11.22.63
Stephen King
Hodder and Stoughton
ISBN: 9781444727333
£10.99
‘We never know which lives we influence, or when, or why.’
Review
It has long since stopped being fashionable to criticise Stephen King for lack of literary merit. A tiresome snobbery once existed regarding his books, long since buried under the millions of copies sold and the dozens of film and television adaptations. The Maine-born writer tells a wonderful story, and some of my favourite reads growing up included The Shining, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Carrie, Misery, and Needful Things amongst others. The juxtaposition of King and a protagonist going back in time to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy should then have been infallible, a stone-cold guaranteed thriller. It didn’t quite reach this level for me, but it was still a good read.
Matthew Richardson 
Somehow the book’s release passed me by but it certainly sounds like a winner, Matthew. I’m a big fan of SK’s writing and you’ve almost tempted me to add it to that ever-lengthening TBR list. I’m curious. What was it that didn’t quite raise the book to the peak of thrillerdom for you?
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It was a good read and I would recommend it, but without spoiling the ending the problem with time travel remained the same throughout the book – that we can never be sure what affect our actions will have. I didn’t feel we ever addressed this concept well enough to justify the protagonist’s actions – and so it proved! Still worth burdening your tbr list with, though!
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he’s had plenty of hits and a few misses; this could be one of them; there was little fanfare spent on this book; it didn’t catch the public’s eye though as you say its success should have been guaranteed;
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Yeah I have to admit the marketing campaign didn’t catch me at all. I just stumbled across it. Still worth a read, but like you say not one of his classics.
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