The Gwendy Trilogy

As much of a Stephen King fan as I am – I’ve read everything he’s written* except for The Dark Tower series - I've never read these. I always avoided them in the mistaken belief that they were somehow ‘cute’ and childish. 

Dumb!

They might begin with a young girl who’s plump and teased and not all that good at school – Judy Blume territory**. But then she is given a magic box embossed with buttons that can change the world and we’re off in to Stephen King territory – with the aid of fellow writer Richard Chizmar.

And they are good!

The first book is more a of a novella, clocking in at a little over 100 pages. The second is longer, and was written by Chizmar alone. Then the third wraps up the trilogy and the two writers are back together again. And it is the best of three, with an ending that left me thinking about it for days.

I’m not going to go into the plots. All I’ll say is that they’re all three quite beautifully, fluidly written. Very, very hard to stop reading. And, as with all Stephen King’s books – I haven’t read any by Richard Chizmar so can’t offer an opinion about his world view – they don’t let the main characters off the hook when it comes to being handed geese that lay golden eggs. There’s always a sting – or teeth, ragged and broken - in good fortune.

I really was dumb to avoid these for as long as I did.

*I expect by the time you read this, he’ll have put out another two or three 600 page stories. 

**I’ve read all of Judy Blume’s books and they are great too. No offence intended with this comment.