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The Dark Half by Stephen King
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The Dark Half (original 1989; edition 1990)

by Stephen King

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
8,92169908 (3.56)121
Fiction. Horror. HTML:How do you kill something that was never born...

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.

But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave itâ??and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprin
… (more)
Member:Pluhar74
Title:The Dark Half
Authors:Stephen King
Info:Signet (1990), Edition: First, Mass Market Paperback, 496 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

The Dark Half by Stephen King (1989)

  1. 30
    Dead City by Shane Stevens (jseger9000)
    jseger9000: In his afterward to The Dark Half, King explains that he took the character of Alexis Machine from Stevens' Dead City
  2. 20
    The Outsider by Stephen King (ghr4)
  3. 10
    The Crime Writer by Gregg Hurwitz (VictoriaPL)
    VictoriaPL: Another writer who has trouble figuring out if he's involved in a series of murders or not.
  4. 10
    A Soul to Steal by Rob Blackwell (Othemts)
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Showing 1-5 of 61 (next | show all)
Audible version, read by Grover Gardner. I'm rereading Stephen King along with James Smythe of the Guardian @ http://www.theguardian.com/books/series/rereading-stephen-king and this one is up next. DH had always been my least favorite SK, but I hadn't read it since I was a teen and thought it would be interesting to see if it provoked a different reaction as an adult. Unfortunately, it didn't, and I still don't think I can put my finger on the reason why. The horror didn't horrify. The suspense wasn't suspenseful. The characters weren't compelling. But it was just interesting enough to keep me listening over the last couple of days and I was curious about how the situation would resolve itself, since I didn't remember much of the story. By the time I'm done with the complete rereading exercise, I suspect this one won't be at the very bottom of the favorites list (I'm thinking of you, Lisey's Story), but it will still be pretty close. ( )
  Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |
I have to admit, King's style was a bit hard for me to get into, and he is a bit crude, for lack of a better description. I believe this is the 3rd book I have tried of his, and the first to complete - the other two being "The Stand" and "The Gunslinger". After about midway through this one, he really pulled me into the story, and it went really fast - quite enjoyable.

I think part of my problem is this genre is a bit new to me. I decided to treat it the same way as I do sci-fi or fantasy - just let myself go and treat the outlandish as entirely possible.
( )
  rjdycus | Dec 19, 2022 |
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. ( )
  TobinElliott | Sep 3, 2021 |
I just couldn't get into this Stephen King book. I thought the premise was good and enjoyed the crazy story, but I really didn't like ANY of the characters. And if I can't find a character that I like, you can bet that I will not the story very much either. ( )
  courty4189 | Mar 24, 2021 |
3.5 this was not my favorite King book, but it was definitely worth the read. An air of supernatural, almost spiritual, and of course the descriptive writing from king we've come to love.

I'm working through some of his older material, and keep wondering what took me so long to get to it. ( )
  tmbookluvr | Nov 20, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 61 (next | show all)
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Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Stephen Kingprimary authorall editionscalculated
Rekiaro, IlkkaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Epigraph
"Cut him," Machine said, "Cut him while I stand here and watch. I want to see the blood flow. Don't make me tell you twice."

-- Machine's Way

by George Stark
Dedication
This book is for Shirley Sonderegger, who helps me mind my business, and for her husband, Peter.
AUTHOR'S NOTE I'm indebted to the late Richard Bachman for his help and inspiration. This novel cound not have been written without him. S.K.
First words
People's lives -- their real lives, as opposed to their simple physical existences -- begin at different times.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Fiction. Horror. HTML:How do you kill something that was never born...

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels.

He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender.

But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave itâ??and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprin

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Book description
Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his bestselling novels. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the voice on the phone uttering its obscene threats and demanding total surrender. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints? (0-451-16731-7)
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