Revival
A Novel
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4.2 • 1.7K Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Stephen King presents “a fresh adrenaline rush of terror” (People) in this electrifying #1 New York Times bestseller!
The new minister came to Harlow, Maine, when Jamie Morton was a boy doing battle with his toy army men on the front lawn. The young Reverend Charles Jacobs and his beautiful wife brought new life to the local church and captivated their congregation. But with Jamie, he shares a secret obsession—a draw so powerful, it would have profound consequences five decades after the shattering tragedy that turned the preacher against God, and long after his final, scathing sermon. Now Jamie, a nomadic rock guitarist hooked on heroin, meets Charles Jacobs again. And when their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, Jamie discovers that the word revival has many meanings….
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Handsome, troubled pastor Charles Jacob casts a long and dark shadow over the life of Jamie Morton, an all-American boy from a blue-collar family. Revival crackles with tension and proves yet again that King is as masterful a storyteller as he is prolific. Narrated in a friendly conversational tone, this taut novel ratchets up the thrills and horrors by fixating on razor-sharp details and familiar psychological wounds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This spellbinding supernatural thriller from MWA Grand Master King chronicles one man's efforts to, as narrator Jamie Morton phrases it, "tap into the secrets of the universe." Charles Jacobs, a Methodist minister in rural Harlow, Maine, loses his faith when his wife and child die in a hideous car accident, but not his obsessive interest in electricity. Over the next 50 years, Jamie a devoted congregant of Jacobs's when young, but a wary skeptic as he matures crosses paths with his friend as the constantly experimenting Jacobs graduates from carnival huckster, to faith healer, and finally to mad scientist convinced that he can harness a "secret electricity" to get a glimpse of "some unknown existence beyond our lives." King (Mr. Mercedes) is a master at invoking the supernatural through the powerful emotions of his characters, and his depiction of Jacobs as a man unhinged by grief but driven by insatiable scientific curiosity is as believable as it is frightening. The novel's ending one of King's best stuns like lightning.
Customer Reviews
King IS the king!
Stephen King can write like nobody's business! I was hooked on page 1. How does King do that? No one can write like him; he is truly amazing.
I miss the old Stephen King...
The one who wrote about horrors only he could conceive. The recent half dozen books or so read like a man who's aged into gentle tragedies, focused on the generic evils of man. Both King and Koontz were greats, and still are, but the magic of horror is gone from their pages.
Derivative, repetitive, boring
What happened? Dr Death was a great story...interesting, well-developed characters, great narrative, and a haunting close.
But I kept waiting for Mr King to do CPR on revive! The first 7/8 of the novel was a set up for something that Lovecraft has done better. Paid a visit to Lovecraft's place in RI as an homage after this novel.
Come back to us Mr King. I'm happy that you experienced a nostalgic visit to your youth. But you didn't take me with you. I want my money back