Max Riffner

The Parlor

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Good Book Reading

I’ve been in a bit of a book splurge lately, having received a gift card to Border’s for Christmas, then subsequently getting a 30% discount off of another book after redeeming my gift card. Right now I’m plowing through Freakonomics, but the first part of this week was devoted to The Colorado Kid by Stephen King.

Let me give some background here:

Hard Case Crime published The Colorado Kid. Here’s a description from their site:

Hard Case Crime is dedicated to reviving the vigor and excitement, the suspense and thrills — the sheer entertainment — of the golden age of paperback crime novels, both by bringing back into print the best work of the pulp era and by introducing readers to new work by some of today’s most powerful writers and artists.

You had me at ‘hello.’ The packaging and design of the book is perfect. It looks like one of those mildewed crime novels you see in used bookstores, except it is brand new. As a fan of pulp fiction, this is really exciting for me. I’d pick up any of these books, but I was curious as to what King wrote. See, I’ve never read any of King’s famous horror books. None of them. I know, roll that around your mind for awhile. Get over it.

What I have read are some of his short story collections, so I’m aware that he is an amazing writer that has more to say with his words than scaring the living crap out of you. However, I don’t think I’ve ever read a mystery novel by him.

The Colorado Kid delivers in full. You can definitely see King’s storytelling in full swing, but he does not sacrifice his style in service to the mystery plot. Rather, the two go hand in hand and take the reader somewhere new entirely, making the story about the notion of mystery itself. It is a great little book that is perfect on a rainy day, or any day for that matter.

Based on this work, I’ll definitely be picking up a stack of Hard Case Crime’s library everytime I go on vacation, or if I’m just in the mood for a good read.

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