Stephen King - Joyland

All-time Best-selling Author

S T E P H E N K I N G

Returns with a Novel of Carny Lifeand Death...

College student Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark truths about lifeand what comes afterthat would change his world forever.

Life is Not Always a Butchers Game.
Sometimes the Prizes Are Real.
Sometimes Theyre Precious.

A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing oldand about those who dont get to do either because death comes for them before their timeJOYLAND is Stephen King at the peak of his storytelling powers. With all the emotional impact of King masterpieces such as The Green Mile and The Shawshank Redemption , JOYLAND is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.

Acclaim For the Work
of STEPHEN KING!

Excellent, psychologically textured... Stephen King is so widely acknowledged as Americas master of paranormal terrors that you can forget his real genius is for the everyday.

New York Times Book Review

King has written... a novel thats as hauntingly touching as it is just plain haunted... one of his freshest and most frightening works to date.

Entertainment Weekly

Extraordinarily vivid... an impressive tour de force, a sensitive character study that holds the reader rapt.

Playboy

Stephen King is superb.

Time

Mr. King makes palpable the longing and regret that arise out of calamity, and deftly renders the kindness and pettiness that can mark small-town life.

Wall Street Journal

King is a master at crafting a story and creating a sense of place.

USA Today

A thoroughly compelling thriller.

Esquire

Dont start this one on a school night... Youll be up till dawn.

People

As brilliant a dark dream as has ever been dreamed in this century.

Palm Beach Post

A great book... A landmark in American literature.

Chicago Sun-Times

Stephen King is an immensely talented storyteller of seemingly inexhaustible gifts.

Interview

A rare blend of luminous prose, thought-provoking themes and masterful storytelling.

San Diego Union Tribune

Not only immensely popular but immensely talented, a modern-day counterpart to Twain, Hawthorne, Dickens.

Publishers Weekly

Hes a master storyteller. Gather around the pages of his literary campfire and hell weave you a darn good yarn.

Houston Chronicle

King surpasses our expectations, leaves us spellbound and hungry for the next twist of plot.

Boston Globe

Top shelf. You couldnt go wrong with a King book.

Michael Connelly

Stephen King is the Winslow Homer of blood.

New Yorker

King has invented genres, reinvented them, then stepped outside what he himself has accomplished... Stephen King, like Mark Twain, is an American genius.

Greg Iles

Stephen King is much more than just a horror fiction writer. And I believe that hes never been given credit for taking American literature and stretching its boundaries.

Gloria Naylor

To my mind, King is one of the most underestimated novelists of our time.

Mordechai Richler, Vancouver Sun

King possesses an incredible sense of story... [He is] a gifted writer of intensely felt emotions, a soulful writer in control of a spare prose that never gets in the way of the story... I, for one (of millions), wait impatiently to see where this king of storytellers takes us next.

Ridley Pearson

An absorbing, constantly surprising novel filled with true narrative magic.

Washington Post

It grabs you and holds you and wont let go... a genuine page turner.

Chattanooga Times

Blending philosophy with a plot that moves at supersonic speed while showcasing deeply imagined characters... an impressive sensitivity to what has often loosely been called the human condition.

Newsday

You surrender yourself... King engulfs you... and carries you away to 4 AM page-turning.

A.P. Wire

Enthralling... superb.

Dallas Times Herald

A spellbinder, a compulsive page-turner.

Atlanta Journal

Faultlessly paced... continuously engrossing.

Los Angeles Times

A literary triumph... Read this book.

Milwaukee Journal

Superbly crafted... extraordinary.

Booklist

His writing has a lyricism, an evocative descriptive sweep... Its a gift.

Columbia State

Dazzlingly well written.

The Indianapolis Star

King is a terrific storyteller.

San Francisco Chronicle

By far the worlds most popular author... He never seems to use up the magic.

Chicago Tribune

I stashed my basket of dirty rags and Turtle Wax by the exit door in the arcade. It was ten past noon, but right then food wasnt what I was hungry for. I walked slowly along the track and into Horror House.

I had to duck my head when I passed beneath the Screaming Skull, even though it was now pulled up and locked in its home position. My footfalls echoed on a wooden floor painted to look like stone. I could hear my breathing. It sounded harsh and dry. I was scared, okay? Tom had told me to stay away from this place, but Tom didnt run my life any more than Eddie Parks did.

Between the Dungeon and the Torture Chamber, the track descended and described a double-S curve where the cars picked up speed and whipped the riders back and forth. Horror House was a dark ride, but when if was in operation, this stretch was the only completely dark part. It had to be where the girls killer had cut her throat and dumped her body. How quick he must have been, and how certain of exactly what he was going to do!

I walked slowly down the double-S, thinking it would not be beyond Eddie to hear me and shut off the overhead work-lights as a joke. To leave me in here to feel my way past the murder site with only the sound of the wind and that one slapping board to keep me company. And suppose... just suppose... a young girls hand reached out in that darkness and took mine...?

SOME OTHER HARD CASE CRIME BOOKS
YOU WILL ENJOY:

FIFTY-TO-ONE by Charles Ardai
KILLING CASTRO by Lawrence Block
THE DEAD MANS BROTHER by Roger Zelazny
THE CUTIE by Donald E. Westlake
HOUSE DICK by E. Howard Hunt
CASINO MOON by Peter Blauner
FAKE I.D. by Jason Starr
PASSPORT TO PERIL by Robert B. Parker
STOP THIS MAN! by Peter Robe
LOSERS LIVE LONGER by Russell Atwood
HONEY IN HIS MOUTH by Lester Dent
QUARRY IN THE MIDDLE by Max Allan Collins
THE CORPSE WORE PASTIES by Jonny Porkpie
THE VALLEY OF FEAR by A C. Doyle
MEMORY by Donald E. Westlake
NOBODYS ANGEL by Jack Clark
MURDER IS MY BUSINESS by Brett Holliday
GETTING OFF by Lawrence Block
QUARRYS EX by Max Allan Collins
THE CONSUMMATA
by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins
CHOKE HOLD by Christa Faust
THE COMEDY IS FINISHED by Donald E. Westlake
BLOOD ON THE MINK by Robert Silverberg
FALSE NEGATIVE by Joseph Koenig
THE TWENTY-YEAR DEATH by Ariel S. Winter
THE COCKTAIL WAITRESS by James M. Cain
SEDUCTION OF THE INNOCENT by Max Allan Collins
WEB OF THE CITY by Harlan Ellison

A HARD CASE CRIME BOOK
(HCC-112)
First Hard Case Crime edition: June 2013

Published by
Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark Street
London SE1 OUP

in collaboration with Winterfall LLC

Copyright 2013 by Stephen King
Cover painting copyright 2013 by Glen Orbik