- Mass Market Paperback: 184 pages
- Publisher: Dorchester Publishing; paperback / softback edition (4 Oct 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0843955848
- ISBN-13: 978-0843955842
- Product Dimensions: 17 x 10.4 x 1.5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
24,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #90 in Books > Crime, Thrillers & Mystery > Hard-Boiled
The Colorado Kid
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Product Description
Synopsis
A rookie newspaperwoman learns the true meaning of mystery when she investigates a twenty-five-year-old unsolved and very strange case involving a dead man found on an island off the coast of Maine.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I would say that Stephen King has earned his wily old codger wings with the publication of this Hard Case Crime novel. The Colorado Kid is unlike anything King has done before. For starters, this King fan didn't even know about this little red book until after it was published. It doesn't even look like a Stephen King novel, with its nour-ish cover and provocative tease line. It didn't read like Stephen King, either – not the first chapter anyway. My first impressions were in no way encouraging. When King starts telling the story of the mystery, though, I was intrigued – so much so that I didn't put the book down until I had finished it. I can't say I'm a big fan of the ending, but I don't have a problem with it either. King does an eloquent job of explaining what he has done here in the Afterword. There, he admits that readers will most likely either love or hate the book – and I think he's right, at least to a degree. As intrigued as I was by the story, I can't say I love it, just because of that ending. Those who criticize The Colorado Kid, though, have legitimate reasons for doing so.
The Colorado Kid is the initial moniker given to a middle-aged man who turned up dead on the beach of Moose-Lookit Island (off the Maine coast) back in 1980 – just another John Doe to the local cops. He would never have been identified without the help of the two old men running The Weekly Islander; they did more investigating than anyone with a badge ever did. Over the courser of a quarter of a century, they've returned time and again to the mysterious death of this stranger on their little island. They've turned up a number of facts about the dead man, every one of which only seemed to deepen and complicate the whole picture of who this man was and how he came to die there on a beach far away from his home in Colorado.
In these pages, the two old newspaper men tell the story of The Colorado Kid to Stephanie, a young intern there at The Weekly Islander. It's a rite of passage in a way, showing the young lady she has been fully accepted into the local island family. It lets the two vets test their young charge while also providing her with important insights into the twin arts of journalism and storytelling. I found myself just as intrigued as Stephanie with the increasingly confusing depth of the mystery; like her, I wanted a solution to clear up all of the confusing facts. And there we have the proverbial rub.
Most likely, hard-boiled crime story enthusiasts will have more problems than Stephen King fans with The Colorado Kid – although a right many of King's most loyal subjects may well balk at what the master has done in this odd endeavor off the beaten path. As long as I was flipping the pages, though, I was fully engrossed in the story – it's not vintage Stephen King storytelling, but it's pretty darn good. The trouble only comes at the end, as it's a bit of a let-down. King's Afterword, though, puts everything into perspective and changes your viewpoint of the entire story – it's the saving grace that allowed this loyal King fan to really appreciate The Colorado Kid for what it is.
40 of 42 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I really enjoyed this little novella.
In one way it isn't typical Stephen King fare. There's no real horror and it's just two old codgers telling a mystery story to a young woman. I thought the old codgers though were very typical Stephen King characters, entertaining crafty old men with a good story to tell.
King is often underrated. Because of the horror focus of his work, his feel for storytelling and character is ignored. Hopefully this story will go some way towards redressing the balance.
Well worth reading, and well worth trying if you haven't particularly liked King's writing in the past.
21 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
In every book and movie of one of his books, Stephen King's strength is more within his characters than the storyline. The storylines, however, are usually meaningful and touch the heart, and he has a way of tapping into obvious themes which we kick ourselves, (and probably other authors do, too), for not thinking about such a simple idea ourselves. Much as The Colarado Kid is a great and fascinating read where King has drawn beautiful characters yet again, this story, even though well worth reading, is not truly of the pulp fiction genre. Publishers, Hard Case Crime, were obviously thrilled when Stephen King sent them the manuscript, but had it been written by any other author I feel it would have been rejected for being way-off-target. However, it heightened HCC's profile and is a feather in their cap as King simply sent them the script out of the blue. For the true King fan this is a must, and it's an interesting read even if you're just a casual reader of this genre, but the pulp fictionalised gung-ho characteristics of bullets bouncing off the main character are missing, but Stephen King is a law unto himself and does whatever he wishes with his audience loving it. The characters, flawless, the story, not truly pulp fiction in the strictest sense.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ok but not my style
The book has a good storyline but without ruining the ending, they dont ever really answer the mysteries at the core of the book, which seems to be King's purpose. Read more
Published 26 days ago by Jenevieve
A Different Type of King
I probably didn't enjoy this book as much as say 'Under the Dome' or his more usual surreal plots, nevertheless, there was something about it that kept me reading. Read more
Published 1 month ago by GailT
Mystery, folklore and unanswered questions
To be honest this book I've read mostly out of curiosity, since one my favorite TV series, Haven, is based on it. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Lakis Fourouklas
NOT IMPRESSED
I am a big fan of Stephen King and have read a large number of his books. This one however was very flat, slow and in parts very boring. Read more
Published 4 months ago by scottai25
A so-so story, not one of his best by any stretch
I'm a Stephen King fan, as my reviews of his other books will tell you, but I was somewhat underwhelmed by this one. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Peter Coupe
Good read
If you are buying this after watching the "Haven" series on Syfy you could be disappointed. It's the editors of the newspaper telling a story about a mysterious death that happened... Read more
Published 5 months ago by metallibabe
An interesting "special edition", to be sure.
I purchased this volume for the cover, mostly. Something about it really spoke to me. It just seemed to fit. The book I got did not have this cover. Read more
Published 7 months ago by jadedflames
ENGLISH EDITION
I am the publisher of this book and I can assure you that it is in English: the other reviewer is obviously referring to a completely different edition in German. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Peter Crowther
A REAL mystery story...
King says in his afterword that some will love and some loathe this book... which seems true from the range of reviews here. I wanted to get in one more vote for the love camp. Read more
Published 16 months ago by J. Everington
I've Finally Read It
Like a few other people, after seeing the show Haven, I really wanted to read this book. So, after searching for a couple of weeks I ordered a copy of the book in October from... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Nicola "Nik"
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