Book Review of "Joyland" by Stephen King

I've read numerous other books by Stephen King, including The Dead Zone, Pet Cemetary, Christine, IT, The Tommyknockers, Needful Things, Rose Madder, and two of the books in the Dark Tower series.  I was surprised though to find that this work of his was not too far off from a normal drama/suspense story.  A few minor supernatural moments here and there, but they seemed minor in the overall context of the story.

That's not necessarily a bad thing though.  Overall I thought this book was great - a coming of age tale of heartbreak, self-discovery, heroism, tragedy, and mystery.  The characters were interesting, enjoyable, and believable. Now that I think about it, the main character in this story seemed to be about the same age and stage of life as the main character in "The Catcher in the Rye".  In my opinion though, Mr. King did a much better job of transporting me into the shoes of a character that I'm interested in and want to actually read more about.

Note: This is on my book review web site too, which is here.