I will be fair and give you a warning: Toward the end of this review, I am going to discuss the ending of Stephen King’s ’’Thinner.’’ I will warn you again so that you can stop reading and thus keep from spoiling it - in case you haven’t read this book before.
So, with that out of the way, let’s get into the plot of this relatively short read from horror novelist Stephen King.
A grossly overweight man enjoys his life. He is a successful attorney, is semi-happily married to a chain-smoker, and is raising a teen-aged daughter who is nothing short of perfect. Well, one day he accidentally runs over an old Gypsy woman that was crossing the street in between two parked cars. Since he is in good with the judge, Billy (the fat guy, of course) gets off with a slap on the wrist. This infuriates the traveling Gypsies who were only camped out in Billy’s small northern town for a few nights in order to entertain the locals and make some money. So, before they load up their campers and disappear into the night, the age-old woman’s son (who is also old as dust - strange how these things are seemingly ’’normal’’ when Stephen King writes about them) places a curse on Fat Billy.
The next thing Billy knows, he is suddenly winning the battle with his weight. He is losing a few pounds here and there: Every time he steps on the scale, he is lighter despite the fact that he still eats fatty foods ravenously. His wife is amazed, Billy is awed, and they all laugh at the Gypsy who had cursed Billy.
Oops. Now Billy’s wasting away. He’s STILL losing weight - so much now that his heart flutters and he closely resembles a scarecrow swinging in the breeze. This is not good, readers, not at all!
So, Billy goes to one of his Mafia-type buddies for help. The buddy tracks down the Gypsies and...well, that’s enough of the plot.
Let’s just say this: Stephen King writes a grotesque, satisfying story. He leads us at a breakneck pace through the gory details of the tale, never letting us take our eyes off the page for more than a couple of moments. It’s absolutely stunning in style and detail: King is the master of all that is horrifying and impossible. He pulls off great feats in this book: He creats real characters that we actually feel for, along with vivid scenery and intricate detail to whisk us away into the Fantasy Land he has created with his typewriter.
So, it’s a great read. I really enjoyed it. I couldn’t put this book down, to be honest with you - thankfully it was a short, quick read!
You’ll love this book. It’s got all the classic horror facades: Suspense, gore, et cetera. It’s got vivid details, a killer plot, and is, overall, a bright idea from a very bright guy.
Everything about this book is great until the ending...but, even though that sorely disappointed me, the great writing ALMOST makes up for it. So, I still DON’T recommend this book, because it’s such an enormous letdown.
NOW I WILL DISCUSS THE ENDING. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THIS BOOK, YOU MIGHT WANT TO STOP READING.
The ending just plain sucked, though. After all the work Billy and his Mafia guy did to track down and eventually negotiate a deal with the Gypsy that had placed the curse, the story suddenly...well, dies. As it turns out, the Gypsy put the spirit of the curse inside of a strawberry pie. He instructed Billy to give the pie to somebody, and fast: If it was not eaten, then Billy would once again start wasting away.
Billy could have given the pie to his doctor, who had tried several times through the course of this book to have him committed into an insane asylum. He could have given it to his wife, who co-conspired with the doctor to have him locked up for babbling about the cursing Gypsy man. He could have given it to the doctors and shrinks at the clinic that he finally checked himself into, as they were more fascinated by the oddities of his case than they were in helping him fight his swiftly-approaching death.
But, nooooo, does he give the pie to these people? He brings it home for his wife! He leaves it out for her, knowing that she’ll eat it after he’s gone to bed. His daughter is gone for the night but, at some point before he awakens, returns.
Billy goes downstairs and finds TWO plates in the sink. He assumes - ASSUMES! - that his daughter ate some of the pie. Instead of simply finding out for sure, he eats a slice of it himself and wham, bam, thank you ma’am, the book ends.
What kind of STUPID ending is that? I’m sorry, but that deflated the whole story! It made me want to vomit. In fact, I threw the book across the room and cursed Stephen King: He went to all the trouble of writing a great story, brought it to a climax, and then walked out on it. God, if that’s not the sorriest thing in the world, I don’t know what is!
So, yeah. I would still read this book again if I hadn’t thrown away my copy of it. I really liked the imagination and creativity, not to mention the actual storyline itself. Other than the horrible ending, it was a great read.
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