Blaze: A Novel |  | Author: Richard Bachman
Creator: Stephen King
Publisher: Scribner
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  139 reviews
Sales Rank: 13963
Format: Bargain Price
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.3
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
ASIN: B001BYUI88
Publication Date: June 12, 2007
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Product Description
The last of the Richard Bachman novels, recently recovered and published for the first time. Stephen King's "dark half" may have saved the best for last.A fellow named Richard Bachman wrote Blaze in 1973 on an Olivetti typewriter, then turned the machine over to Stephen King, who used it to write Carrie. Bachman died in 1985 ("cancer of the pseudonym"), but in late 2006 King found the original typescript of Blaze among his papers at the University of Maine's Fogler Library ("How did this get here?!"), and decided that with a little revision it ought to be published. Blaze is the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. -- of the crimes committed against him and the crimes he commits, including his last, the kidnapping of a baby heir worth millions. Blaze has been a slow thinker since childhood, when his father threw him down the stairs -- and then threw him down again. After escaping an abusive institution for boys when he was a teenager, Blaze hooks up with George, a seasoned criminal who thinks he has all the answers. But then George is killed, and Blaze, though haunted by his partner, is on his own. He becomes one of the most sympathetic criminals in all of literature. This is a crime story of surprising strength and sadness, with a suspenseful current sustained by the classic workings of fate and character -- as taut and riveting as Stephen King's The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 134 more reviews...
 blaze August 26, 2008
Blaze arrive in a timely manner, and was in excellant condition. It was packaged very good. I really enjoyed this book I recommend it to all Stephan KING FANS.
Dusting off an old tale for the pleasure of his readers August 14, 2008
Good little story from Stephen King's dark vault of early unpublished writings. There's quite a bit of balance, nuance, and sophistication for an almost four decades-old story that Mr. King waited until now to publish. For instance, the tribulations of Blaze's early life create sympathy for the title character, but not to the point where we want to excuse or forgive Blaze's later criminal career. In other words, I felt bad for the guy but still wanted him to get caught by the F.B.I. once he crossed over into child kidnapping.
I also liked how, in the story's earlier going, we see that Blaze's friend George was good for him in many ways, but things got mucked up because George was a career criminal and encouraged Blaze to refine and deepen his own clunky (and, until then, mostly harmless) criminal past.
Complex, ironic situations like these deepened this engaging story, making it more than a simple crime-laced morality tale.
I also enjoyed Stephen King's lengthy introduction to "Blaze". In it he talks not only about the history of the book in question, but the many things that were going on in his professional and personal life around the time of the book's writing. It's a fun and interesting piece in itself.
I listened to the 7-CD unabridged audiobook version of "Blaze", which features a wonderful, skillful performance by actor, writer, and frequent audiobook narrator Ron McLarty. However, you don't get the bonus short story, "Memory" which accompanies the print editions of the book.
 Good for fans of King August 6, 2008
Blaze was a decent, short novel by King, though not his best work by a long shot (he says so in the forward). You can't help feeling a little sorry for the lead character "Blaze". His troubled past was really the cause of his present, and you can't help but wonder what could have been.....
poignant July 17, 2008
I really wasnt expecting to like this book too much but I was happily mistaken. The character, Blaze, although on the wrong path, elicited my sympathy and I liked him and wished he could have been raised differently. All in all it was a good book.
Excellent!!! July 13, 2008
Stephen King writes best as Richard Bachman. This story was a page-turner and I read it all in one weekend.
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