Duma Key

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In many ways, Edgar Freemantle had no choice but to start a new life. After a major accident had ripped off his arm and grotesquely stretched his sanity, the self-made millionaire had stabbed his wife and squandered his marriage. After relinquishing most of his wealth to his ex and his two daughters, he moves to Duma Key, a seemingly idyllic stretch on the Florida coast. There, with a paintbrush and an empty life canvas, he hopes to make a new beginning. But in Stephen King novels, opening any door can be perilous. A major psychological thriller from the master of scream.

James Campbell

The plot of Duma Key, ghastly in itself but certain to bring horrified pleasure to King's enormous readership, could have been sketched on the reverse side of Wilde's Picture of Dorian Gray, a grisly examination of the magic of art.
—The New York Times Book Review

Janet Maslin

Mr. King's use of horror is not what it used to be. It may still be the impetus for his stories, but it is no longer the foremost reason they're interesting. Sure, he can still use supernatural effects to scare the wits out of you. But lately he also shows off other interests. In the wake of the 1999 roadside accident that permanently altered his consciousness, he has turned the evanescence of health and sanity into his books' most disturbing source of fear…Mr. King constructs this story with patience and rigor.
—The New York Times

Brigitte Weeks

With a hero crippled on the job and then tormented by a demonic spirit in recovery, King's new novel, Duma Key, is a tale of conflict between the forces of horror and the redemptive power of creativity…King may be meditating on the diverse powers of the creative soul, but he has in no way lost his unmatched gift for ensnaring and chilling his readers with "terrible fishbelly fingers."
—The Washington Post

Publishers Weekly

King's latest novel is a fantastically eerie tale in line with his best psychological thrillers. John Slattery offers a triumphal performance-his firm, gripping tone perfectly suits this story of the darker side of human memory and creativity. The characters are each so different and complicated, creating a challenge for even the most seasoned narrator. But Slattery does the near-impossible and physically becomes Edgar Freemantle. In fact, the two become so inseparable the listener almost feels guilty listening to his heartfelt confessions. King's vision of Freemantle's fictional personal memoir demands a narrator so believable and solid in his delivery that it seems almost impossible. But Slattery creates a truly moving experience, commanding and truthful. Simultaneous release with the Scribner hardcover (Reviews, Dec., 10). (Feb.)

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Library Journal

Construction multimillionaire Edgar Freemantle has a violent side. After he loses his right arm in a critical work accident, Pam, his wife of more than 29 years, asks him for a divorce. In a spurt of anger, Edgar uses his remaining limb to stab Pam with a plastic knife. Heeding the advice of his therapist, Edgar packs up and leaves Minnesota for some psychological rehabilitation along the Florida Gulf Coast on the undeveloped island of Duma Key. There aren't many other residents, and Edgar quickly begins to discover the hidden family mystery of the elderly Elizabeth Eastlake, who owns most of the island's houses. In his new rental home, Edgar begins to experiment with drawing and painting, sometimes in a frenzied manner, as if controlled by some outside source. As Edgar's artwork begins to bloom, the haunted mysteries of Elizabeth's past unfold. While not alike in plot, this book has a feel of such books as Bag of Bonesand the more recent Lisey's Storyand is essential for any popular fiction or King collection. [See Prepub Alert, LJ9/1/07.]
—Carolann Curry

Kirkus Reviews

The prolific master of psycho-horror returns to the mysteries of the creative process, a subject that has inspired some of his most haunting work. This could be considered a companion piece to The Shining, offering plenty of reversals on that plot. In both cases, isolation has severe effects on the psyche of an artist, yet where the former novel found its protagonist in a lethal state of writer's block, the latter sees a one-time building magnate transformed into an impossibly prolific and powerful painter, due to circumstances beyond his control. And where the isolation in the former had a family cut off from society by a frigid northern winter, the setting of the latter is a mysterious Florida key, lush and tropical in its overgrowth, somehow immune to commercial development. A self-made millionaire, Edgar Freemantle narrates the novel in a conversational, matter-of-fact tone. He explains how a job-site accident cost him his arm, his sanity (during the early part of an extended recuperation) and his wife (whom he had physically threatened after the accident transformed him into something other than himself). What he gained was a seemingly inexplicable command as a visual artist, particularly after his recuperation (from both his accident and his marriage) takes him to the isolated Duma Key, where the only other inhabitants are an elderly, wealthy woman and her caretaker. It seems that all three have suffered severe traumas that bond them and that perhaps have even drawn them together. Soon Edgar discovers that his art has given him the power not only to predict the future, but to transform it. He ultimately pays a steep price for his artistic gifts, particularly as his investigation ofthe mysteries of Duma Key lead him to discover the tragic origins of his artistic vision. Edgar's own story in the present is more compelling than the revelations of the key's past, and the novel might have been twice as powerful if it had been cut by a third, but King fans will find it engrossing.