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    Joyland
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    Joyland
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    Joyland
    Ebook315 pages5 hours

    Joyland

    By Stephen King

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Life is Not Always a Butcher's Game. Sometimes the Prizes Are Real. Sometimes They're Precious. All-time best-selling author STEPHEN KING returns with a novel of carny life—and death... College student Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark truths about life—and what comes after—that would change his world forever. A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing old—and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time—JOYLAND is Stephen King at the peak of his storytelling powers. With all the emotional impact of King masterpieces such as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption, JOYLAND is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHard Case Crime
    Release dateApr 8, 2014
    ISBN9781781168493
    Author

    Stephen King

    Stephen King is the author of more than sixty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes the short story collection You Like It Darker, Holly, Fairy Tale, Billy Summers, If It Bleeds, The Institute, Elevation, The Outsider, Sleeping Beauties (cowritten with his son Owen King), and the Bill Hodges trilogy: End of Watch, Finders Keepers, and Mr. Mercedes (an Edgar Award winner for Best Novel and a television series streaming on Peacock). His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller. His epic works The Dark Tower, It, Pet Sematary, Doctor Sleep, and Firestarter are the basis for major motion pictures, with It now the highest-grossing horror film of all time. He is the recipient of the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King. 

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    Reviews for Joyland

    4/5

    1,358 ratings149 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This was a really fun book and I enjoyed reading it. I am a sucker for books about amusement parks or carnivals, so right away this book intrigued me. There is a ghost story at the heart of the book, and some psychic powers, but mostly this book was about a nice boy who is looking into a decades old murder that happened at the amusement park where he is currently working.
    • 4/5
      A little slow at the beginning, but the ending was packed full.
    • 5/5
      Man, King can write. Not that this is news, but he just blows me away sometimes. I think this is my favorite of his so far.
    • 4/5
      A murder mystery but also a coming of age story and an evocative nostalgic encapsulation of a place and time
    • 4/5
      2013. Cinematic carnaval/ amusement park murder/chase scenes. Kept me guessing.
    • 5/5
      Stephen King--Big Steve--has been quoted as saying, “I recognize terror as the finest emotion and so I will try to terrorize the reader. But if I find that I cannot terrify, I will try to horrify, and if I find that I cannot horrify, I'll go for the gross-out. I'm not proud.” Indeed.

      Oh, how times have changed! As they will, and must. And Stephen King's writing has changed too. I don't dare call it "gentler", but the story content has changed somewhat and I think my first sure sign was "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". What a lovely tale! Terrifying, dark, yes...but, yes! Lovely! Even heartwarming, not necessarily any new territory for King, but done so well it might as well have been a complete change of direction. There were no monsters, except for the ones you produced in your own head. Which was okay, as I was in intensive care when I read it, and I'd had enough of blood, thank you very much.

      Now, I am not so enthusiastic about horror as a genre as I used to be, though I still relish the annual Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror (to be reviewed soon) which my wife gifts me with each Christmas. Maybe it's age, I don't know. I do know I sure do wince when I see those stupid videos on TV where someone hurts themselves doing something silly. THAT is horror now; perhaps it is that we are so inured to it anymore. And to think I used to do stuff like that! But anyway. Perhaps Mr. King has aged thus as well, and of course he has done his own share of sheet time in the Crash House, and perhaps it's only expected that he produce somewhat mellower works. If that's the case, I'm fine with it because he's still one of those writers I really look forward to reading every time they produce something new. If this is a sea change in King's work, well, then I am all for it.

      So, "Joyland" then, which is an amusement park in North Carolina to which our protagonist Devin Jones retreats whilst taking some time off from school and a girlfriend who has apparently rejected him. Joyland is a sort of a second tier amusement park, a local Coney Island. In fact, that's what the proprietors insist on calling the patrons: "Conies". As opposed to the usual carney term, "Rubes". And there is a a lot of carney talk in this story, which really adds to the realism. I enjoy dialect and it was a pleasure delving into the culture.

      At its core "Joyland" is a murder mystery, which is as it should be: this is a Hard Case book after all. But it's also a Stephen King book, so there will be some elements of what I call "believable unreality", and here it is a ghost which is (probably not coincidentally) located in the Horror House. There is a deep cast of characters including Fred Dean, the boss; Erin and Tom, Devin's fellow "greenies"; Lane Hardy, the rhyming roustabout; Mrs. Shoplaw, the concerned landlady; Rozzie Gold, aka Madame Fortuna; Eddie Parks, the embittered master of the Horror House; and finally Annie Ross and her afflicted son Mike who live in the great house on the beach. What bits of the story don't revolve around Devin neatly pivot around these two, and Annie is one of the most engaging characters Big Steve has ever created. Mike is sort of a Danny Torrance, if you will, and if you've read a lot of King you know what I mean. Lots of other supporting roles just add to the complexity.

