Revival

Stephen King

Average Rating 8/10 (1 Review)

A spectacularly dark and electrifying novel about addiction, religion, music and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, in the early 60s, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister, Charles Jacobs. Soon they forge a deep bond, based on their fascination with simple experiments in electricity.

Decades later, Jamie is living a nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll. Now an addict, he sees Jacobs again - a showman on stage, creating dazzling 'portraits in lightning' - and their meeting has profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil's devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It's a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allan Poe.

'There are few writers able so effortlessly, so naturally and so intimately to lay out the details of a life. Perhaps that's why, when the book begins to slide away from our own reality, we're happy to follow where Jamie leads.'

'Simply superb… classic King: intimate, readable and convincing… tastier than most bestsellers out there.'

Review by Matthewf (301114) Rating (8/10)

Review by Matthewf
Rating 8/10
Stephen King's new novel Revival delivers all the dark supernatural elements that made King famous. When reading Revival the reader truly can tell this is the work of a seasoned author. King draws from the things he knows best: how to write a great novel, music and addiction. With over 50 novels and hundreds of short stories King smoothly takes the reader from start to finish with the ease of an author comfortable in his own skin. As the rhythm guitar player in the rock band Rock Bottom Remainders King clearly uses the lingo and knowledge only a true musician is familiar with. The aspect of addiction is not told but shown to the reader by only someone who has personally struggled with the dark demon of addiction. These personal experiences come across as just that experience. Too often authors write about things they've only read about leaving the reader feeling like as much of a tourist on the subject as the author.

The main character Jamie Morton, it is his eyes who we see the story through. King starts Revival like many of his stories in a small Maine town. The arrival of the town’s new minister Reverend Jacobs and his family brings new life to the church community. Jamie meets the new minister and an unlikely friendship of sorts is formed that will last over the next 50 years. With the town’s new minister and family everything seems to be the way it should, after having a list of people filling in to give the Sunday sermons things are once again stable. While King has us comfortable he pulls the rug out from under us like he does to the townspeople. A horrific accident leaving Reverend Jacobs without his wife, son and ultimately his faith brings devastation not only to him but all of the town. As the reader follows Jamie through life he starts as a 'good' person who slowly becomes a person damned with addiction who only has two main purposes in life and each day. First and foremost finding his next high followed by finding his way to the next gig. It is here that Kings own personal struggles with addiction and knowledge of the music scene become invaluable. Jaime's chance encounter with his old acquaintance Jacobs years later will help him in turning his life around. Although Jamie hardly recognizes Jacobs as he is only a shadow at most of the former Reverend he knew as a boy. Jamie is also soon to find out that the so called help may have been at his expense the whole time.

Jacobs as a man no longer of the cloth dives deep into his obsession of electricity and how it can aid him in the manipulation of willing and unwilling specimens to further him finding what is on the other side of this life and possibly bringing the other side back to ours. Jamie's start of good to damned and the hard road he takes back to redeem himself is the opposite of Jacobs steady decline from a force of good to an unrecognizable force of evil. This battle of good vs evil will leave you shaken and forever change the way you flip a light switch.
Matthewf (30th November 2014)