Reading this book for the first time is such a pleasure but reading it a third time (like me) only attests to how good it really is. Again I'm one bias POS when it comes to King's books, there's only been a handful of his hundreds that I've actually disliked and that ratio is wild when you think about it.
Spoilers for the whole book:
Duma Key has many of the classic King elements:
A complicated main character who has been marred by an accident that gives them supernatural abilities.
A change of scenery to a place that is 'sacred' or 'other'.
A child with remarkable supernatural abilities.
An unimaginable evil that bargains with the MC at the end.
About all it was missing was for Edgar to be an alcoholic and be from Maine. But to me these tropes wrap around me like a warm sweater or a pat on the back from a father figure. They're comforting, they're known and I know where I am with them. Duma Key feels so much like a classic King book with a few of the modern King niceties attached.
The setting itself feels like a character all itself which is fitting considering the titular Duma Key really makes it's presence known - It's inspiration, it's a tool for Edgar to find peace after his horrific accident and a foreboding presence thanks to Perse and her returning control. It's welcome beachy read considering how often King's books are situated in the much for cold and isolating areas of Maine. Well apart from his occasional forrays into Vegas but this definitely hits different.
So I'd easily place this within the bounds of his top 20. It has everything that a Constant Reader would want from a King novel and done wonderfully. It's a case of allowing for that level of connection to really grow before something absolutely horrific happens. We have Edgar himself who while very much a King MC who teams up for one of the most likeable duos in all of his work with Wireman. These bros are the best bros I've seen in a King book and the fact that Wireman passes from a heartattack after everything they've been through- I admit I choked back a small sob. And the heart aches go hard in this one as we're introduced to Edgar's doting daughter Ilse (as a girl with a complicated relationship with her own dad, this likely hit me hard specifically) who is put through the ringer and ultimately murdered just when it's believed that Edgar managed to save her from Perse's wrath.
"We can't imagine time running out, and God punishes us for what we can't imagine."
I think the concept of a man who 'makes' evil cursed paintings unwillingly is such a fun concept. It's been explored in the past in a similar vein of 'a creative making something they can't control' with haunted typewriters or even malignant wordprocessors - hell throw Misery in on that pile too considering what happens to that poor fucker. The origin of evil objects is always up there for me as a fun trope so of course I lapped this one up. Doubly so for the ominous and hateful Perse who cannot actually be defeated only 'contained', depending on the quality of her containment is the only thing that wards her off.
So yeah, probably a boring review as most of my Stephen King reviews are likely to be but this really is a lot of fun, theoretically it's the only King book with something tailored to actually give me the horrors too which is worth mentioning LMAO the giant frogs btw, the ultimate kind of deterrent that Perse could have used on me without much effort.
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