Stephen King stormed back into the hardback book charts with the release of his latest dark novel, Revival, in late 2014 and while it’s far from a classic it does enough to unsettle in typical King style. It’s well written and richly described, but it struggles to surprise, which is unlike the man who brought us The Shining and It.
Released on Hardback and audiobook on the 11th November 2014, it’s an odd story of two intertwined lives that starts in a small town in America where a kid named Jamie meets his new pastor Charles Jacobs. It doesn’t take Jamie long to figure out that his new mentor in life is a little bit different, with his obsession with electricity and unconventional way of looking at life, but it takes him fifty years or so to get to the truth.
While there are some elements of Revival that draw you in, the book as a whole feels a bit too devoid of activity and build up as very little of any real note happens for large portions of the novel. The most disappointing thing is that when something does happen, you’ve seen it coming for a good while. There’s still a little Stephen King magic in the delivery, and you can never second guess the surreal horror that he can unfold, but the core plot is telegraphed as clearly as lightening before the thunder boom.
It also feels a bit like half the story as it takes significant leaps in time, leaving important character progression slightly undeveloped. It’s something that King alludes to himself in the story, almost as a way of apologising for the great leap of faith he’s going to need the reader to take in progressing. The combination of sparsity, long timelines and chronological bounds makes for a slightly disturbing piece of fiction that’s slightly pocked with holes.
This is added to by a complete disregard for scientific explanation behind any of the phenomena that occur throughout the 384 pages and a slightly flawed logic string to activity that’s both frustrating and credibility sapping. If you see a dangerous reality ahead you’d want to do something about it and while you might be scared of the consequences that doesn’t mean you’d just do nothing.
We also struggled with a few random anomalies that cropped up here and there. Every now and again something happens that’s completely ludicrous like the weird hand on crotch moment towards the end of the book. They’re just not in keeping with the storyline and Revival would have been a better novel without them. We’re not against a little smut here and there, but these are just unconvincing in the extreme and jar with any semblance of reality.
What’s commendable about the book is its ability to tackle big issues, including the dangers of scientific discovery. However, the example that it gives as it’s main thrust is actually something that sounds like it could do with more scientific intervention rather than less, which sort of undermines the massage at its centre.
King also does a good job of questioning religion in his book, asking questions about the potential of the afterlife, the presence of a kind and all knowing god and the innate need for large portions of humanity to become engulfed in religion. It’s his slightly twisted equivalent of a theological “what-if?” debate and the story works pretty well from that stand point.
In short, Stephen King’s Revival isn’t the kind of novel that’s going to win the author many new fans, but for his adoring masses it probably did the job, just about. There are some creepy moments in and around the fat and while it isn’t the show-stopper it seems to have set out to be, it does threaten to disturb at times.
Stephen King, Revival review: 3/5
