Seems to be an attempt by King to return to the kind of small-scale New England horror he started out with, before apocalyptic stuff of The Stand or Cell. Partly successful. Police life seems closely observed, if a little romanticized, and it's genuinely creepy at the start.

It's very slow . Not a lot actually happens for most of the book, except for long descriptions of how scared they feel at things that only seem slightly scary: King seems to be going for Lovecraftian descriptions of unnatural colours. Most of the books probably better considered as a portrait of rural police life.

When things kick off at the end though, it's brilliantly effective. All the investment in character really pays off: it's tense and involving.

Audiobook is elaborately produced: each narrator gets a different voice actor. Works well.

Overall, pretty good if you can stand the slow start.

What I'm Watching
Saw Happy-Go-Lucky on DVD. Mike Leigh movie, done us his usual methods of improvisation to make it look naturalistic. Oddly (judging by this) it seems to be being marketed as a mainstream rom-com in the US, which is going to cause some confusion.

However, instead of a grim tale of existential despair and the oppression of the working class, this time Leigh has tried hard to make a cheerful movie. The protagonist Poppy has an unshakeable cheerfulness, which often infuriates those around her. Apparently Leigh deliberately meant her to be irritating at the start, and he certainly succeeds: her constant stream of only mildly entertaining banter takes some getting used to.

Things click into place when Poppy's foil is introduced, a disturbed, permanently enraged driving instructor called Scott. Some reviewers complain that he's over the top, but I thought it was a brilliant half-comic-half-scary performance: one of the best screen psychos since Travis Bickle.

In some ways the movie reminded me of Alan Moore's Tom Strong comics: conscious attempts to see if optimism can be as meaningful as angst.

Overall, while some bits are a little dull to sit through, the whole movie fits together beautifully well. it seems to me that Poppy does eventually learn from her experiences, realising that there's no way she can help someone as mentally scarred as Scott. Worth watching if you can tolerate a bit of meandering and an excess of cheerfulness. Also it's about the only movie in decades to make London look nice and be vaguely realistic at the same time.

Review, review, review, review.

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