193 used & new from £0.00
See All Buying Options
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
 
Desperation
 
 

See 1 customer image
Share your own customer images
Publisher: learn how customers can search inside this book.

Desperation (Paperback)

by Stephen King (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)

Available from these sellers.


6 new from £3.40 183 used from £0.00 4 collectible from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover Order it used
Paperback £7.99 £5.99 32 used & new from £1.99
Mass Market Paperback (Reissue) 58 used & new from £0.01
School & Library Binding 3 used & new from £24.46
Hardcover (Large Print) 6 used & new from £28.37
Audio Cassette (Audiobook) 2 used & new from £4.99

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Regulators

The Regulators

by Richard Bachman
3.3 out of 5 stars (15)  £5.99
Insomnia

Insomnia

by Stephen King
3.9 out of 5 stars (56)  £5.99
Needful Things: open

Needful Things: open

by Stephen King
4.4 out of 5 stars (23)  £5.99
Bag of Bones

Bag of Bones

by Stephen King
4.2 out of 5 stars (83)  £5.99
The Dark Half

The Dark Half

by Stephen King
4.6 out of 5 stars (20)  £5.98
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 736 pages
  • Publisher: New English Library Ltd; New edition edition (17 July 1997)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0340654287
  • ISBN-13: 978-0340654286
  • Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11.2 x 3.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 374,687 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #33 in  Books > Fiction > Authors, A-Z > K > King, Stephen > Complete List

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

A notice to those who feel that Stephen King has lost his magic touch: Desperation is the genuine goods. The ensemble cast of ordinary Americans thrown together by chance, including a disgruntled alcoholic writer and a child who is wise beyond his years, may be a bit too familiar. But the nearly deserted Nevada mining town with an enormous haunted mine pit and an abandoned movie theatre where the survivors hang out makes for a striking battleground, and the grisly action rarely flags. Best of all, though, are the characters of Tak, the ancient body-hopping evil who emerges from the mine, and of "God"--whom the New York Times describes as "the edgiest creation in Desperation. Remote, isolated, ironic, shrouded behind disguises, perhaps ‘another legendary shadow,' this deity forms a sly foil, and an icy mirror, to Tak."

Review

'Genuinely masterful' -- Daily Telegraph 'A massive volume of terror crafted creepily' -- Daily Mail 'King again proves himself the premier literary barometer of our cultural clime!The terror is relentless!deeply moving and enthralling masterpiece' -- Publishers Weekly
See all Product Description

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 
(2)
(2)
Agree with these tags?

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Desperation
68% buy the item featured on this page:
Desperation 3.9 out of 5 stars (67)
The Stand
11% buy
The Stand 4.6 out of 5 stars (119)
£6.46
Insomnia
8% buy
Insomnia 3.9 out of 5 stars (56)
£5.99
The Long Walk
7% buy
The Long Walk 4.3 out of 5 stars (95)
£4.78
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

67 Reviews
5 star:
 (35)
4 star:
 (10)
3 star:
 (8)
2 star:
 (9)
1 star:
 (5)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.9 out of 5 stars (67 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!!!, 22 Feb 2004
By Sue Lewendon "Film fanatic" (England) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)      
This review is from: Desperation (Wheeler Compass) (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was written in typical Stephen King style. It was released at the same time as The Regulators by King writing as Richard Bachman. I also read that book but I much prefer this one. They both have similar themes running through them and ultimately have the same 'baddie', but I found this one to be more of an unputdownable.

Tak is an ingenious creation and is wonderfully bad to the bone. The characters are brilliantly scripted and the settings are great. King describes everything in wonderful gory detail and it kept me turning the pages.

I recommend this title to anyone who likes a tale of good vs evil and likes a good amount of blood and guts!!!

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT!, 24 Nov 2000
By A Customer
If you're looking for horror, then you're reading the wrong book. If you're looking for Sci-Fi and think you can keep up with the pace, then this is the book for you! This is a great read and it constantly keeps you guessing. King throws so many different things at you, you can't help but read on!

When you've finished this you have to read The Regulators, all of the characters that you've got to know so well are in it, or are they?

