Revival

Starred review from September 15, 2014
This spellbinding supernatural thriller from MWA Grand Master King chronicles one man’s efforts to, as narrator Jamie Morton phrases it, “tap into the secrets of the universe.” Charles Jacobs, a Methodist minister in rural Harlow, Maine, loses his faith when his wife and child die in a hideous car accident, but not his obsessive interest in electricity. Over the next 50 years, Jamie—a devoted congregant of Jacobs’s when young, but a wary skeptic as he matures—crosses paths with his friend as the constantly experimenting Jacobs graduates from carnival huckster, to faith healer, and finally to mad scientist convinced that he can harness a “secret electricity” to get a glimpse of “some unknown existence beyond our lives.” King (Mr. Mercedes) is a master at invoking the supernatural through the powerful emotions of his characters, and his depiction of Jacobs as a man unhinged by grief but driven by insatiable scientific curiosity is as believable as it is frightening. The novel’s ending—one of King’s best—stuns like lightning. Agent: Chuck Verrill, Darhansoff & Verrill Literary Agents.

October 15, 2014

King's latest (after Doctor Sleep) is narrated by Jamie Morton, who is six years old when he meets Rev. Charles Jacobs. New to Harlow, ME, Jacobs, along with his pretty young wife and toddler, quickly become the local attraction. Jamie and his family discover that Jacobs has a love of electricity and is quite ingenious with his inventions. Soon, though, tragedy strikes the reverend, and the losses he endures cause him to give a sermon that gets him fired from the ministry and banished from town. Years later, Jamie, now in his 30s and addicted to heroin, meets Jacobs again. Noticing how Jacobs has changed, Jamie worries about the man's constant tinkering with what Jacobs calls "secret electricity." Jacobs begins to heal people using his knowledge of electricity, but Jamie finds that there are terrible side effects. VERDICT King (The Stand) fans will rejoice that the horror master is back in fine form. While there are fewer characters than in many of his other tomes, each character is well drawn and worth following. The ending is exquisitely horrific and will leave the reader hoping this is only a work of fiction. [See Prepub Alert, 5/19/14.]--Jason L. Steagall, Gateway Technical Coll. Lib., Elkhorn, WI

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2014
Saying that this is one of King's most harrowing, most fatalistic works should only endear it to his basethis is horror, after all; we're not here for the positive vibes. In the kind of loose, garrulous voice that has marked his last decade, King spins the yarn of Jamie Morton and Reverend Charles Jacobs, whose lives wretchedly intertwine for 50 years. Jamie is six when he meets the wholesome preacher whose hobby, electronics, makes him a hit with the Methodist youth. A tragic accident leads to Jacobs' loss of faithreaders will also be scarredbut only increases his devotion to electrical experimentation: one of God's doorways to the infinite. Jamie grows up to be a drug-addicted rhythm guitarist, but a reunion at Jacobs' electricity-based carnival act proves the curative potential of secret electricity . . . despite unsettling side effects. Frankenstein is a touchstone here, but more so is Lovecraft, as King edges ever closer to the madness of the unknowable and eventually, to his courageous credit, stares directly at it. Though narrative wheels spin in place on occasion, the book's engine is powered by high-octane dread, and few fuels run stronger. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This is old-school, capital-H horror the likes of Thinner, Pet Sematary, and The Shining. Readers will be up for the endurance test.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)

February 2, 2015
King’s new thriller begins in Maine the summer of 1962, when its narrator, Jamie Morton, at age six, meets a charismatic young minister named Charles Jacobs, who soon becomes something of a mentor. Years later, as Jamie pursues a career as an itinerant rock musician, he crosses paths with Jacobs, who is now working his way from carnival huckster to wealthy faith healer and has developed an obsession with the curative powers of electricity. Jacobs, aged, ill, and more than a little crazed, convinces a skeptical but curious Jaime to assist him in his ultimate experiment with a “secret” form of electricity that he believes will allow him to “tap into the secrets of the universe.” Screen actor Morse (The Green Mile) has a natural, down-to-earth delivery. His middle-aged Jamie narrates with a soft, knowing yet wistful voice as he recalls the happier days of smalltown life, his first paid job as a musician, his first romance. We hear his hope that Jacobs’s “secret electricity” will heal his addiction to heroin, and the fear and uncertainty prompted by the experiment’s nightmarish effects. Morse’s Jacobs, who initially sounds bright and witty and filled with charm, becomes a man distracted and unemotional. By the novel’s end, age and infirmity have slurred his speech. A Scribner hardcover.