The Dark Half

By Stephen King

After a few weeks, I just finished reading The Dark Half by Stephen King. As what I understand is one of the first novels (if not the first) written after kicking his cocaine habit, I think there's a tremendous amount that was done well with this...and a few things that could have used improvement.

Overall, the novel is a page-turner with a very interesting premise and two incredibly unique foil characters. That being said (and maybe this in an unrealistic critique), I felt like the character names were hastily picked and not necessarily carefully chosen in the way that fully fleshed characters have names that seem welded to their fictional lives.

I'm a huge stickler for choosing the correct name to identify a character in my own writing, so this stuck out to me and disrupted the flow of the story. While I realize that's more of a nit-picky critique, there were some background details about the protagonist Thaddeus Beaumont that I found the least bit jarring. At times, it also makes some of the scenes feel more directed than naturally flowing.

Nonetheless, King compensates for these short comings with a well-developed antagonist (perhaps, the best character in the entire novel) and enough clever turns to keep the reader going. If there are any differences in the gradual flow with which King used to write on cocaine (such as with Cujo) or off of it, they're minimal at best with maybe slight weaknesses in heightening the emotional tension closer to the climax and creating an epilogue that successfully ties together the loose ends.

And regardless, the power of the climax is incredible, more than making up for it. The effect is that King demonstrates he still has it and that "it" was never an aspect of that maniac he was prior whom he said goodbye to--that, all along, the "it" he has that makes Stephen King, Stephen King is all him.

Maybe another edit could've helped, but the overall finished product is still a hell of a read. I'd recommend The Dark Half to anyone looking for something part mystery, part supernatural or just wants to study a successful, alluring novel opening since the exposition draws the reader in immediately.