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No


 
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Desperation setting in?, 11 Feb 2007
By Mr. S. W. Steel "stephensteel" (England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)      
This is a hard book to review.Why?Well, as a lifelong fan of Stephen King I have read all of his books, and when i read some of the blurb on the rear of the cover saying that this was as good as The Stand i was genuinely intrigued.
And so i read this, and read it quickly which is always a good sign.I really liked the plot and the idea.I also liked the setting in the town of Desperation.Stephen King's writing is on good form too - the very start of the book where people are captured and locked up in prison is as good as he has written in years.I liked most of the characters in the book too - David is excellent and you can't help wishing for more stories about him.Johnny Marinville is great too - do you like him?Do you hate him?And this is what Stephen King has done so well in this book.He has got the black and white , good and evil right up at the forefront of the book, but in this instance has got some grey areas in there too.Some real soul searching for right and wrong is in this book.
There are some issues i would raise with this book though.The back story of Tak is a bit weak in my opinion - the crazy policeman is a much better tool to use to drive the plot on, and maybe this would have made the story much more terrifying.
The other weakness i think there is in the book is the length.People say what a great writer Stephen King is - his detail, his depth of character description etc... and for the most part i agree with that.He IS genuinely brilliant. BUT a lot of people forget that his short,snappy and punchy early novels were much shorter than this and consequently had much more of an impact.
So herein lies the problem - not just with the book, but the writer himself.For me, Stephen King is better when he writes much shorter novels.Carrie, The Shining, Firestarter and the Dead Zone are excellent books with characters you want to know more about.I would rather be left wanting more, rather than being over-burdened with too much characterisation at the expense of the story.However, anyone who has read The Stand (most of his fans quote this as being their favourite book of King's) know that he CAN get the mix of depth,pace and characterisation right.Another book where he gets this balanced is It.

So where does Desperation sit?Well, it is certainly better than most of his more recent efforts in my opinion, and is the first book of his i have read in a while that i genuinely enjoyed.But it isn't as good as his early work in my view.

The trouble with the Stephen King of this era is that his work divides so many of his fans.You may read this and love it above everything else he has done.I don't think it is his best book ever, neither is it the worst.

And so i really struggle to rate this book.It has many plusses - characters and setting are excellent.

It's minusses are it's pacing and weak back plot.

But all in all that is just my opinion - maybe you should read it and decide for yourself, as I am struggling to come to any definite conclusions!
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Subtly disturbing and thought-provoking horror
I picked up this book by accident when a colleague wanted to offload a bunch of Stephen King novels he was about to hand over to a charity shop. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Ms. S. L. Houghton

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
One of his best by far, gripping and original storyline that kept me hooked from start to finish. A must have for Stephen King fans
Published 17 months ago by Sacrificed_Son 18

2.0 out of 5 stars Best days are gone...
Two-hundred pages less, and some tightening of plot, and this might have been one of King's better works. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Guv

5.0 out of 5 stars Scarily Good!!!!
Desperation is one of King's best books to date. Usually, I find that his books start off slowly and build up to the main action - Insomnia, The Regulators etc. Read more
Published on 23 Jan 2008 by L.H

2.0 out of 5 stars Stephen King in - DESPERATION
This book perfectly illustrates everything that is good and bad about Stephen King books. The reason I have given this such a low rating is because the bad points have been... Read more
Published on 29 Dec 2007 by C. Cubbin

2.0 out of 5 stars Hard Going
Mmm, what to say about this one. I am a big horror fan and King is one of my favourite authors, but this isn't one of his better stories. Read more
Published on 31 July 2007 by L. E. Beaumont

5.0 out of 5 stars Just read it
If you want a long winded review detailing the plot of this novel or comparisons with other Stephen King novels then just read some of the other reviews here. Read more
Published on 19 July 2007 by lynda

5.0 out of 5 stars Tak!
Whilst doing the enevitable pre flight W H Smith visit i could'nt help but to be drawn in to purchasing desperation. Read more
Published on 14 April 2007 by Dexter L Bowring

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good read
This book concerns a number of travellers trapped by what seems to be a maniac cop, in a mining town called Desperation. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2007 by J.Flood

5.0 out of 5 stars Vintage
Hilarious. As a student in English I feel justified in pointing out that this novel is not slow paced. The language reads like a cold beer drinks on a hot day. Read more
Published on 17 Jan 2007 by Jake Harris

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
   

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject








i.e., each product must be in subject 1 AND subject 2 AND ...

Feedback


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.