Billy Summers
By Stephen King
Release Date: August 3, 2021
Audiobook Available from WV Reads!
1 Star - This was a pretty long, dismal effort from King. The blurb made me think the plot had a lot of potential but it fizzled out quickly once I started. This feels like a King experiment gone awry plus a political tangent that just keeps expanding. I'd recommend taking your summer reading elsewhere, even for the author's fans.
I was about 6 minutes into the audiobook when I got the feeling I wouldn't like it. And it became a struggle to plod along from there. Fiction and politics most certainly can go together, but I don't think that's what anyone wanted or expected from this. Other reviewers seem to agree so I'm relieved it wasn't just me. Billy Summers in the blurb gives off epic movie hero vibes but on the page, he's depressing and kind of pathetic. King's attempt at writing at badass Jack Reacher-ish character with deep psychological issues falls flat.
Frankly, even the narrator Paul Sparks sounds bored from the beginning. He tries at times to infuse some more life and personality to this book. But it's all bogged down in the pseudo sarcastic rants. What bothers me about this is that King seems to be trying to take concepts and ideas from authors who were mostly if not outright conservative. But he's failing at it. Billy Summers in theory should be like Jason Bourne, Mitch Rapp, or the Gray Man. A hitman with a conscience is SO not an original idea. And King can't seem to bring his own flair to it. I have no idea after a few King books set in small town America why he's supposed a voice for them. I'm from small town American and he consistently paints the residents in an unflattering light. Certainly, every character in a novel should have flaws. But King doesn't seem to know how to mix these with attributes sometimes. He should resist the urge to branch out from his trademark supernatural fiction id he can't write something the caliber of his beloved 11/23/64. The tagline on Billy Summers is laughable that the reader won't be able to put this down and they won't be able to forget Billy! I certainly did and already have.
(NS)
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