Stephanie McCann, an intern at The Weekly Islander, finds herself in a mysterious situation. The founder Vince Teague and editor Dave Bowie tell her about the death of a man 25 years ago, whose body was found on the beach by two teenagers. This story has multiple unknowns and few certain facts. We wonder how the man died. Was it choking, a stroke, or was he murdered? What was he doing on the beach in the first place? The book does a great job of creating an immersive atmosphere. The reader feels as if they are sitting beside Stephanie, listening to the scarce clues. Stephen King drowns us in details, making us wonder which ones are important. However, this approach is necessary to solve a mystery. It's a cozy read, and the immersive aspect makes it enjoyable. Jeffrey DeMunn does a good job narrating the audiobook. I recommend this as a light read, but don't expect to get all the answers. Some mysteries may never be fully solved.

3.5/5

“Well then, I'm going to tell you a secret almost every newspaper man and woman who's been at it awhile knows: in real life, the number of actual stories - those with beginnings, middles, and ends - are slim and none. But if you can give your readers just one unknown thing (two at the very outside) and then kick in what Dave Bowie there calls a musta-been, your reader will tell himself a story.

“It was that kind of story. The kind that’s like a sneeze which threatens but never quite arrives.”

Okay, so this is one of those works that clearly showcases that Stephen King is not content with resting on his past achievements.

He continuously endeavors to innovate and push the boundaries of his craft. Undoubtedly, King is widely regarded as a master in the literary field.

However, it is essential to note that "The Colorado Kid" represents an attempt to delve into a mystery that has possible, albeit pseudo-paranormal undertones.

The story, right from its very beginning, revolves around three characters engaged in conversation. Indeed! While the common writing advice is "Show, don't tell," this novel defies that norm and is all about the telling.

Logically, it should not succeed. It seems to follow the blueprint for a disaster, and yet, surprisingly, it is far from being one.

Admittedly, it feels more like idle gossip than a typical King story. But in my humble opinion, it still manages to work.

I will not harshly criticize this book because it does possess some truly intriguing elements.

Nevertheless, everyone must form their own judgment as it is quite different. It is not a horror novel, which, for me, is a bit of a disappointment.

Yet, the fact that King is still attempting new things earns my respect and I'm okay with it.

For me, I will evaluate this work objectively. It is good, but not great, and admittedly, it has a certain strangeness within the vast pantheon of King's entire fictional universe.

Slight but mighty, this story is an exercise in turning the page on the narrative that haunted King for most of his life.

You can almost sense King's attempt to avoid mentioning the tower in these pages. That shift in attention feels both melancholy and alleviating. I truly appreciate the unwillingness to rest on his laurels that emanates from this tale. I love it when King takes our world and nudges it slightly off kilter to bring forth something familiar yet vaguely supernatural. That's precisely where this story excels.

Character-wise, Stephanie is of course a standout. I adore her persistence as she endures the razzing and the slightly ritualistic passing of the guard. Her detective-like eye for detail and the ability to see what others don't surely feels like a precursor to Holly.

Although there weren't many characters in this book, I found something to cherish in each of them.

Themes-wise, this was a pretty straightforward mystery, so it wasn't overly rich in thematic depth. Proving oneself as an up-and-comer stands out, as does the pursuit of the elusive.

One thing I'll walk away with is a craving for fish and chips. Less so for steak.

A little better on a re-read, but still a disappointment compared to my love for the show.

I picked this up because I was a huge fan of the show Haven. Supposedly, the show is based on this book. If you’re also a Haven fan wanting to read this book, beware that there’s no Audrey, Nathan, Duke, or Troubles. This is more of a straightforward crime mystery, rather than an out-there sci-fi crime show.

It was enjoyable enough to read, but many people will be upset by how it ends. A lot of people won’t even get past the format. The entirety of the book is just a couple of guys telling the story of what they know about the crime to a new hire.

