BOOK REVIEW: From The Buick 8

My first Book Review, My first Stephen King, My first horror read... All in all, lot many firsts. But let's get down to business already.

The book has been classified as 'horror', but it's only for want of a better classification. A couple of explanations about what goes on in this thing, and it might just have gone down as a sci-fi offering. But the beauty of Buick 8 is just that — it leaves things unexplained.

Basically, the plotline (as spoiler-free as possible) goes thus: A man in a black coat arrives one fine day on a petrol pump to refuel a car, a vintage 1954 Buick Roadmaster, except that it just feels... different. Then the man simply disappears to seemingly nowhere, and as a division of Western Pennsylvania cops called Troop D take over the 'car', they begin to realise that this may not be a car at all...

The character fleshing is quite okay (Although not as good as my previous read: Ken Folett's Code To Zero).
The story proceeds in a series of narrations in flashbacks; right from the day Troop D saw the Buick to all the insane happenings that took place around it as the story progressed.

However, the best part, undoubtedly, is the way the narration is handled. As the characters who narrate the incidents keep switching over, the reader is provided different perspectives of the happenings; and the writing style is also considerably changed to match the character narrating the tale.

And then, of course, comes the climax. And I must say, this one is more for those who believe 'It is the journey that is important; not the destination'. Books that manage to keep up such a feverish pace right throughout, at the same time withholding many elements from the reader; many of which comprise the 'Big Picture' (What is that Buick thing anyway?) face imminent danger of falling to a whimper of a climax; and Buick 8 almost manages to fall in the same trap. However, as the book says, 'The word almost covers a lot of territory. If might be the only word in the language that covers more'. The description of one scene towards the end manages to salvage most of the climax.

All in all, if you'd like to spend the better part of 2 days with a 450-page tome, doing pretty much nothing else in life; then I recommend this to you. Go ahead. Take the ride.

Rating: 8/10