Great Reads for Great Readers

 

Fairy Tale, by Stephen King.

 

 

           Master of the macabre Stephen King‘s ‘Fairy Tale’ is yet another fitting tribute to his seemingly bottomless well of imagination, in which he weaves the fear and vulnerability of today’s world with the awful desperation and magic of another:  ‘Fairy Tale’ is an amalgam of everything that went bump in the night and scared us silly when we were little – leavened with rewards:  the promise of huge pots of goblin gold, and the hand in marriage of a fair princess – but only if we could complete certain tasks, usually involving giants and witches.

            It goes without saying that Mr King has stamped his own royal seal on this story, classic in its way:  his hero is Charlie Reade, 17 years old and an athletic, strapping (6ft 4”) high school student.  Charlie has had a rough few years – his mother died in a tragic accident when he was a child, and his much-loved father spent some years cosying up to the bottle.  Life was bleak until quite by accident (really?) Charlie one day hears a dog’s frantic howling coming from the Psycho House – so called because it looked exactly like Norman Bates’s creepy home in the movie – and when he investigated, found the reclusive owner, Mr Bowditch, lying on the back porch with a badly broken leg.  He’d been trying to climb a ladder and had fallen.  Charlie’s efforts to get him to hospital and later kindnesses (fixing his fence, looking after his old dog Radar while he was hospitalised, and running various errands – including biking to a nearby town to sell 4lbs of gold pellets (whaaaat!!) – to a shady jeweller) become the foundation of an unusual but firm friendship, finally culminating in a bizarre message from Mr Bowditch as he succumbs to a heart attack:  the locked wooden shed at the back of the property contains a staircase to a well.  It is the portal to another world, and if he decides to journey there, he may not return, because it contains unspeakable horrors  - and riches beyond imagining.  Risk and Reward.

            What to do?  Well.  Easy- Peasy!  Except that gold doesn’t hold the usual attraction for Charlie – he has fallen for Radar, Best Dog in the World, and there may be a way to make her young again:  if that’s a possibility, then tarry not!  And they don’t, entering a world controlled by magic, but still peopled by those whose lust for power is very similar to Charlie’s own messed-up modern existence.

            There are juicily documented monsters galore, and enough pace, tension and excitement after the ambling scene-setting to make anyone burn the midnight oil.  Stephen King is STILL the king!  SIX STARS.