Lisey's Story

Two years into widowhood, Lisa "Lisey" Landon believes she's getting on with her life. But her sister's psychotic episode forces Lisa to confront her own past and present in a new way. Mare Winningham sounds convincing in Lisey's first-person narration, conveying longing, sadness, and anger in varying tones of subtlety and force. She shades her voice slightly to portray Lisey's sisters and late husband, maintaining distinct characterizations for all. For the secondary characters, Winningham attempts both Maine and Pittsburgh accents, neither of which portrays its proper region. Given her choice not to use regionalisms for the protagonists from these areas, one wishes she had remained consistent with their relatives. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine


TTwo years into widowhood, Lisa "Lisey" Landon believes she's getting on with her life. But her sister's psychotic episode forces Lisa to confront her own past and present in a new way. Mare Winningham sounds convincing in Lisey's first-person narration, conveying longing, sadness, and anger in varying tones of subtlety and force. She shades her voice slightly to portray Lisey's sisters and late husband, maintaining distinct characterizations for all. For the secondary characters, Winningham attempts both Maine and Pittsburgh accents, neither of which portrays its proper region. Given her choice not to use regionalisms for the protagonists from these areas, one wishes she had remained consistent with their relatives. R.L.L. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

December 4, 2006
King's latest bid for literary respectability is read by acclaimed actress Winningham, best known for her Oscar-nominated performance in Georgia
. Winningham glazes King's novel in multiple coats of Southern honey, her voice shimmering with an old-fashioned glow for the tale of Lisey Landon, wife of acclaimed novelist Scott Landon, and her effort to discover the source of her husband's inspiration after his death. Winningham is a good fit for King in a less terror-filled mood, capturing the book's blend of the sentimental and the comic. The narrative is ushered in and out by the strains of Ryan Adams's "When the Stars Go Blue," and King reads his own afterword, where he details the sources of his own inspiration, carefully distancing himself and his loved ones from the characters in his book while making it clear that, like Scott Landon, he must dive deep into his subconscious and into the pool of literary history, to find inspiration. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 28).

Starred review from August 28, 2006
Following King's triumphant return to the world of gory horror in Cell
, the bestselling author proves he's still the master of supernatural suspense in this minimally bloody but disturbing and sorrowful love story set in rural Maine. Lisey's husband, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Scott Landon, has been dead for two years at the book's start, but his presence is felt on every page. Lisey hears him so often in her head that when her catatonic sister, Amanda, begins speaking to her with Scott's voice, she finds it not so much unbelievable as inevitable. Soon she's following a trail of clues that lead her to Scott's horrifying childhood and the eerie world called Boo'ya Moon, all while trying to help Amanda and avoid a murderous stalker. Both a metaphor for coming to terms with grief and a self-referencing parable of the writer's craft, this novel answers the question King posed 25 years ago in his tale "The Reach": yes, the dead do love.