Mile 81
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3.8 • 188 Ratings
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- £1.99
Publisher Description
With the heart of Stand By Me and the genius horror of Christine, MILE 81 is Stephen King unleashing his imagination as he drives past one of those road signs . . .
At Mile 81 on the Maine Turnpike is a boarded up rest stop, a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It's the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother heads off to the gravel pit to play 'paratroopers over the side'.
Pete, armed with only the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out. That's why he doesn't notice a freshly mud-spattered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn't been any rain in New England for over a week) which veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that reads 'closed, no services'.
The driver's door opens but nobody gets out . . .
Customer Reviews
Classic King, rushed ending
Typical King short story - a good read. He really does that inanimate object as monster well. Still it's not the best he's ever done and its a bit painful to read his 50's kids updated with iPads and hip-hop references when they're clearly still variations on the kids from IT with 50s speech patterns.
Unlike some of Kings Hitchcock endings this just wraps up in two pages after building up - which is pretty unusual for King. Still quibbles aside its still better than most horror writers manage in full length novels.
A little weak at the knees
A little weak at the knees but hey it is a short story. This would make quite a good full length page turner though.
Workmanlike at best
We all know Stephen King is capable of great things, so why he feels the need to revisit old territory in this dull tale of ANOTHER monster car will probably remain a mystery. I've given it 3 stars simply because it has his familiar touches which we all love, and the odd decent (though often short-lived) character to make it bearable. He's become rather a prolific writer again, and he'll always be one of the best, but this doesn't do him any favours really. And it's somewhat priced.