More like end of good writing….   *

Prior to this novel, I thought Duma Key was King’s most boring novel. Having read and praised the first two novels in this series, I was anxious to see how King finished the trilogy. What a disappointment!

My first reaction was, did King actually write this or did he hire a ghost writer who was just learning the craft? For the first sixty-five percent of the book, up to Chapter 14 of the section called BadConcert.com to be exact, I was totally bored. The writing was amateurish and filled with cliches. Maybe a sign was in the first sentence of the book – “It’s always darkest before the dawn.” To be more accurate, he should have said, “It gets worse after page one.”

Sadly, once the book starts to pick up, it only lasts for twenty-seven pages. Then for whatever reason, King chooses to take us back in time to fill in some of the gaps. This can work, but not here. The gaps he wants to fill in are insignificant, and any intelligent reader has already done so.

The plot line of the antagonist, Brady Hartsfield, using out of date “gameboys” stretched the bounds of believability and King had to scramble to connect all the dots as to how this was even possible.

The ending is predictable, and like so many bad detective novels – insert Michael Connelly here – is not believable.

King is a great writer, as he has proven time and again, but this one slipped by his creative skills.

This one gets one star. Usually I can’t put a King novel down until I finish it, this, I just couldn’t wait to put down.