audiobooks

Enter the Gotham Cafe, have lunch, experience what our protagonist in the first of three typically deep King stories is suffering. Steve Davis has quit smoking. Bad timing. His wife is asking for a divorce. They meet at the Gotham Cafe with his wife's lawyer for lunch to discuss terms. What follows is far worse than any craving for a cigarette or losing a wife can feel like. And a story you will not soon forget. In the second story, "1408", Mike Enslin is a writer whose books are about all the nights he has spent in supposedly "haunted" houses, castles, graveyards. Now he is to spend the night in room 1408 of the Dolphin hotel. He doesn't believe anything different will happen to him here than what happened to him in all those other "haunted" places, namely, nothing. But "nothing" is far from what happens one dark night in room 1408 and Mike Enslin will not come out the same man who went into that room. In the third story "In the Deathroom", Stephen King's talent for storytelling will have you believing that yes, you can feel the cold gray tile on the floor in this room, you can hear the steady hum of the torture machine, and you can smell the all pervasive odor of death that awaits a man named Fletcher, held captive here and being forced to tell all. In all three tales, told in Stephen King's own voice, the main character begins as one person, and ends up as quite another. All three men are changed profoundly, and all three men can link this change to smoking, or the cessation of. A brilliant trio of Stephen Kingness, you will at once find yourself grossed out at the Gotham Cafe, frightened to death in room 1408, and scared but hopeful in "the Deathroom".

"Blood and Smoke" is three unconnected short stories with a pack of Marlboros as a major plot point to each tale. Although not as engrossing or satisfying as his full-length novels, "Blood and Smoke" is definitely entertaining. The best thing about the short tales is the variety of horror contained within.

"Lunch at the Gotham Cafe" is a darkly humorous, offbeat horror story revolving around a man (written from 1st person point of view) simultaneously struggling with divorce and quitting smoking. As if that wasn't bad enough, he finds himself at the Gotham Cafe having lunch with his wife, her lawyer, missing his own lawyer, and being confronted by the maitre-d from hell. This story was my personal favorite.

"1408" is a classic sort of horror story, good but my least favorite of the bunch. It is about a skeptical ghost-story writer who writes about the nights he spends in various so-called haunted sites. He is about to face the real thing for the very first time. The basic plot of "1408" is very cliché (writer spending the night in a haunted hotel room), but King manages to bring it to life with an interesting opening conversation and an unexpected lack of subtlety in the room itself.

"The Death Room" could be classified as part political thriller, although the modernized horror is the real focus. The main character is a reporter from New York, now in some unnamed South American country, being interrogated by the government about his knowledge of a rebel faction. It is clear from the beginning that there is no chance the reporter will leave the room alive without a lot of luck and perhaps a cigarette. King's characters really come alive in this tale with some of his best character descriptions ever.

One last note - Stephen King the reader is not as talented as Stephen King the writer, but he does a decent job (better than other works I've heard read by the author). He sounds a little self-conscious in the beginning of Gotham Cafe, but loosens up toward the end and gives the characters clearly recognizable voices.

King's Blood & Smoke is an ASTONISHING audio!
©March 9, 2003
Reviewed by Brutal Dreamer

I've always wanted to hear Stephen King read, to hear him speak his nightmarish tales to me. I believe the King knows exactly how the tone, scene, and mood of the story fits in and can he captured it precisely. I personally *LOVE* King's voice and his natural reading skills and controlled voice. I enjoyed the 3 1/2 hours of listening to him read each story.

The stories are SENSATIONALLY packaged together in puffs of tasty smoke sticks. There are three, each one involving smoking, henceforth: Blood and Smoke.

Critics try convincing you, the fans, that audio is not something ones listen to anymore. I beg to differ. I find myself happily listening to audio every chance I get. Ones want to believe: if you don't have time to read the books then you won't give your full attention to the audio. I again differ on this opinion. I read an astronomical amount of books and spend at least an hour a day just on recreational reading (not including my job as 'reviewer' or reading of fellow author's books). I enjoy listening to stories being read while I straighten my desk, wash dishes, or even take a break and relax. And it is an honor to hear King sit right by me, as I snuggle up to him, and await his voice to explode and tell me his horrors so beautifully.

"Lunch at the Gotham Cafe," is an extremely fabulous story. It is a very busy story; the climax is filled with a massive amount of activity. When Steve Davis arrives home his wife has flew the coup. Steve has just stopped smoking, and when his soon-to-be ex-wife's lawyer sets up a luncheon at the Gotham Cafe to discuss the details of the divorce. What's that spot on the maitre'd's jacket? Looks like blood. What a perfect time to quit smoking, eh? Is he feeling withdrawals?

This is definitely King at his most horrific: Insanity running amok.

"1408," This is my favorite of by far. Ghost stories will always get my attention. Especially, if they are doused with a lot of dialogue. Mike Enslin is a "ghostwriter" of sorts. He writes non-fic stories about ghosts. Although, he is skeptical and isn't a firm believer in ghosts himself, he enters the prestigious Dolphin Hotel. The hotel hasn't been used in twenty years, he stayed in the room 1408. Doing the math he has to admit the oddity of it all, the ironic number thirteen, and he stays on the fourteenth, oh, I mean, the thirteenth floor. What is odd about three lopsided pictures? Still life? There was something shocking about the image as well as how Mike didn't 'record' the instance on the tape. Mike has to get a hold of himself, he didn't believe he was being haunted but he worried he was being hypnotized by the hotel manager, Mr. Olan. Ashtray on the desk, book of matches with the Hotel Dolphin on the front of it.

King's reading kept the story menacing, with insipid scenes he kept the listener in chills. The scene with the bloody woman and her wicked toothy smile, was captured through King's assured voice. If you want another truly heart thumper scene: the telephone call. (worse than listening to Wheel of Fortune) King's voice during this phone scene was almost too spooky. As he reads about the 'voice' pouring out of the room, its hungry voice.

King has a fever for haunted hotels. 1408 certainly ranks up there with his "The Shining" novel.

"In the Deathroom," Fletcher is an American reporter held in the "deathroom" a torture chamber in the South America. Fletcher, is offered a cigarette repeatedly. The room is definitely a 'deathroom' and Fletcher knew its gray atmosphere spoke many deathly tales. He felt his immediate death approaching and he desperately conceives of a plan that will free him, rather in death or freedom, one or the same to him at this point. His only hope is that final drag on a cigarette, one last cigarette, please.

I was shocked these tales didn't take place in Maine (Castle Rock or Dury) but they took place in New York City. "In the Deathroom" reminds me a lot of one of my favorite tales of King's: Gerald's Game and even Misery, due to the fact, torture was inflicted in a particular room.

The theme of SMOKE AND BLOOD is just that. Dealing with smoking with horror and gore bloody scenes. Stephen King is not only a writer but the true storyteller. Within his voice through the tells, you will be convinced that you see that cold gray floor in the deathroom. His acting shines through most in "The Deathroom" he is definitely putting himself and all he knows into that tale.

In each tale: Fletcher, Mike, and Steve are transformed, and all linked together due to their habit of smoking, or their taste for it. He is the King of grotesque in Gotham Cafe, King of eerie in the ghostly room 1408, and King of fear in the "deathroom" --Stephen King is just that KING!