Duma Key

I can barely admit it to you - but this is the first Stephen King novel I've ever read. I know that's unforgivable for a bibliophile like me, but something about that genre has never interested me - at least not in the printed word. I thought of Stephen King as Carrie and Pet Cemetery and Children of the Corn. And I made the assumption that the novel would be nothing but blood and guts and screaming. I was so wrong.

Thank you to Doug Wright's producer, Zak Kinderchuck, who asked me nonchalantly, "Did you read Duma Key?" I had not, but Zak and I share literary interests in non-fiction, so I took another look at the author I had been ignoring for 30 years.

OH MY GOSH!!! What a thrilling and engaging read. I fear I've missed one of the truly enjoyable American novelists all these years. I may have to go back and pick up a few of Stephen King's old ones. This novel is amazing. It's the story of a man who loses an arm in a horrible workplace accident, then loses his wife, and nearly his mind. He goes down to a little island called Duma Key and finds himself with a newly discovered artistic talent. It's almost otherworldly to him, how the desire to paint overtakes him, and as the book shows us more about him and the island we begin to realize that his talent is, in fact, otherworldly. The characters here are rich, full-bodied characters. King writes both genders and different ages with such humanity. In fact, the only part of the book I didn't thoroughly enjoy was the zombie, Night-of-the-Living-Dead stuff, but that doesn't happen until near the end.

I loved it. I read as fast as my eyes would let me. I got lost in it. If you've never tried a Stephen King before, let this be your first. With a caveat for the language, I give a thumb's up for Duma Key by Stephen King.