      I won't say too much more lest I spoil it for everyone, but suffice to say that "Joyland" is all that and more: a complete joy to read and a book you won't be putting down till you're done. It cost me several late nights and that's the kind of admission price I don't mind paying. Get up there where the air is rare and read this one while you can; also check out King's other entry in the Hard Case library, "The Colorado Kid". It bears little resemblance to the TV show which spun from it (SyFy's delightfully weird "Haven") but it's a darned good read. I may have to start collecting these Hard Case books now…as if I needed another literary obsession…

      PS: Look closely for the name-dropping of one of my favorite fantasy authors. Wire me when you find it!
    • 3/5
      Joyland by Stephen King is much different than a lot of his work. First of all it is less than 300 pages, and secondly, it is not his usual thriller type read, but instead a part of the Hard Crimes Collection which concentrates on traditional mysteries.
      In the case of Joyland, the story started much the same as his longer work. Great character development and everything else that draws a reader in. The problem is that there was not much happening for nearly half way through other than character development, relationship ties, and a coming of age bit that really wasn't relative to the overall story.
      The positive here is that I was invested enough in the characters to care about what was going to happen and it kept me reading; the writing style, although different than King's usual stuff, was pretty terrific; the mystery was satisfying in the end for fans of the traditional noir style; and the shorter length appeals to me as it has always been my opinion that King's work has usually been too lengthy, just for the sake of being so, and could be culled of a couple of hundred pages with the result of a more positive reading experience.
      Overall, I am glad that I read Joyland, was pleased with the end result, but could have very well done without the lengthy "coming of age" garble.
    • 4/5
      Another enjoyable King entry in the book world and as usual, we find well written and fleshed out characters and well detailed story line to go along with it.

      4.5 Stars for a nice enjoyable quick story.
    • 5/5
      I wasn't super excited to read this one after The Colorado Kid (ending was unsatisfying in way that didn't feel like it had purpose), but then another author described it in a way that seemed appealing, so I gave it a shot and it was perfect. People are criticizing the book for not adhering to Dashiell Hammett conventions of crime genre because there is a supernatural component, but I think the melange works and still comes out a crime novel. Regardless of genre preferences, it transcends and is just a really good read.
    • 4/5
      "Joyland" by Stephen King was great fun. Set in the summer of 1973, college student Devin Jones takes a job at an amusement park known as Joyland. Like any good amusement park, it is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young woman who was murdered on one of the rides. Devin's friends Tom and Erin are skeptical, until they ride the haunted house ride and Tom sees her ghost. Erin starts doing research to see if she can find out more about the other murders that were committed by the same man. Meanwhile, Devin stays and continues working at Joyland after the park closes for the winter. In town he meets a sweet young boy named Mike who is dying of MD. Mike's mom is very overprotective of her son, but all Mike wants to do is go to the amusement park he's heard all summer long. Devin arranges it and Mike has a wonderful time. Mike is also psychic, and ends up saving Devin's life. It was a great quick read.
    • 4/5
      This isn't like the majority of Stephen King's work, but, at the same time, it still possesses his trademark writing style. Fans of Stephen King will no doubt enjoy this work, but it may not become a favorite. I enjoyed Joyland, but I enjoy King's work more when he sticks to the horror genre. He has a real talent for telling scary stories, but this just isn't one of them. The first half of the story went by very slowly, at least to me. If I wasn't such a big fan of King, I might not have stuck with the book. It's his writing style that really enlivens some of the dragging plot here. Only at the end does the plot really pick up, and when it does it feels a bit too abrupt after the slower pace of the rest of the novel. Anyway, die hard King fans will enjoy this, but die hard crime novel or mystery fans may leave a bit disappointed.
    • 3/5
      King's writing is compelling and engaging as ever, but this novel is average overall. The characters don't come alive the way other novels of his do. In fact I would have enjoyed more of the characters beyond just Devin. It troubled me that a now elderly man wpuld still be stuck in the mindset of "screw this girl who broke up with me to have sex with another man" literally decades later. It's immature and it's sexist, and here it is so overdone that it warps the rest of the novel. I could understand maybe if the narrator were still 21, but he's grown, and the events of that summer should so very much overshadow a breakup. A grown man relating a crime story while fixated on a girl he thinks didn't deserve him because she didn't want to have sex with him? Sigh.
    • 4/5
      I definitely enjoyed it. Whenever I would pick it up I would get lost and wouldn't put it down until something jogged me back into reality. There are a lot of "quotable lines" in here as well. Stephen King is a very odd mix of thriller and literary, and I like it a lot.I can't say it was perfect, though. While the ultimate conclusion WAS surprising and moderately satisfying, it wasn't as good as I was expecting. Mike's constant "It's not white" reminder took me a long time to figure out after I'd finished the book, and the clues that actually led Dev to the killer seemed a little far-fetched.I get so nit-picky on endings that just this fact alone made me less excited about the book overall, but it really is a good read and I definitely recommend. I'm excited to finally be getting into Stephen King.
    • 5/5
      It's a coming of age story about a young college kid who gets his heart broken by picking the wrong girl and not reading the signals. It's about this same kid leaving New England for a summer job at Joyland, a beAt up old amusement park on the Carolina shore. That summer he learns the ropes as a carny. And he hears from a fortune teller that he will meet two children, one with the gift of sight. It is a haunting nostalgic tale that takes place in the early 70s and is told by a master storyteller. If you read just one book this year, this should be the one.
    • 4/5
      Stephen King gets it! First love, first loss, crushing emotions, questions not easily answered, mystery and the mysterious. I always wonder when someone says "I just don't like his writing." How can you not love an author who can sum up life with:

