From Publishers Weekly
----------------------
Why revive the Bachman byline more than a decade
after Stephen King was found lurking behind it? Not for thematic
reasons. This devilishly entertaining yarn of occult mayhem
married to mordant social commentary is pure King and resembles
little the four nonsupernatural (if science-fictional)
pre-Thinner Bachmans. The theme is the horror of TV, played out
through the terrors visited upon quiet Poplar Street in the
postcard-perfect suburban town of Wentworth, Ohio, when a
discorporeal psychic vampire settles inside an autistic boy
obsessed with TV westerns and kiddie action shows and brings
screen images to demented, lethal life. The long opening scene,
in which characters and vehicles from the TV show Motokops 2200
(think Power Rangers) sweep down the street, spewing death by
firearm, is a paragon of action-horror. The story rarely s
after that, evoking powerful tension and, at times, emotion. The
premise owes a big unacknowledged debt to the classic Twilight
Zone episode "It's a Good Life"; echoes of earlier Kings resound
often as well?the psychic boy (The Shining), a writer-hero
(Misery, The Dark Half), etc. But King makes hay in this story in
which anything can happen, and does, including the warping of
space-time and the savage deaths of much of his large cast. The
narrative itself warps fantastically, from prose set in classic
typeface to handwritten journals to drawings to typewritten
playscript and so on. So why the Bachman byline? Probably for
fear that yet another new King in 1996 in addition to six volumes
of The Green Mile and Viking's forthcoming Desperation might glut
the market. Maybe, maybe not. But one thing is certain: call him
Bachman or call him King, the bard of Bangor is going to hit the
charts hard and vast with this white-knuckler knockout. Main
selection of the Literary Guild, Doubleday Book Club, Mystery
Guild and Science Fiction Book Club.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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From Library Journal
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King's millions of fans are in for a treat: Two of
the author's new novels are being published simultaneously, one
of which bears the name Richard Bachman, a pseudonym King
previously scrapped when, in the late 1980s, an enterprising
Maine reporter discovered that Bachman and King shared many
similarities. Those who have read the cynical but exciting
Bachman books (e.g., Thinner, 1985) know that King's stories take
on a misanthropic edge when he dons his nom de plume, and The
Regulators is no different. The novel is set in an idyllic Ohio
suburb where a group of residents are treated to a day-long
horror show courtesy of an autistic child who is serving as host
to an alien intelligence. Bachman gleefully kills off his most
sympathetic characters in a plot that's reminiscent of an old
Western crossed with a Saturday-morning cartoon. Although the
action is fierce and Bachman's imagination proves boundless, the
hopelessness of his characters' predicament makes it a bleak and
tiresome reading experience. Although Desperation features many
of the same characters as The Regulators?some of whom will once
again meet grisly ends?as well as the same villain, it is
nonetheless everything that The Regulators is not: The plot is
tight, the action is well orchestrated, and King's running theme
of redemption packs a mighty wallop. The novel, named after a
small mining town, tells of a group of travelers who encounter a
nasty presence along a Nevada freeway. Ultimately, both of these
titles will remain on library shelves for nanoseconds at the
most, but if you can only afford one, stick with Desperation.
-?Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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