I really liked this book - with King you always feel as if you know each character personally. I wouldn’t say this is the best King novel I’ve read but every King book is going to either make the reader happy or disappointed…..no inbetween.
After reading this book I don’t think I will ever take up drawing/painting or go to the Florida Keys lol. ( )

Stephen King made his name and earned legions of fans(including me) writing horror fiction. In recent years he's made a conscious effort to make his books more "literary". Duma Key starts off as a serious novel . King masterfully builds suspense little by little bit by bit, using just a hint of the supernatural. I found myself turning the pages wondering what would happen next. Then about 2/3 into the novel, King starts killing off his main characters in typical horrific ways. For me the final 1/3 of the novel wasn't half as enjoyable as the first 2/3. Sadly, the ending was pretty much anticlimactic. ( )

I went with [Dumas Key] for July horror beach read. I liked the fact that it was set in Minnesota and Florida (both places I live). In Minnesota the protagonist lived about 2 hours from me and in Florida about an hour away. I also found it interesting that Edgar suffered a work accident injuring his right hip and leg, broken ribs and a head injury, and an amputation of his right arm. In 1999, Stephen King was hit by a car while walking injuring his right leg, hip, broken ribs and a brain injury. I felt he did a good job of describing the experience of a head injury and in the book the main character paints instead of writing books. Other than those points of interest, the book is paranormal horror. I'm not sure that there is any particular theme in the book. I guess the plot is that if you have a head injury then you might be able to "draw" and also to connect to this paranormal world. I listened to the book at 1.75 speed so I got it done in 3 days. There was plenty of beach walking. There is an incident in the book that I just did not feel was necessary to the book. Either that or King didn't deal with the aftermath very well. The first half of the book is better than the last half.

This one did win awards;
Amazon.com Best Books (Mystery and Thriller, 2008)
Bram Stoker Award (Novel, 2008)
Black Quill Award Nominee (2008.04 | Dark Genre Novel of the Year, 2008)
Black Quill Award (2008.04 | Dark Genre Novel of the Year Reader's Choice, 2008)
Audie Winner (2009.29 | Fiction, 2009) ( )

King is a hit or miss with me and this was a miss....a BIG miss at 21 hours (801 pages). I struggled to finish this. At 50% in I was thinking "what is the plot?" The only enjoyable thing was that it was set near Sarasota, Florida, of which I am very familiar. ( )

One of my favorite King books. A delightful read for a summer vacation. An entertaining suspenseful thriller/mystery. ( )