★ 2013-10-17
Great. First we have to be afraid of clowns. Now it's the guy who runs the Ferris wheel. Yes, clowns are scary, and so are carnies--and if you didn't have this red light in your mind already, it's never a good idea to climb (or ride) to great heights during a lightning storm. King (Doctor Sleep, 2013, etc.) turns in a sturdy noir, with just a little of The Shining flickering at the edges, that's set not in the familiar confines of Maine (though his protagonist is from there) but down along the gloomy coastline of North Carolina, with places bearing such fitting names as Cape Fear and the Graveyard of the Atlantic. His heart newly broken, Devin (Dev, to pals) Jones has taken a summer job at a carnival called Joyland, run by an impossibly old man and haunted by more than a few ghosts. Dev takes a room with crusty Emmalina Shoplaw, "tall, fiftyish, flat-chested, and as pale as a frosted windowpane," who knows a few secrets. Hell, everyone except Dev knows a few secrets, though no one's quite put a finger on why so many young women have gone missing around Joyland. Leave it to Dev, an accidental detective, urged along by an eager Lois Lane--well, Erin Cook, anyway. As ever, King writes a lean sentence and a textured story, joining mystery to horror, always with an indignant sense of just how depraved people can be. The story is all the scarier, toward the end, not by the revelation of the bad guy but by his perfectly ordinary desires, even though Joyland is anything but an ordinary place. Even to the last page, though, the body count mounts. A satisfyingly warped yarn, kissing cousins of Blue Velvet. Readers may be inclined to stay off the Tilt-a-Whirl for a while after diving into these pages.
"Joyland is one of Stephen King’s best novels." - Horror Movie Reviews
"This book is one of those thrills we come across every so often when least expected!" - Hellnotes
"Joyland is one of Stephen King’s best novels" - Horror Movie Reviews
"King saved the big scares for Dr. Sleep, but Joyland is ultimately superior." - Complex’s Best Books of 2013
"Set in a dying amusement park in the south, Joyland features a ghost and a serial killer, but the real heart of the novel is a coming of age story, one that took me vividly back to my own youth, working the rides at Uncle Milty's in Bayonne." - George R.R Martin
"Joyland is full of nostalgia and some really sweet moments that had me tearing up. It's easy to forget that anything else is going on, you're so wrapped up in the lives of these characters.
4.5 out of 5 Stars (read it, read it now)" - Only The Best SciFi
"This one’s a must for King fans and may also attract YA readers." – Library Journal
"...period murder mystery with a heart...King brings his usual finesse to this tale’s mystery elements" – Publishers Weekly
"...the book...features some of King's most graceful writing...ruminative, amused, digressive, marvelously unaffected, and finally, devastatingly sad." – Entertainment Weekly
"An amusement park and murder figure into a coming-of-age tale in this miniature thriller with a hint of the supernatural." – Los Angeles Times
“Undeniable…charm [and] aching nostalgia…[JOYLAND] reads like a heartfelt memoir and might be King’s gentlest book, a canny channeling of the inner peace one can find within outer tumult.” – Booklist
"Wrapped in a gloriously pulpy cover, Joyland is a coming-of-age story set in 1973 at a North Carolina amusement park — creepy! — that's haunted by a murderer." – Time Magazine
"Stephen King's carny-saturated Joyland evokes the ghosts of summers past — literally." – New York Magazine
“Joyland, by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, June). An old-school, pulpy paperback ghost story set in a North Carolina amusement park.” – Departures Magazine
“King's latest thriller, a PG-13 pulp paperback crime novel takes place at a remote carny park where college kid Devin is desperate to see the ghost of a girl whose murderer might still be lurking around the hot dog stands.” – Cosmopolitan Magazine
“Joyland is a joy. A gem whatever its genre.” – Tor.com
"This is a wonderful return to old school King." – We Love This Book
"Joyland is a fantastic story. This is a compelling and yet oddly gentle tale of a young man experiencing the ache of heartbreak and the curve-balls life can throw at you." – Geek Native
"From horror authority Stephen King comes some hard-boiled action, with all the elements of a good crime novel—including the early ’70s, southern secrets, carnivals, and a meddling college kid." – The Daily Muse
"If you’re a King fan you may want to set this on your wishlist " – Bookmuch
"This Joyland is not innocent, of course. Its retro thrills include an enticingly steamy cover, Hard Case Crime’s sensually tactile paperback format, and a cover line that asks, “Who Dares Enter the Funhouse of Fear?”" – New York Times
“It’s good to have a book like this now – simple, sweet, and not a little scary – to remind us that among the prequels and sequels, the epics and the TV miniseries, Stephen King can still spin one hell of a little yarn.” “As usual, King slips in and out of genre effortlessly, but it’s gratifying that at the core of Joyland exists a story worthy of being called a Hard Case Crime.” “Misdirection and red herrings abound, delightfully, and the weather-ravaged denouement could play out as the conclusion to a Donald Westlake or Lawrence Block novel.” – FEARnet
"Red meat for any Stephen King fan." – TalkStephenKing.com
“This is a Stephen King novel that you can start on your vacation and actually finish before the flight home.” – Men’s Health, Selected By Amazon
“A remarkable tour-de-force.” – Comic Book Resources
"This is Stephen King at his emotional best." – Florida Times-Union
“It is easy to connect with Devin as well as many of the secondary characters as King develops this descriptive, entertaining tale of personal growth and murder.” –
Luxury Reading
"Joyland is pretty much perfect in its pursuit of diversion." “This story of a broken heart, a summer job and a beach amusement park — infused with ghosts, killers and a boy with "the sight" — is lovingly streamlined. It starts strong, ends stronger. Sturdy finales are never a given with King, but this one, Constant Readers, will have you gasping and, ultimately, blinking back big fat tears." "The ultimate "beach" book from one of literature's slyest entertainers." – Tampa Bay Times
“As you read the dialogue, the book becomes less a story about a summer’s mystery than a tale of entry into another, coexisting world, one with its own rules, codes, and language.” “The splashy and aggressively sexy packaging is the tip of the iceberg.” – LA Review of Books
“[a] fun book with a touch of winter’s chill around the edges” Tor.com
