Joyland - Stephen King

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. "I love crime, I love mysteries, and I love ghosts. That combo made Hard Case Crime the perfect venue for this book, which is one of my favorites. I also loved the paperbacks I grew up with as a kid, and for that reason, we're going to hold off on e-publishing this one for the time being. Joyland will be coming out in paperback, and folks who want to read it will have to buy the actual book." Stephen King

Twenty-one year old Devin is heartbroken after his girlfriend finishes with him and is spending the summer working at Joyland amusement park. He learns of a ride that is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman who was murdered there and tries to find out what happened, but there is so much more to the story than that. It's part mystery and part coming of age but is slightly eerie rather than a horror novel. The story is told from Devin's point of view years later when he's looking back at that time in his life
"That fall was the most beautiful of my life. Even forty years later I can say that. And I was never so unhappy, I can say that, too."

I've always thought that Stephen King is a very good storyteller, one of the best in fact and with Joyland he doesn't disappoint. Now roll on September and Doctor Sleep.

Rating: 4 out of 5