A book to go to sleep by………  *

In a time when some tend to label all members of a group by the acts of extremists, such as those who think all Muslims are terrorists, or all Mexicans are rapists, SK and son choose to write a story that adds fuel to that fire.

This novel is an insult to men, a subtle dig at women, and worst of all an in your face to good writing. This was seven hundred pages of constantly asking myself, “Where is the Stephen King I loved to read?” While there were hints of that SK, it was obvious the majority of the book was written by Owen King or at least SK was missing in action..

With a broad brush this diatribe paints most men as useless or as men who mistreat women. The #meToo effort has shown that there are men who fit these descriptions but even so there are plenty who do not, and I would argue most do not. Using stereotypes to describe male characters was pure laziness in my opinion.

While trying to show how women do not need men it was ironic that men were the “heroes” in the story.  Here again stereotypes were an easy way to write about the female characters.

As for the writing, the plot is weak. There are lot of characters, none of whom I cared about. The story felt like it was patched together and at the end my reaction was, “Okay, that was a waste of time.”

This and Gwendy’s Button Box, were written by SK and another author, let’s hope he decides to go solo again and write like the author he used to be. A ray of hope is that  in 2018 he is releasing The Outsider which he did write alone. Hopefully, it will not disappoint as this one has.

I give this one star, only because as a man I am one of the good ones.