Black House
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Stephen King reigns supreme
Is there a more prolific author working in America today than Stephen King? Sidelined in 1999 when he was struck and nearly killed by a drunk driver, King has come roaring back in the last two years with an amazing volume of work -- an e-book serial, a memoir, a novel, an audio performance and a new collaboration with author Peter Straub.
Add to this yet another film adaptation of a King story -- this month's release of Hearts in Atlantis starring Sir Anthony Hopkins -- and this writer's impact on popular culture becomes clear. The Stephen King/ Peter Straub novel Black House, which goes on sale nationally Sept. 15, is the long-awaited sequel to The Talisman, a King/Straub horror-fantasy first published in 1984. Jack Sawyer, the young hero of The Talisman who took a harrowing journey to a parallel universe to save his mother's life, returns in Black House as a retired Los Angeles homicide detective who has settled in an isolated Wisconsin farmhouse. As any fan of the King could guess, Jack's peaceful country life doesn't last long. The former cop, who remembers none of the perils he encountered in his youthful search for the talisman, is enlisted by the local police chief to help solve a series of brutal murders. As he is drawn into the investigation, Jack also begins to rediscover his hidden past. This long (640-page), atmospheric novel, filled with glimpses of King's seemingly effortless ability to grip a reader with sheer terror, also contains some unexpected touches -- including a parody of the Drudge Report. Like its predecessor The Talisman, Black House is sure take up residence at the top of the bestseller lists. King's fiction has proven popular not only with readers but also with moviegoers, who have flocked to such films as Carrie, Stand by Me and The Green Mile. The latest King film adaptation, Hearts in Atlantis (due in theaters Sept. 28), is based on King's 1999 book that weaves together a series of stories linked to the Vietnam War. The screenplay is drawn principally from the book's first story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats," in which a mysterious boarder, played by Anthony Hopkins, befriends a fatherless 11-year-old boy. Directed by Scott Hicks, who won an Oscar nomination for Shine, the film offers another example of King's prolific -- and horrific -- imagination.
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