Hodder & Stoughton Pet Sematary

This is classic, chilling King at its finest. The book he states is his scariest, and for good reasons. Whilst there are supernatural elements throughout the book, the real terror is the utterly relatable portrayal of grief, and the ensuing certainty that if you placed yourself in Louis's shoes, you would probably take most of the steps he does. Pet Sematary's characters are three dimensional, and about as real as characters in the page of a novel can get. I've dropped a star for the abrupt ending, as King often does, you are left wanting more, and more, but other than that the novel was superb. The calmer times, and the spine-chilling times, equally captivating. Fantastic as always.

You might either think this has one or two spoilers in it, or like me when reading reviews, think "he does What?! Does that really happen in it? Goodie Goodie" and be even more tempted to buy the book. Anyway, whatever, read on if you enjoy nice ramblings and a couple of spoilers.....I finished Pet Sematary tonight, and as I neared the end of the book I was reading it brushing my teeth, reading it in the car in the works carpark if I was 5 mins early, reading it while also trying to watch Masterchef Australia...wow, I guess it must have been Good. I thought Id have a look at some peoples reviews who scored it low to see what they might have thought the less successful parts were, seen as summararily I enjoyed it so much. The main train of thought seems to be with the last couple of chapters that deal with the grand finale. And I partly agree...I thought the end seemed rushed too...when you see you havent many pages left to go you expect it all to finish with a grande finale to top all other episodes of fear and tenseness youve already experienced in the book, but the gage-zombie killing spree was a bit hurried, in a way that didnt shock so much as just leave you with a half formed image of whats just happened and with a feeling of "huh...what? Eh?". Its great when an author successfully builds up your relationship and empathy for a character, to then all of a sudden surprisingly kill them off (or have them suffer when you really dont want them to ala the character Del's execution gone horribly wrong in the Green Mile - ugh) as it doesnt half take you on an emotional rollercoaster with the book, but it felt like there just wasnt enough meat on the bones. For me the best part of the book was the event of Louis sneaking into the cemetary and exhuming his son - this, if i remember rightly now, seemed to last ages. There were loads of tense situations (the police patrolling in the car and he had to hide behind the tree, him nearly skewering himself on the railings and busting his knee, when he gets the grave open thinking for a second his sons head was missing, losing his car keys, the dog barking and nearly blowing his cover....) it was deliciously grisley and so tense and cumbersome you just kept thinking "doh ... doh...DOH!" Brilliant! And then to blow it all with a fizzle-pop of an ending compared to brilliance of the exhumation chapter was a bit of a let down. I thought the story jud told of that other dude that exhumed his son way back when was freakier, when they all went to his house and the zombie son was staring up at the red sky and then tells them in his gritty-demonic voice their dirty secrets really made me shiver. Much more scary than the scalpel wielding gage. I wish he'd strung it out more. Even the bit at the end were Rachel comes back from the grave...would have been freakier if she'd have gently put her cold dead hand on his throat from behind rather than his shoulder to really insinuate that the horror continues past the end of the book with the assumption she will in the end kill Louis would have been spookier!! I do think that anyone that has children, especially young ones at the time of reading, would find the book particularly chilling and hard to forget after switching off the bedside light. It raises good issues of how events of the past can leave an indellible mark psychologically for later in life. Also the love for your family that questions where would you draw the line to try and protect your family or when faced with grief and an opportunity to bring a loved one back against all sensibilities, if you could, would you not also take your chance. Chilling certainly, and some parts very delicate and tough to read and face up to, but as far as down right scary, perhaps not quite so much as I had thought it would be but still a good old yarn. Should have been creepier earlier on I think.^ Some of this might not make much sense as I started writing it as a comment for another persons review, generally agreeing and adding a bit, but a bit turned into a lot so I copied it into my own review.For the sake of a couple of quid just buy it and make yer own mind upx

Another of King's more successful works and available to watch on film; both in its original form and later remake. I ordered the export edition: a smaller paperback; which arrived damaged. This is a frequent occurrence: they don't care about books you see.

A dark and disturbing novel even by King's standards , i was still hooked from start to finish despite knowing how it ended having seen the 1989 film.

This book is funny, in a not haha way. The story is quite even all the way through, you almost start to relax and wonder if it's a stephen king book you're reading. Then you get halfway and that's when it all begins, the slow start really makes you get close and attached to the characters, so that when something happens, you're like whoa..Definatly a weird story, don't read at night. But really worth a read.