Blaze

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Rating:★★★
Category:Books
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Author:Richard Bachman / Stephen King
Blaze was written in 1973 and was revised by Stephen King to somewhat update it for the times before releasing it under the pseudonym of Richard Bachman. It tells the story of Clayton Blaisdell, Jr. (Blaze for short) and how he led a life of petty crime and tried to pull off a kidnapping, with disastrous results. You see, Blaze was mentally-challenged. Thanks to his father who was the cause of his mental retardation. The storytelling switches from the present day to flashbacks so we discover how Blaze came to be.

When I was reading it, the sense of doom for Blaze was already there. You know that it wouldn't end well for our hero. And at the back of your mind, you want Blaze to really get away with the crime. But there's no turning back and you can't do anything about it but witness how a promising child (Blaze) has turned into something he didn't want to be because of things he can't control.

My empathy for Blaze though, wasn't as strong as what King intended. Sure, here's a hulking protagonist, a lovable giant of a man, who stumbles in life because of his incapacity to think straight. But if King totally wrote this again, he would have pulled more scenes that would really make the readers fall for Blaze.

As an early effort though, King has come up with an average page-turner. But it isn't as great or intense as the other Bachman book, "Thinner".

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