Bag of Bones

Succesful author Mike Noonan is dreaming of Manderlay. After his wife’s sudden death, Noonan has an unsettling recurring dream, and while awake he is coping with the physical manifestation of writers block. Deciding to get away from the city, he returns to Sarah Laughs, a holiday home in rural Maine that he hasn’t visited since before his wife died.  Not long after his arrival does he find himself not only embroiled in a custody battle that concerns the whole town, but also the feeling that he is not alone at Sarah Laughs.

Stephen King can never be accused of minimalism. This can sometimes be of a detriment to his novels, as I found the first third of Bag of Bones to be superfluous. However, once Mike Noonan finally gets to Sara Laughs, the story described by blurb begins and it’s definitely worth the dredge through 200 pages of whinging.  Once I'd passed this point, I couldn't put the book down.
  Creepy and atmospheric in all the right places, this is King at his best.  Bag of Bones has a solid story and complex characters to boot.  King manages to provide an explanation for all the right parts, but others bits, that have no need to be explained, are left to sit in the readers mind.  For me, it can’t compete with ‘Salem’s Lot, but I would still recommend Bag of Bones.