I just finished reading it. Just now.
I’m not sure how to even begin to describe the magnitude of this story, and its effect on me. I guess I’ll just outline it, cause I don’t want to spoil the ending.
The front cover of Stephen King’s latest release shows the headline of the newspaper after President Kennedy was shot. While the back cover shows a headline that says: President survives assassination attempt. Which side are we meant to believe?
Intrigued, I investigated, because it looked like a juicy book and King is one of my faves.
The story is about Jake Epping, an english teacher in 2011. One night he reads an essay by a janitor who is trying to get a GED. The essay topic was to write about a night that changed your life. The janitor writes about how on one Halloween, his drunk father murdered his mother and two brothers, critically wounded his sister and permanently damaged his own mind. With a hammer. Epping is moved to tears.
Then the owner of Al’s Diner, Al Templeton, tells Epping that he has discovered a “rabbit hole” to the past in his restaurant’s pantry.
Wait…WHAAAAT?!?!
So Jake goes on an epic adventure to the past to try to stop the grisly family murders, and eventually, the JFK assassination, in the hopes that the janitor (along with everyone else) can have a better life. (No assassination, no Vietnam, etc.)
The writing style is—needless to say—superb. As it turns out, the main antagonist of the book is not Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of Kennedy, but rather the past itself. See, the past (referred to as the “obdurate past”) does not want to be changed. And the bigger the event changed, the harder it will fight against you.
This book is different from anything I’ve ever read by King. It contains his signature terrifying moments, but they come in surprising new ways with just a twist of tiny details that chilled my spine. Literally.
Especially for history nuts, this book is a must. It is excruciatingly researched and detailed, and it really is very immersive.
If ever time-travel was done right, this would be it. I am proud to add it to my personal collection.
Thanks for reading, I should have a new vlog coming soon!
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