Christine

It's time to go back to a time when folks used payphones, engines had more than four cylinders, and teens gathered in cars to watch movies and make out in picturesque views of the hills above the city. This tale, however, is not all sunshine and rainbows. In fact, it's the exact opposite. I was fortunate to go into this book without ever having watched the movie (I love John Carpenter films) or hearing much about it. Following in the footsteps of some of my other favorite King books, Christine has chills, laughs, panic-inducing segments, supernatural occurrences, and a love story. I felt like it cruised along at a high pace and offered up so much more than a story about a maniacal car that goes on a rampage. Christine is like Michael Myers and Freddy; she has an agenda and a tie to those who gaze upon her or want to take a ride in her. It's super creepy, and I was completely enamored with the plot.

The tale begins with two buds driving around the city and stumbling upon a 1958 Plymouth Fury. One of the MC's is attracted to the bucket of bolts and has to have it. As you can imagine, once the car is put back together and starts to come to life, people start to perish. What I find most interesting is the living nature of the car and how it influences others. We all know friends who get addicted to a certain vice or mindset, and no matter how much you try and explain to them that they have a problem, they will not listen. This book not only covers the mental but the physical breakdown as well. I do not want to get into specifics if you have not had the pleasure of reading it, but some characters have a physical change in appearance as they fall under Christine's spell, and the changes described are terrifying. As you dive deeper into the madness and muck, there is an underlying bit of hope, something King is a master at. I had so much joy with the investigative part of the book as well. Is it just a car, or something much more terrifying?

I have to talk about the “action” scenes a bit. Just like the slasher icons I mentioned before, Christine is driven (pun intended) to take out certain people, let's say. Do they deserve it? That is up to you to decide as you read it, but think about your favorite horror movie and place a car as the entity trying to break into a home. Does it work? Probably not, but King makes that particular part a nail-biter.

OK, OK, so I know that I have praised it so far, but I do have a few nit-picky things to point out. One, I knew from the get-go what would happen to the main characters relationship triangle. I have experienced something similar, and had a gut feeling where that situation would ultimately end up. Two, this is an EXTREME nit pick, but the hamburger part was a weird plot device. I know you have to come up with a way to explain something happening inside a car, but that was just an eyebrow-raising moment for me. Your results may vary. Third, I thought Arnie's parents were a little too accepting of Christine in the beginning. I would have liked a bit more meat on the bone there.

Other than that, it was incredibly captivating. I would be incredibly interested in knowing what my GR buddies think of this one. If you haven't read it or have been putting it off, add it to your Halloween reading list. You will not be disappointed.