      " When you're twenty-one, life is a roadmap. It's only when you get to twenty-five or so that you begin to suspect you've been looking at the map upside down, and not until you're forty are you entirely sure. By the time you're sixty, take it from me, you're fucking lost."
    • 5/5
      I once heard someone say that Stephen King writes worlds that the reader can step into and live in for a while. Joyland is one of those worlds and may just be a new favorite King book for me.I'm not a huge fan of your typical ghost story. However, despite the supernatural elements that so often show up in King novels, this is really less a ghost story and more a coming-of-age/slice-of-life tale - with a murder mystery. While there are certainly supernatural goings-on, this story is nearer in spirit, (pardon the pun), to The Body or Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption than it is to the more overt Christine or The Shining.Speaking of the mystery... though I sussed out the killer fairly early, it did not detract from the rest of the journey. By the time I reached the denouement, I found Joyland had been a real page-turner that flew by all too quickly.
    • 5/5
      College student Devin Jones takes a summer job at a small amusement park in North Carolina known as Joyland, which is rumored to be haunted by the ghost of a murdered girl. More haunting to Devin is the memory of his first love, who recently broke up with him. A psychic employed by the amusement park also makes cryptic remarks about two children impacting Devin's life, one of whom will be a psychic as well. I was very impressed with this book. In it, King's superb writing style shines. The characters are all deeply interesting and mostly well-rounded. The jumps back in forth between the 1970s when Devin is in his early 20s to the present when Devin is an older man reflecting back on this time in his life work very well, creating appropriate amounts of foreshadowing and dramatic tension. The mystery is intriguing as well, although it is really only a small part of the story. (There is an element of the supernatural here, but it's worth noting this isn't really a ghost story. You won't be creeped out by this book.) Rather, the book is largely about Devin growing up and the people who help that maturation process. For the audophile, Michael Kelly was exceptional as the reader of this audiobook. He employed just the right amount of emotion for each turn in the plot and an array of different voices to distinguish the characters. His reading was compelling from beginning to end. I highly recommend this book for fans of King or just fans of well-written drama.
    • 4/5
      "Joyland" is a steady, haunting melody of memory and youth and innocence that was euphoric. Devin Jones is a heartbroken college student getting away from the world and taking a job in a little theme park called Joyland. The summer of 1973 Devin will tell you was one of the most beautiful and also probably his saddest. Devin's a jack of all-trades in Joyland, sometimes he works the rides, other times he's forced to "wear the fur," and during that time he learns the lingo of the carnival, The "talk" as it's called. All of this helps to place you in Devin's world.

