The first book was undoubtedly the best... And the short story he did about the series. As I read through everything I find much of it irritating more than entertaining. But this is why I have never been a Stephen King fan. Each time I read his work, I am left with the disappointment of realising that he could have done so much better. He has so much talent but usually fails to follow through. Don't get me wrong, I read his stuff when I come accross it. I have encountered a few gems, but they are few and far between.

Aside from the Gunslinger, Hearts in Atlantis is absolutely brilliant.

Theres been many a book of his that just seemed to... END. Like he figured he had enough pages, or he got bored with the story and just decided to be done. That I feel is his first major fault.

The second is his dialoge. (bare with me, I havent had coffee yet, spelling doesnt wake up as fast as the rest of me) I don't know people who talk the way his characters do, and I even lived in Maine for a bit. He's got the accents down but thats just about it.

However his stories are fantastic, he has a way of making normal everday things suspicious and a little scary.

I reccommend Talisman, written with Peter Straub - scary and engaging!

Also Bag of Bones, I just finished that last week. Very well written, horror and mystery rolled into one. And I think he even managed dialoge ok!

For some reason or another when I was 6 or 7 I watched Firestarter with my father. I loved it! I think part of it was Drew Barrymoore as Charlie. I loved her in ET and wanted to watch her other movies. In Firestarter I found a little girl protaganist, and that wasn't very common.

Then I spied the book in my mother's bookshelf. She didn't know my dad let me watch the movie and somehow in my child brain I knew she wouldn't approve of me reading it either. So I snuck the book under my bed and read under the covers with a flashlight. She found it once and I had to take it back again. I sure was determined! I remember finishing the book, sure I got away with it, only to find out many years later that my mother had just given up and figured if I wanted to give myself nightmares I'd just have to live with them.

To this day, Sai King has a special place in my heart. As for Drew? Well my youngest son is named Drew. We shan't tell him he was named after a girl!