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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780451167316
ISBN number: 0451167317
Label: Signet
Manufacturer: Signet
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 496
Printing Date: October 03, 1990
Publishing house: Signet
Sale Popularity Level: 297554
Studio: Signet
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Bestselling author Thad Beaumont would like to say he has nothing to do with the evil that has resulted in a series of monstrous murders. But he can't. He created it.
Amazon.com Review:
In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write The Regulators.) At the beginning of The Dark Half (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead.
Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled Machine Dreams, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in The Dark Half as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.
Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.
This is not the very first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the New York Times writes, 'Misery (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. The Dark Half is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination.' --Fiona Webster
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Rated by buyers -
A classic King novel. I enjoyed it, although it's not my favorite. It's fast-paced and creepy. About a novelist who is being harassed and pursued by a killer, one that seems to know him well. The ending was pretty satisfying and the characters were interesting and believable.
Rated by buyers 
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my dad read it within two days after i gave it to him for christmas. he loved it. he could just be saying that to make me feel good but he seems sincere.
Rated by buyers 
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A short story made long with endless and cumbersome writing. There may be a good story here but King missed it. Years went by before I was talked into reading King again. That book was Insomnia. Haven't read King since. Shame since I used to read everything he wrote.
Rated by buyers 
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I'm a big fan of Stephen King's books, but I would rank THE DARK HALF somewhere around the middle of his body of work. The novel is well written as a whole, but I felt the plot was somewhat predictable. This is one of the novels where the reader knows exactly what's going on, and is several steps ahead of the characters. As a result, I felt there wasn't a great deal of genuine suspense or surprise in this work.
Also, as another reviewer commented, the characters in THE DARK HALF don't have quite as much depth as characters in other King novels. I didn't feel like I really knew that much about Thad Beaumount or his wife. This is a shame, because King is normally quite good at creating three dimensional characters that seem like real human beings.
Overall though, THE DARK HALF is a good thriller and it's hard to deny the visceral power of King's writing. But if you're looking for a great King novel, however, my advice is to go with masterpieces like SALEMS LOT, THE SHINING, THE DEAD ZONE, THE STAND, MISERY, THE GREEN MILE or IT.
Rated by buyers -
The last novel I read was The Regulators, and this is much better. The plot was suspenseful and exhilarating; a return to the Stephen King novels I enjoy. Although none of King's stories are real, The Dark Half is considerably closer to reality than The Regulators, and I think that is what makes some of King's novels better than others. He takes a horrible, impossible idea, and gives it a reality. The closer it comes to actual reality, the less able I am to dismiss it completely, the better the novel. King always impresses me with his ability to describe characters and give them life. He does not use cookie-cutter characters to carry out his plot; each character has a different voice (excepting William and Wendy). Another thing I enjoyed about this novel was the lack of a child hero.
What is this novel about? Thad is an author who garners moderate acclaim, but is a terrific sucess when he writes violent novels from an alter ego. However, Thad pronounces this identity dead and will no longer write novels with it. What would happen if this alter identity rises from imaginary death into real life. Would it be angry with Thad for trying to kill it? Would he be angry with those who allowed Thad to kill it? I thought this novel was very well done and I enjoyed it immensely.
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