      This isn't you're standard Stephen King story. It's introduced early on as something of a ghost story, about the Haunted House ride really being haunted by a woman who was killed there years ago... and the mystery develops as the plot does. This book is really more of a character drama. We follow Devin's summer and then autumn and we watch him grow up. Some of those growing up moments are truly wonders to read. King turns what could be a rather boring moment of Devin wearing a dog costume and entertaining children into one of the best moments I've read all year. Devin states at one point that it's his last summer as a child, and by the end of the book you see him emerge that autumn as an adult. It's an all the more heart felt experience when you remember that it's a 60 year old Devin that's telling the story.
    • 3/5
      good- a little slow but enjoyably so. a good summer or winter book. One for a long evening, under the sun by the pool/beach or curled up underyour fuzziest, softest blanket with a mug of hot cocoa and a roaring fire to keep you company.
    • 5/5
      As a die hard King fan I may be a little biased but the fact of the matter is that he hasn't disappointed me yet. Joyland is no exception. I raced through this book and found myself turning right back to the beginning to read it again. He may be classed as a horror writer but Stephen King can right any genre he wants and pull it off beautifully. Whether you're new to his writing or have been a devout reader since the first Joyland is not a book to be missed.
    • 5/5
      This is the Stephen King at his best! It is this kind of writing that makes folks fans of his who don't particularly like horror. Think Shawshank Redemption or Stand by Me. The driving characters are so well fleshed out, I feel like they could have been my college roomates. I laughed, cringed, and got choked up all at once. A great touching, roller coaster ride of murder mystery fiction. A must read for fans and non-fans alike!
    • 4/5
      I was disappointed. I hate to say it. I thought the story rambled and I didn't experience an escalation of tension until almost the end. I do agree that the mystery is secondary, and the coming-of-age story is the most important. And King drew this story beautifully.King's writing in "Joyland" contains many cliches, but that's not unusual for him. For me, they were offset by his wonderful sense of humor which often made me laugh out loud, and his understanding and compassion of human nature, and my ongoing relationship with his pop references to the sixties and seventies which always make me feel like I am coming home. I was ready to be scared -- maybe that's why I felt disappointed and flat at the end. Now as I reflect upon the story that King actually wrote, I think I'll upgrade from 3 to 4 stars. But it's not Hard Case Crime.
    • 3/5
      I was ultimately disappointed at the lack of focus on the Joyland killer. My expectations was that was the point of the book but it essentially ended up focusing more on the main character 'coming of age'. Well written but certainly not my favorite King.
    • 4/5
      This Stephen King book is similar to Stand By Me, there are some holes in the story and it is definitely not one Stephen King's best, but it will certainly prove satisfying this summer at the beach.
    • 4/5
      A 10 year old with Muscular Dystrophy and second sight, a 21 year old working at an amusement park while getting over a break-up, losing his virginity, and solving a cold murder case, and of course......Howie the Hound Dog....Intrigued yet? This is a relatively short Stephen King novel which was engaging and intriguing. How does one find joy amidst sorrow? Try reading this for some hints.....
    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this. The main character, first-person narrator Devin Jones, was well drawn. He rang true as a college-age kid out on his own for really the first time and suffering from his first major heartbreak. To me, that's where the real story lies in this book. The unsolved mystery aspect is secondary. When it becomes primary, at the book's climax, was, for me, where the story bogged down a little bit. It picks back up when it leaves the mystery behind for the story's actual conclusion.Strangely, this book reminded me mostly of a stripped down Bag of Bones. It has a similar tone, and some similar story elements. Not surprisingly, that's one of my favorite King books as well. This is a little off the beaten path for Mr. King, but it's a quick, fun read.
    • 4/5
      Another winner from fiction great, Stephen King! King's latest novel Joyland has that classic King rhythm which is reminiscent of his earlier works. Joyland is a wonderful fictional hybrid which incorporates an unsolved murder, the carny lifestyle and a bittersweet coming of age tale. The main character, Devon Jones, is the consummate good guy. He's polite, well spoken and thinks of others first. During the summer of his 21st year, Devon travels to North Carolina to work at the boardwalk amusement park, Joyland. King's writing brings the sights, smells and language of the carny to life. I could smell the corn dogs and the salt air as I listened to this audio CD. The grittiness of the carny life is captured in this book but it also shows how the workers are a family that looks out and cares for one another. I really enjoyed this book it made me smile, laugh and cry. This book is a must read for Stephen King fans. 4 stars
    • 5/5
      Excellent. Made me glad I had surgery so I could just read and recuperate! Stephen King never fails to please!
    • 3/5
      You can smell the vapors of some of King's earlier classics, most notably "The Body", but does not feel fully realized. I read King's other HardCase novel and keep rooting for them, but neither was that satisfying. The hints of earlier King and quick pace is sufficient to give it a moderate recommendation, but the story line is neither scares you or fully draws you in. The carny language, in several parts, seems to be overkill and forced.
    • 5/5
      Joyland by Stephen King is about a college student named Devin Jones who gets a summer job at an amusement park called Joyland. He is heartbroken after his first love breaks up with him. Devin soon learns what real heartbreak is after he spends the summer at Joyland. After he meets a dying child, he learns about the dark truths that life has in store for us. He also has to deal with the legacy of a vicious murderer. Devin grows up very fast during the time he spends at Joyland.This novel has a little bit of everything in it. Joyland is a murder mystery, a horror story and a coming of age novel. There are some heartbreaking and suspenseful moments in this book. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat and make you cry at the same time.