Dark Tower, Crimson King, Suicide Stairs.

RICHARD KING, STEPHEN CHIZMAR — GWENDY’S BUTTON BOX — CEMETERY DANCE — 2017

OLDER REVIEWS REVISITED

From the United States

A Man in Black who can be trusted

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 2, 2017

Stephen King has rarely written novels with other authors, just a very few indeed. This novella is one of them. The action is in the past and covers the period from 1974 to 1984. Yet the first element I have to tell is the fact that this distant period is not in any way really present in the story as it is the case in all the books written by Stephen King that deal with a distant past. He is normally very careful to set the details so correctly that everything is perfect. Here only the references to music, a Walkman, a drive-in, and films are correct, but Gwendy is working in the drive-in at the refreshments counter and the price of the popcorn is not provided, and that is not typical of Stephen King.

The second remark is that the main character is a girl who one day encounters the man in black, and the latter is a common acquaintance in many books by Stephen King, especially when dealing with Castle Rock, though not only, far from it. But we have to think of “Needful Things.” But this version of the man in black is not so devilish as it used to be in many novels, like for instance “The Stand.” The present Mr. Farris gives to Gwendy is not necessarily negative. It does not bring the negative side of Gwendy out, but it is versatile, and it brings out the dominant side of the caretaker, Gwendy in this case, hence her good side. Actually, it seems the man in black has chosen Gwendy because she is positive enough to use the box to improve the world, save the world, and prevent bad events. And this makes this black man quite different from what he is in other novels.

In the present situation in the world and the USA, we can even dream of this box preventing the dramatic, tragic, and pitiful political climb of the “Suicide Stairs” by a certain Donald. Unluckily that is pure fiction, I mean the existence of a box that could prevent such an event, though the tragic…