A Novel Critique

In light of the several controversies surrounding the publication of Bag of Bones, some may be quick to ignore the actual content of the novel. King himself has been fond of saying critics prefer to review his contracts rather than his novels. But in time, the memory of contracts and money subside, and readers are still left with the book – and what a book it is.

The phrase "Stephen King’s best writing in years" (in addition to giving a coyly phrased snub to King’s recent work) is bandied about often and now holds little meaning. But know this: the magic that brings King’s best fiction to life is at work here, and in years it probably will be thought of as one of Stephen king’s best books. It begins with a writer named Michael Noonan, telling us about the death of his wife, Johanna.

The death itself plays out in a quiet sort of tragedy in the opening pages. Soon after, Noonan begins to suffer from writer’s block, crushing grief, and a series of terrifying nightmares that he can’t remember upon waking. These dreams center on his summer home on Dark Score Lake (a site familiar to King readers), the place where he and his wife Jo had always been happiest. The small cabin is known as Sara Laughs, named after a popular black singer who dies on Dark Score roughly two decades into the twentieth century. In the wake of all this misery, Noonan decides to revisit Sara Laughs, symbolically confronting all his fears at once. What he doesn’t imagine is that symbolic fears will soon be the least of his worries.

Because Sara Laughs is haunted – and the spirits are restless.

But the worst is still to come – soon after Noonan comes back to town, he runs into a young woman named Mattie Devore and her daughter, Kyra. Mattie is half his age and beautiful, and Mike is taken at once with a surprising lust for her. Even more unexpectedly, he begins to develop an almost paternal love for Kyra, which may be partly due to the fact that his wife had been weeks pregnant before she died. Mike learns that Kyra and Mattie are both in trouble – the girl’s grandfather, aging computer magnate William Devore has plans to take custody of Kyra – using some very dark and, at times, terrifying methods. There is a custody battle, which at first seems prosaic, but only until we discover the supernatural underpinnings of Devore’s need to own his granddaughter, and why it’s so important for Mike to prevent it.

The closing sequences open up into realms of the supernatural King hasn’t even touched before – most importantly, a more thoroughly examined view of ghosts and why they come back to haunt the living. As with many Stephen King novels (Misery, Desperation and Rose Madder being the most obvious) , the title Bag of Bones has multiple meanings; at first, the phrase is metaphorical, later divulging its literal (and shocking) meaning. The final scenes may surprise some readers – they are unusually tight for a King novel (one of the major complaints with the bulk of King’s work is that the endings drag on for days), at once scary, supernatural, and quite moving. While the actual body count is significantly lower than, say, Needful Things, the deaths are all that much more disturbing. This is not a plot-by-numbers exercise.

King has stated that he wanted to return to his Maine turf to write one more scary novel before he turned fifty. Fair enough – here, King certainly returns to Maine, scattering references to such familiar places as Derry and Castle Rock, and such people as Thad Beaumont (The Dark Half) and Bill Denbrough (It). And lest you worry – Bag of Bones is that scary novel. But it is also a new sort of book for King, written entirely in the first person (unlike the shifting-point-of-view of Christine and the spoken word monologue of Dolores Claiborne), and examining the art and business of writing more intimately than ever before. He also explores love and lust more frankly, too, having shied away from healthy sexual relationships in his past works. And the ending, while hopefully not prophetic, reveals a more assured writer than the one who published Carrie in the mid-seventies. Stephen King, in the voice of Michael Noonan, tells us he has grown up, but he still packs a punch, and don’t you forget it.

Bag of Bones is an intense, electrifying novel – it would be a career-booster if King needed one. Equally appealing to fans of "early King" and to those of "recent King" – as well as a strong enough book to give to someone who has never read a Stephen King book before. Instantly engrossing, swiftly paced, and very, very scary, ,Bag of Bones is the type of book that makes you glad you learned how to read. No bones about it.

Personal Observations