Review: The Colorado Kid by Stephen King

On the small island town of Moose-Lookit, a reporter from the Boston Globe hurries away from an unfulfilling interview with local journalists. Commissioned to write a periodical about unexplained mysteries, he had high hopes for far-fetched stories and hair-raising tales. Sadly, he left without the scoop he expected, although that’s not to say the island hasn’t seen its fair share of mysteries. Behind the boring tales regurgitated for the umpteenth time by the local journalists, there lies a closely guarded story of true mystery. The Colorado Kid, a dead man found on the beach by local youths, was a case that remained unexplained for decades; a story composed entirely of unknowns and ‘what if’s, and becoming fodder for the imagination.

It is worth noting that The Colorado Kid was the inspiration for Haven, a TV show that epitomizes the odd world created by Stephen King. If, like me, you reasoned that you’ll read this to get a behind-the-scenes, sneak peek at the workings behind the show, a glance at its roots – you will, like me, be left with a sense of lacking. However, that is not to say that the book is not a hit in its own right.

A quick and perplexing read, The Colorado Kid deviates from King’s usual world-building; it hits you like a punch to the solar plexus. The particular genius of this book is no doubt what 90% of readers will find the most frustrating aspect, and as such, proves a huge risk for the King of horror, who has crafted his career on explaining the most bizarre circumstances. Ghosts, mind-readers and Lazarus pets are thus part of the natural order in King’s world; they have a place. The Colorado Kid is a jarring and taunting exception. In a style reminiscent of Hemingway’s anticlimaxes, The Colorado Kid is the antithesis of an ending with a bang. It is strangely pleasing to the reader who recognizes that not all questions can be answered – a delicious mockery of society’s obsession with conclusions. Not all things in life can be neatly filed away, and this is one of the stories that refuses to be put to bed. What it certainly does do is put the reader to a test – will you relish its cleverness and satire, or disregard it as a frustrating narrative that ends with no point or period?

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King is published by Hard Case Crime, a division of Titan Books, and is available in South Africa from Jonathan Ball Publishers.