This Edgar-nominee is highly readable, efficiently organized, and most welcome as the first book-length King biography. Besides being a formidable writer paradoxically underrated as a result of his success and productivity (plus his identification with the horror genre), King emerges as an admirable human being: philanthropist, family man, and generous supporter and advocate of fellow writers. That said, wife Tabitha King, herself an accomplished novelist, comes across as a saint, possessing extraordinary patience and wisdom to deal with his quirks and excesses.
Among the interesting details are the jaw-dropping extent of his alcoholism and cocaine addiction, both finally defeated, and his incredibly draconian contract with Doubleday, which he was able to break only by letting them publish a book he hated, Pet Sematary. Though little critical commentary is provided, King’s various bestsellers are described and placed in the context of the events of his life. The subject, who was not interviewed for the book, neither authorized nor obstructed it. The author interviewed many friends and associates and quotes frequently from King’s published writings and interviews. Occasional repetition and internal contradiction prove minor annoyances. Careless editing allowed a whole sentence (“Steve and Tabby had fallen into a comfortable rhythm of spending half the year in Maine and the other half in Florida”) to turn up on both pages 219 and 226. Eight pages of photographs are interesting but limited, lacking a single shot of his wife or children.
The Mystery Writers of America’s Grand Master Award to Stephen King was controversial in some quarters. Anyone who doubts he’s a mystery writer might consider that Ed McBain and John D. MacDonald were among his earliest influences and (per Otto Penzler) his taste in detective fiction extends to P.D. James.
"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."
I am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...
Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.
"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."
Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”
"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."
Fire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.
