The Dark Half Audiobook by Stephen King

The Dark Half Audiobook Overview

Master storyteller Stephen King presents the classic “wondrously frightening” (Publishers Weekly) #1 New York Times bestseller about a writer’s horrific and haunting pseudonym.

“I’m back…I’m back from the dead and you don’t seem glad to see me at all, you ungrateful son of a bitch.”

Background

The Dark Half Audiobook is a horror novel by American writer Stephen King, published in 1989. Publishers Weekly listed The Dark Half as the second best-selling book of 1989 behind Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger. The novel was adapted into a feature film of the same name in 1993.

Stephen King wrote several books under a pseudonym, Richard Bachman, during the 1970s and 1980s. Most of the Bachman novels were darker and more cynical in nature, featuring a far more visceral sense of horror than the psychological, gothic style common to many of King’s most famous works. When King was identified as Bachman, he wrote The Dark Half – about an author with a sinister parasitic twin – in response to his outing.

Plot Summary

Creating George Stark was easy. Getting rid of him won’t be….

The sparrows are flying again. The idea – unbidden, inexplicable – haunts the edge of Thad Beaumont’s mind. Thad should be happy. For years now it is his secret persona, George Stark, author of superviolent pulp thrillers, who has paid the family bills.

But now Thad is writing seriously again under his own name, and his menacing pseudonym has been buried forever. And yet…the sparrows are flying again, and something is terribly wrong in Thad Beaumont’s world.

Review

The Dark Half Audiobook Mp3 is one of those audiobooks where the main character is the least interesting one. Alan Pangborn is a great viewpoint character and a lot more interesting than Thad. He’s a small town sheriff trying to do his job despite some crazy stuff happening.

Basically, The Dark Half is Parker chasing down Donald Westlake. Since I’ve read all 23 Parker books Richard Stark wrote since the first time I read this, the reread was a much richer experience. I noticed some Richard Stark influence in the George Stark chapters. Also, I enjoyed the Creepshow reference, although I might have to check the timeline to see which one actually came first. “Call me Billie, everyone does!”

Aside from the psychopomp business with the sparrows and Stark falling apart, Stephen King The Dark Half Audiobook is pretty much a crime book. It doesn’t feel nearly as long-winded as some of King’s books and the ending didn’t suck for once. George Stark was a chilling villain and since I forgot the ending, I had no idea if Thad would live or not. Four out of five stars.

Download and Listen Free!

Stephen King – The Dark Half is now available in audible format, almost 15 hrs and 15 mins long, the narration by Grover Gardner is so enticing that you get hooked instantly.