From a Buick 8 [Paperback]

Here, it's 1979 Pennsylvania, and a vintage 1954 Buick Roadmaster in pristine condition is left behind at a rural gas station by a sinister man dressed in black, who subsequently disappears. Troop D of the State Police is called to investigate, and, while it never finds the man in black, its officers discover that the Buick is exceedingly curious. For one, the car is self-cleaning; dirt doesn't stick. For another, it's incapable of running: there are no battery cables, generator, alternator, distributor, or distributor cap; the control knobs on the dash aren't functional; the steering wheel doesn't turn. Anyway, Troop D impounds the vehicle, locks it in a shed, and keeps it the Troop's private secret. But the Buick isn't quiescent. Periodically it drops the temperature in the shed, erupts into a fiery display of violet light, and spits otherworldy plants and creatures out of the trunk, which decompose and die in a matter of minutes. Occasionally, test animals and insects left in the shed disappear - as did Trooper Ennis Rafferty. Trooper Curtis Wilcox becomes obsessed with the nature of the Buick. After Curtis is killed in 2001 by a drunk driver, his teenage son Ned becomes the Troop's mascot, so to speak. The plot of FROM A BUICK 8 cycles back and forth from "then" to "now", as Ned is told the story of the Buick, still isolated and perfect in its shed, and his father's obsession.

The biggest problem with this book is the length - it's a long short story or novella run amok to 351 pages. Though King throws out enough weirdness every once in awhile to perhaps keep the reader interested, I got the impression that he (or his publisher) just prolonged a mediocre storyline to justify its publication as a full length novel, with a novel's exorbitant cover price. (I bought it used on the cheap from a third party seller. Neener, neener, neeeener!) In any case, FROM A BUICK 8 lurches along to a relatively unsatisfyng ending that I began to anticipate halfway though the book, when it became difficult to summon the interest and energy to continue reading. The dodgy Buick might just as well have been a haunted PortaLoo or microwave oven for all I finally cared. After all, both have doors that creepy things can pop out of unsuspected.

If you're a speed reader and can finish this novel at one sitting - say, on a cross-country flight - then it may be better than the over-edited in-flight movie or the dog-eared airline mag in the seat pocket. Otherwise, I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it.

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The idea that the greatest horror of all is the unknown is not exactly a new one and King has explored it before, albeit to lesser degrees than he does in this novel. The Pennsylvania Troopers of Troop D are telling high school senior Ned Wilcox the story of the mysterious Buick in Shed B. Ned's father was a trooper who was killed by a drunk driver and the boy has been hanging around the Troop, learning dispatch codes and such, in an obvious effort to connect with his dead father. As the Troopers take turns telling the story they kept warning young Ned that there is not going to be a punch line; as much as the boy wants answers, they just are not going to be forthcoming, get used to it, kid. Even as the story sticks to this line through the final downward path of the novel you find yourself wondering how far will King go. Will he actually come clean and resolve the mystery he has been developing, will he stick to his guns and show that sometimes there are no answers to the big questions, or will he find a middle ground that provides some inadequate explanation that preserves the uncertainty that is the story's compelling hook? Usually my disappointment in a Stephen King novel comes when the ending does not live up to the set up, and while it might simply be a case of lowered expectations this time around, I think he does manage to have his cake and eat it too at the end of this one. The ending is satisfying, even if it is not as memorable as what he has provided on occasion.

I heard tell that as he was recovering from his own close encounter of the worst kind with a motor vehicle King was tooling around Western Pennsylvania in the company of State Troopers. The geographical setting of the novel does not seem distinct from King's beloved Maine, but he does seem to capture the authenticity of police work for State Troopers (who are not exactly high up on the list of law enforcement types who are the subject of fictional narratives). You get the feeling that most of the stories that make their way into "From a Buick 8" were told to King while he was in the company of those real Troopers, and the Author's note in the back of the book confirms as much. This speaks to what has always been the backbone of King's work, which is not so much his ability to come up with nightmares a plenty, but rather how he could consistently convince us that his horror stories and tales of terror are taking place in the real world in which we live. Laurell K. Hamilton has come up with some horrific conclusions for several of her Anita Blake novels, but her alternative reality would never be confused with the real world. King simply tapped into our cultural consciousness and served as our conduit to what was out there on the other side. "From a Buick 8" is simply the latest reminder of that particular truth.

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It all begins in 1979 when a man drives into a service station in rural Pennsylvania - his car is a Buick Roadmaster. That's obvious, what's also soon obvious is the fact that the driver has disappeared.

State Policemen Ernest Rafferty and Curtis Wilcox receive a call to pick up the abandoned car. A bit of a car buff, Wilcox immediately knows that all is not right with this car. For instance, it has no workable engine. Then, in a few hours Rafferty also vanishes.

The car is stored in Shed B behind police barracks and, despite efforts, Rafferty's disappearance is unsolved. As the years go by the car remains a mute reminder of a taunting mystery.

Jumpstart to 2001 when Wilcox is killed in an auto accident. A few months pass, and then his 18-year-old son, Ned, drops by the barracks from time to time. He soon becomes an accepted part of the troop's circle.

It's not long before Ned looks into the window of Shed B, and takes on his father's unfinished task - solving the mystery of this strange car.

This reading is a top production number.

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