A quote on the nature of history

From recently read Mr Mercedes:

"The truth is darkness, and the only thing that matters is making a statement before one enters it. Cutting the skin of the world and leaving a scar. That's all history is, after all: scar tissue."

Mr Mercedes - the Verdict

I am not going to lie... when it comes to la King, I am one grossly biased fan-boy. I was very excited by the release of his latest offering, and although different to what many people might be expecting it is one solid, psychological, tense, character-driven motherfucker.

This time around, King has gone for the pure modern day crime thriller, sharing a genre with the likes of Thomas Harris and James Ellroy. If this was the aim, he succeeds hands down.

As with all of King's work, it is the characters which rule the plot. The main protagonist, a retired police detective, is drawn with a practise hand, and Mr Mercedes himself is a classic study of sexual dysfunction with a psychopathic mommy issue. I suppose there is nothing very new or imaginative in the themes that King uses here. There is no supernatural sub-plot of any kind, and readers wanting their dose of horror will be disappointed.

As all Stephen King aficionados know, you read one of his books because you want to care about the characters. Either way. Love or hate. You want the heroes to win because of the struggles they have endured. You want to understand what is going on inside the mind of the monsters, and you want to feel sad when a character you like ends up biting the proverbial bullet.

There are a lot of so-called brilliant writers who never achieve this, and it is a prejudice I encounter when I try to explain to folk why I read Stephen King. Just because he has been pigeon-holed as a schlock-horror writer does not mean he is not a great writer as well.

So, if you like Stephen King, read Mr Mercedes.
If you like thrillers and crime novels, read Mr Mercedes.
But above all, if you love reading novels that are crafted with care, emotion and brilliance, read Mr Mercedes.

Penny Dreadful - The Vanessa Ives Origin Story

Just watched episode 5 - Closer Than Sisters.
Wow!
This whole episode was essentially the back story of the psychic Vanessa Ives. As one of the original characters of the series, the previously mysterious femme fatale is now fleshed out as a tortured and possessed woman, ruined by a single act of lust and betrayal.
It captures, I think, the quintessential feel of a Gothic novel: dark romance, hedge mazes, rampant colonialism and the terrors of Victorian medicine. Eva Green is utterly brilliant in this episode, her psychotic episodes convincing, her facial and bodily contortions painful to watch.
This series gets better and better!

Penny Dreadful - It shouldn't work... but it does.

So, there's going to be this TV series with Frankenstein, Dorian Gray and vampires...

When I heard this I thought it was going to be awful. It sounded more like an Abbot and Costello movie, or a straight to video Scooby Doo extravaganza from the nineties.
What an amazing surprise. The writers have manage to fuse these disparate Universes in a most believable way, creating a story that is as dark as it is sensual. This is no Dracula, with its picture of Victorian England which included aristocratic ladies in low cut dresses showing far too much top-boob, let alone their ankles. The London of Penny Dreadful seems authentic; grimy, illness-ridden, poor, over-crowded and filled with real seeming people. And the effects that form the backdrop of this scenario are top-notch, on a par with the likes of the latest Sherlock Holmes movies.
If the writing creates a believable Universe, it the the quality of the actors that brings it to life. Notable mentions include the venerable Timothy Dalton as Sir Malcom, a seasoned explorer and adventurer whose daughter, Mina, has been taken by a coven of vampires. Eva Green is icily commanding as the psychic Vanessa Ives, and Josh Hartnett is a refreshing addition as the swarthy Ethan Chandler, a token, gun-toting American.

The acting cannot be faulted, and the there seems to be a twist at the end of each episode that leaves me genuinely agog. We've just had the end of episode 4, and lets just say you had better stay off the absinthe if you want leave with you masculine purity intact.
This series is an absolute must-see for horror fans and lovers of drama alike.

Mr Mercedes - nearly there!

The penultimate video (I think), before we hear from Mr Mercedes himself.
This time it's Annie Wilkes from Misery. 
I can't actually wait now.
I keep turning on the WiFi on my Kindle hoping it will magically appear.



Mr Mercedes introduced by Annie from MISERY from Hodder & Stoughton on Vimeo.

Mr Mercedes - How much more can I take?

Only two days to go.
They have just released the fourth video introduction to Brady(?)
This is from Andy, from Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.



Mr Mercedes introduced by Andy from RITA HAYWORTH AND SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION from Hodder & Stoughton on Vimeo.

Mr Mercedes - Getting even more excited!

Here is the latest from the Mr Mercedes trailer vignettes.
It's Pennywise the Clown, the villain from IT!



Mr Mercedes introduced by Pennywise from IT from Hodder & Stoughton on Vimeo.

Mr Mercedes - Getting Excited!

I just remembered that Stephen King's new book is out on Tuesday. I have already come out as a huge fan-boy, so it will come as no surprise that I am a bit excited.
If only I could shut myself in for a day and ready it through. I supposed I shall have to go to work though, and read it on the train.
His publicists have released this 'trailers', with more to come over the nest few days. Blatant advertising I know, but they are pretty cool. They are 'read' by characters from some of his novels.
What do you think?


Mr Mercedes introduced by Danny from The Shining from Hodder & Stoughton on Vimeo.


Mr Mercedes introduced by Carrie from Hodder & Stoughton on Vimeo.

Joyland - Another Stephen King Triumph

I only just got around to reading this. This is very late for me; I normally jump on the latest Stephen King within hours of publication. I actually think it was the cover that put me off. I am by no means saying that I am one of those people that thinks King is all about the horror, and can't bare it when he starts raving about baseball.
Far from it.
Stephen King is all about the writing, and Joyland is yet another magnificent piece of work. With themes of serial murder and prescience, it is a coming-of-age tale set in an entirely believable world of  the Joyland Funfair in North Carolina. Littered with carny-talk, the character led story is impossible to put down. The suspense gradually climbs; from the tumult of new love and break up, through the shivers of a ghost-story, to a classical climactic ending, worthy of Hitchcock.
I am clearly biased. I am a huge SK fanboy. But this is one of the best.
Read it now!