The Dark Half

November 1, 1989
The protagonist of King's top-notch new novel is literary novelist Thad Beaumont, whose greatest success has come with three gory thrillers written under the pseudonym George Stark. (King himself wrote five novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman.) When a blackmailer threatens to reveal Stark's identity (planning his scheme, he finds a new use for PW 's ``People'' page), Beaumont and his literary agent decide to foil the plan and capitalize on Stark's ``demise.'' But Stark, who of course was never alive, will not stay dead either. Beaumont's alter ego (for Stark is obviously more than just a pen name) seeks revenge against all those involved in killing him off, and his murderous rampage, gory and gripping, systematically reduces the ranks of his enemies to Thad, his wife and two children. Stark's aim--to force Beaumont to write another Stark novel--is basically a variation on King's Misery , in which a deranged fan held a writer captive until he wrote another novel featuring the heroine whose life he had terminated in his previous book. But this new King thriller is so wondrously frightening that mesmerized readers won't be able fault the master for reusing a premise that puts both Misery and The Dark Half among the best of his voluminous work. 1,500,000 first printing; $500,000 ad/promo; BOMC main selection.

October 1, 1990
The protagonist of King's ``top-notch'' novel is literary novelist Thad Beaumont, whose greatest success has come with three gory thrillers written under the pseudonym George Stark. Beaumont is threatened by a blackmailer who may reveal Stark's identity; Beaumont kills off Stark instead; and Stark goes on a murderous rampage. ``Wondrously frightening . . . among the best of his voluminous work,'' maintained PW.

At age 11, Thaddeus Beaumont has brain surgery to remove the remains of an "incompletely absorbed twin." Years later, Beaumont, a successful writer who's written several books in his own name and several potboilers under the pseudonym George Stark, admits to the Stark ruse. Beaumont then publicly "kills off" his alter ego, but after a series of brutal murders, he begins to suspect the impossible--that Stark is alive and real and capable of murder. AudioFile Golden Voice Grover Gardner makes the improbable terrifyingly real. As Beaumont begins to fall apart, Gardner remains coolly understated, allowing King's artfully crafted story to unfold. First published in 1989, THE DARK HALF explores a writer's relation to and responsibility for his fictional creations. Gardner's performance is word perfect. S.J.H. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine