Product Description

DUMA KEY is the engaging, fascinating story of a man who discovers an incredible talent for painting after a freak accident in which he loses an arm.

He moves to a 'new life' in Duma Key, off Florida’s West Coast; a deserted strip, part beach, part weed-tangled, owned by a patroness of the arts whose twin sisters went missing in the 1920s. Duma Key is where out-of-season hurricanes tears lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Here Freemantle is inspired to paint the amazing sunsets. But soon the paintings become predictive, even dangerous. Freemantle knows the only way forward is to discover what happened to the twin sisters – and what is the secret of the strange old lady who holds the key?

The story is about friendship, about the bond between a father and his daughter. And about memory, truth and art. It is also is a metaphor for the life and inspiration of a writer, and an exploration of the nature, power and influence of fiction. (20080121)

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #65080 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-24
• Released on: 2008-01-24
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 592 pages

Review
'He has become a fascinating paradoxical figure, still seen as ultra-commercial but, in fact, increasingly highbrow and self-conscious' -- Sunday Times 20080120 'The scenes following Freemantle's physical recovery, of his anger and suicidal depression, are the author writing at his absolute best, immediately gripping the reader and putting him on the protagonist's side...King has become such a sophisticated writer that this novel is never less than page-turning' -- Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday 20080120 'The theme of an artist enslaved and driven to madness by his own talent is not a new one for King, but the parallels with his own injuries and recovery -- and his uncanny ability so spin a good yarn -- mean the story always feels fresh...despite the pace and the pyrotechnics, the book still has a heart, which makes the idea of King's retirement the scariest prospect of all' -- TheLondonPaper 20080121 'The true narrative artist is a rare creature. Storytelling - the ability to make the listener or the reader need to know, demand to know, what happens next - is a gift...Stephen King, like Charles Dickens before him, has this gift in spades.' -- The Times on CELL 20080121 'Thrilling, genuinely terrifying, beautifully textured and full of wonderful invention' -- Daily Mail on LISEY'S STORY 20080121 'Very clever and brilliantly written ... you won't use your mobile for days.' -- Guardian on CELL 20080121 'As with all Stephen King novels, this book is sinister and surprising. You feels as though the individual characters are actually real. Another masterpiece.' -- The Sun 20080125 'In many ways this is classic King, a thriller with agressively credible characters.' -- The Times 20080126 'If King is a modern-day Dickens, as some critics have suggested ! then this is his David Copperfield, a book written with a deftness of touch and a sure command of the material that is breathtaking. ! at almost 600 pages, it's a doorstop of a book. But the story is so elegant and wide-ranging, and the three central characters so delicately evoked, that is feels far shorter. 'Written by the man who once memorably called himself 'the literary equivalent of a Big Mac with fries' -- this is supreme, page-turning storytelling; the sort of popular fiction that comes along only rarely and only from a writer at the top of -- Daily Mail 20080201 'This is a powerful piece of work and once the horrors kick in, the pace is relentless. Fresh and frightening and highly recommended.' -- Peter Guttridge, Observer 20080203 'Its moments of authentic terror and unease - which are good enough to rival anything else in King - spring from the author's deft command of pace and tone, from his evocation of the island's deceptive calm, and from the folky texture of his dialogue ... hard not to be gripped, which is testament to the propulsive power of the writing.' -- Sunday Telegraph 20080203

Review
'He has become a fascinating paradoxical figure, still seen as ultra-commercial but, in fact, increasingly highbrow and self-conscious' (Sunday Times )

'The scenes following Freemantle’s physical recovery, of his anger and suicidal depression, are the author writing at his absolute best, immediately gripping the reader and putting him on the protagonist’s side...King has become such a sophisticated writer that this novel is never less than page-turning' (Matt Thorne, Independent on Sunday )

'The theme of an artist enslaved and driven to madness by his own talent is not a new one for King, but the parallels with his own injuries and recovery – and his uncanny ability so spin a good yarn – mean the story always feels fresh...despite the pace and the pyrotechnics, the book still has a heart, which makes the idea of King’s retirement the scariest prospect of all' (TheLondonPaper )

'The true narrative artist is a rare creature. Storytelling - the ability to make the listener or the reader need to know, demand to know, what happens next - is a gift...Stephen King, like Charles Dickens before him, has this gift in spades.' (The Times on CELL )

'Thrilling, genuinely terrifying, beautifully textured and full of wonderful invention' (Daily Mail on LISEY'S STORY )

'Very clever and brilliantly written . . . you won't use your mobile for days.' (Guardian on CELL )

'As with all Stephen King novels, this book is sinister and surprising. You feels as though the individual characters are actually real. Another masterpiece.'

