr. Richard Bachman!