This is a rather weak Stephen King novel. We are told in the opening introduction that this is a “trunk novel”, as in one the writer wrote, and then stored away for years, and dusted off later. Stephen King then talks about the ways in which this novel cam back to life, long after the death and retirement of Richard Bachman, when it was found in a box in an archives donated to a university. It was revised and published.
It’s a noir lite version of Of Mice and Men, if George is a kind of ego-voice from beyond the grave giving Blaze guidance. This novel is predicated on a would-be kidnapping of a local millionaire’s infant son. Blaze, forever damaged by a traumatic brain injury and a giant in size, tries to mimic the plans and ideas he and George came up with while George was alive, but now with a faulty memory and not much intelligence before his accident can’t help but bungle it.
Pepperer throughout in addition with tons of memories and flashback, the novel describes Blaze’s attempt to hold onto the already tenuous plan.
Like I said, it’s not very good. The characterization is obviously pretty cringe-worthy and offensive, it’s punctuated with all too comfortable racism, sexism, and homophobia….and if it was a novel that a young writer thought better of early in his career, there’s obviously a good reason to keep it in the box. Worse yet, while not only being over serious, it’s pretty boring too.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Blaze-Novel-Stephen-King/dp/1501195913/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=)