(The Sun )

 ‘In many ways this is classic King, a thriller with agressively credible characters.’

(The Times )

‘If King is a modern-day Dickens, as some critics have suggested … then this is his David Copperfield, a book written with a deftness of touch and a sure command of the material that is breathtaking.  … at almost 600 pages, it’s a doorstop of a book.  But the story is so elegant and wide-ranging, and the three central characters so delicately evoked, that is feels far shorter.

 

‘Written by the man who once memorably called himself ‘the literary equivalent of a Big Mac with fries’ – this is supreme, page-turning storytelling;  the sort of popular fiction that comes along only rarely and only from a writer at the top of (Daily Mail )

‘This is a powerful piece of work and once the horrors kick in, the pace is relentless.   Fresh and frightening and highly recommended.’  

(Peter Guttridge, Observer )

'Its moments of authentic terror and unease - which are good enough to rival anything else in King - spring from the author's deft command of pace and tone, from his evocation of the island's deceptive calm, and from the folky texture of his dialogue ... hard not to be gripped, which is testament to the propulsive power of the writing.'

(Sunday Telegraph )

Synopsis
DUMA KEY is the engaging, fascinating story of a man who discovers an incredible talent for painting after a freak accident in which he loses an arm. He moves to a 'new life' in Duma Key, off Florida's West Coast; a deserted strip, part beach, part weed-tangled, owned by a patroness of the arts whose twin sisters went missing in the 1920s. Duma Key is where out-of-season hurricanes tears lives apart and a powerful undertow lures lost and tormented souls. Here Freemantle is inspired to paint the amazing sunsets. But soon the paintings become predictive, even dangerous. Freemantle knows the only way forward is to discover what happened to the twin sisters -- and what is the secret of the strange old lady who holds the key? The story is about friendship, about the bond between a father and his daughter. And about memory, truth and art. It is also is a metaphor for the life and inspiration of a writer, and an exploration of the nature, power and influence of fiction.

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Customer Reviews

Too long
Stephen King is my favourite. The Stand, The Shining etc, remain his best work.

But those were written in his prime.

Recently, (I would say since Dreamcatcher) he has gotten, well, OLD, I guess. He still manages somehow to write massively long novels but each time the plots gets ever more stretched out, like to much butter over a slice of bread. Stephen said himself in Dark Tower - scale, it's all about size, sheer mass.

That's the case with Duma Key. Too much mass, too long basically.

It's a good plot - maybe even a great plot. Accident, itchy arm, phantom arm predicting horrifying events - I've read a lot worse. Trouble is - it's 400 pages too long.

I can accept character development but this is rediculous. We knew Edgar's character after 100 pages, then the rest of it, if it sped at pace for a further 200 or max 300 pages would have kept me interested. But I lost it after 200, when I saw there was another 500 to go.

My recommendation is read the plot on Wikipedia. Then read the first 100 pages, then read the last 50. You have it in a nutshell - right there.

I repeat - I love Stephen King. He's just gotten a little old, and weak, and, after this book, I have no confidence that he can deliver any story, however good the plot, unless he revisits his short stories, or if the book is less than 300 pages.

King Loses Plot.
I have to say that I am a huge fan of King's writing and have read just about everything he has written (barring a short story or two), and pretty much all of it has been good. However, I feel that the last few books he has released have been distinctly below par, fromm about the 6th Dark Tower book onwards. He has always been accused of over-writing but in previous novels this has not detracted from the story, in fact usually it enhances the experience. This novel, however, I feel, seemed to just skate around the story proper, spending far too long on the minutae of everyday life (within the context of this story) and not enough going into depth with the actual supernatural goings on. I won't go into detail with the plot as others have already done so here. The most entertaining parts, for me, were told second hand, and I can't help but think that the story of the Eastlakes would have been much more interesting. This and the previous book, Liseys Story, to me, seemed to be about a character or characters who were peripheral to the story proper, and as such you never seem to get anything more than a small tidbit of a novel, which is then padded out with, frankly, meaningless drivel. Of course this is just my opinion, and I may be unfairly comparing this to previous better works, but I definitely think King has lost some of his shine.

Great but not his best
In SK's books I love the range and build-up of characters more than the complicated horror-supernatural stuff; and through the storylines I like the indirect commentaries on everyday life in the US (particularly New England). This has less of what I like but is still a great escapist read, even if the ending fails to suspend disbelief. (Ghost ships, evil salt-water nymphs, and living dolls would probably work better in a film than a book.) If you are new to SK go for The Stand, Bag of Bones, and Blaze, in that order.