The Rif Raff Book Club's October reading was From a Buick 8 by Stephen King.

From a Buick 8 by Stephen King

I'm glad we had a live discussion on this book, because I was assured this was one of Steven King's worst books. ( the other members present had read a number of his books that were mostly turned into movies and they liked those) I was wondering how he was able to become a famous American writer after reading From A Buick 8. This book was horrible. I was waiting for a payoff at the end that never came. He moved the story along and you wanted to continue reading, but there was no reason to ever finish the book. The characters were flat and predictable. The story jumped a timeline that didn't enhance the story. The "scary parts" were never even mildly scary. There was no payoff to the things he setup as possible reasons why things happened the way they did. It seemed to me to have lots of loose ends. I could care less about any of the characters and was hoping they would all be consumed by the car by the end of the book.He must still have a contract with his publisher to finish a certain number of books and this one was part of that arrangement. What a waste of precious reading time. No scares, no horror, no reason to read it.

Horror fiction makes for a good October (ie Halloween) read and this book had it's moments. The screenplay dialogue and not very believable character development allowed one to be in a coma and read through most of the book. It was only at the end when the payoff came. It may be a common horror-genre literary device to not actually describe the horrors the characters see, but I was let down when the horrors were described as, "It's something I can't describe." The old "Then" and "Now" technique for the chapter titles helped to move the story along. I'm sure Stephen King has his fans and this easy fluff read was a mild diversion from the equally moronic television option.