Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Search - The Dark Half

The Dark Half
The Dark Half
Author: Stephen King
An awesome thriller novel by Stephen King
ISBN: 170819
Publication Date: 1989
Pages: 431
Rating:
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 6

4 stars, based on 6 ratings
Publisher: Viking Penguin
Book Type: Hardcover
Other Versions: Paperback
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Dark Half on + 533 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 5
This is a great book.It puts you to think and it makes you ask yourself the question,could this be real?It is simply about a writer having a pen name which he writes under,but shortly after announcing the "death"of his pen name Killing starts to happen.The story is great there is a lot to it like for example when the writer(Tad Beaumont)was small he had surgery and this surgery proved that he had a twin brother!This fact however has a little or alot to do with the story,it depends on how you look at it or read it as the case may be...But the important thing to this is get started with this book because it is really good.The beginning might be a little slow but it is worth the read.I read this book over a year ago and it is still in mine mind,it is so tempting to write a review about it and share its greatness with other readers,sadly I cant remember all the details about the book,but I do know it is good and I would definitely recommend it for new and old readers alike...Enjoy.
AMAZON.COM REVIEW
lipslady avatar reviewed The Dark Half on + 101 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
I think this might be one of my favorite King novels. Extremely origianl and very weird!
roarlady avatar reviewed The Dark Half on + 24 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
KING brings split personality to a new high on both mental and physical levels. The plot is entertaining and a real mind bender...
reviewed The Dark Half on + 5 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 2
King takes the classic "evil twin" story to a whole new level in this book. It's hefty, but a fast read -- I found myself carrying it everywhere so I could read it in restaurants, check out lines, etc. It's more of a thriller than a straight horror novel, though there are some pretty gross descriptions. Overall, The Dark Half is a great, addictive read.
reviewed The Dark Half on + 20 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
This is one of my all time favorite Stephen King books. I have read it countless numbers of times. I'll probably keep pulling it out from time to time to read it again!
Read All 38 Book Reviews of "The Dark Half"

Please Log in to Rate these Book Reviews

beaconkat avatar reviewed The Dark Half on + 10 more book reviews
Readers will find themselves immersed in a story filled with suspense, delving into the world of the supernatural. Fans of King's work will not be disappointed and will smile wryly as they think of his series of Bachman books . . . . Many consider Stephen King a master of horror. Perhaps the most frightening thing we find when we explore his writing is the dark possibilities that lie within the workings of the human psyche. Sooner or later, we each have to come to grips with our own dark half.
scifimom avatar reviewed The Dark Half on + 48 more book reviews
a good scare!
reviewed The Dark Half on + 159 more book reviews
A great book for Stephen King fans.
reviewed The Dark Half on + 33 more book reviews
Amazon.com
In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write The Regulators.) At the beginning of The Dark Half (1989), 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead.
Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled Machine Dreams, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in The Dark Half as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.

Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.

This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the New York Times writes, "Misery (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. The Dark Half is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies 'the womblike dungeon' of his imagination." --Fiona Webster--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
reviewed The Dark Half on + 8 more book reviews
excellent reading and typical spellbinding storyline from Stephen King, this ones keeps you on the edge of your sit
reviewed The Dark Half on + 110 more book reviews
What a good book. I really enjoyed the read.
reviewed The Dark Half on + 17 more book reviews
This book was really on the gruesome side, but then we are talking about Stephen King. I prefer some of his books and stories where some of it is left to the imagination - but it sure leaves an impression!!
MistyDawnG avatar reviewed The Dark Half on + 3 more book reviews
one of his finest!!
reviewed The Dark Half on + 22 more book reviews
This book typifies the essential Stephen King. Very much like 'The Secret Window', this story has many things that surprise you. As always, Mr. King has done it once again. Thanks for the good read, Mr. King!


Genres: