I remarked after finishing Revival this may be my least favorite Stephen King novel. On further reflection, I’m sure that it is.
It’s not that this is a bad novel. It’s not. And it’s not that there isn’t something keenly Kingesque involved. There is. But for me, the story drug on with only a promise of somewhere it could have gone, but it missed the turnoff. Instead, it wandered down some winding, aimless path, without ever reaching a solid destination.
Maybe the premise, a soon-to-be-former-minister who suffers great tragedy then becomes obsessed with a supernatural energy (an afterlife / healing force?) never fully explored—as told by the protagonist who repeatedly encounters him—did not speak to me. The story felt like one big lead up, leaving out necessary plot- and suspense-building details along the way, once reaching its high point, falling off a sharp-faced cliff.
As a huge fan of all of Kings’s work that I’ve read, then, I was disappointed. Revival maintains his basic writing style, which I enjoy. But it just didn’t create the suspense most of his stories do.
I’ll read more King, of course. I’ve been a fan for over thirty years. And I suppose in that time, everyone is allowed to find something on which they don’t align. 😉