The mystery itself is interesting enough, I guess. But overall, the book is just a bit of a bore. Sy-Fy had the right idea juicing it up with the Troubles and the glorious Audrey Parker. The show managed to take the basic premise of the book and turn it into something truly captivating and unique. The addition of the supernatural elements and the complex characters made it a hit. In contrast, the book feels rather平淡 and lacks the excitement and charm of the show. It’s a shame that the book couldn’t live up to the expectations set by the show. However, if you’re a fan of crime mysteries and don’t mind a different take on the story, it might still be worth a read.

It was that kind of story.

The kind that’s like a sneeze which threatens but never quite arrives.

Sometimes loving eyes don't see what they don't want to see.

I definitely feel the Holly and Bill Hodges vibe in Stephanie and Vince. While some reviews suggest that there are Dark Tower Easter eggs or clues here.

Now I can't quite get it off my head. Was the death a suicide or foul play? Was it done by Flagg or the low men in yellow coats? For whatever reason, we will never know...unless...

I neither love nor hate it. It felt like one of those books that I have to read in one sitting and give my full attention. Otherwise, I'll end up either bored, frustrated, and just DNFing it. But it is King, so it is an exception and worth getting through. Maybe I'll read this again with audio someday or come back to it after finishing the whole DT series. Maybe.

This is the very first time that I have delved into this book penned by King. The reason being that I finally managed to obtain it when it was rereleased.

I am truly glad that I have at long last had the opportunity to read it. This is because I absolutely adored this captivating story. It appears that people have polarizing opinions about it; they either love it with a passion or detest it vehemently. And I am most definitely firmly in the love it camp.

I found the narrative to be utterly fascinating. It had an almost magical pull that drew me in from the very first page. I was so engrossed that I couldn't turn the pages fast enough in my eagerness to discover what would unfold next. Or perhaps, in this particular instance, it was more about the anticipation of not finding out what happens. In either case, without a shadow of a doubt, I loved it!

It was an enthralling reading experience that left me spellbound and eager for more.

A short novel about the inexplicable case of a man found dead on the shores of a Maine beach. It's a novel that is neither a thriller, nor a noir novel, nor a police procedural.

It is perfectly a mystery that remains just that, with more plot holes in its chronological line of action and a story with more question marks than answers. It is a mystery novel that remains with the same mystery from start to finish. And look, I like open endings, but here there is nothing clear at any moment and definitely it would be a story that, as they well say, passes without pain or glory and that can be forgotten the next day. The case has its interesting theories and hypotheses but without being verified or else being discarded by the evidence found and the traces discovered.

What I liked is that for a mystery book, King knows perfectly which strings to pull to make you want to keep reading. There are unnecessary pauses between the conversations of the characters but that nourish in details and serve to add the right dose of tension to continue learning about the strange unsolved case. And those, since it is short in length, were perfect for me to rest between heavy readings.

Even average Stephen King is worth reading. I'd call The Colorado Kid, a short novel (almost a novella) a notch above average, maybe 3.5 stars.

It's not really a "hard-boiled" mystery, though, and I don't know why it's labeled as such. The sultry dame on the cover is quite misleading. In fact, the story is about an unsolved murder being related to a young reporter working on a small tourist island newspaper in Maine by two old-timers who've been living there and reporting for the paper for a long time.

There are two stories here. One is the human interaction between the old-timers and their young protege as they discuss the fine nuances of human behavior wrapped in small mysteries. Everything from why they didn't leave a tip on the table for a hard-working waitress to why they don't tell the big city reporter working on a series for a Boston paper about any of the real mysteries they know about, and stick to old unsolved ones everyone knows about like the mysterious coast lights and the poisoned church picnic. King has always been good at inserting such little bits of human mystery into his stories.

The second story, the one The Colorado Kid is really about, is that of a man from Colorado who was found dead on this Maine island back in 1980. As the two journalists tell the tale, more and more odd details surface, and as they try to work through answers to each one, the case becomes stranger and stranger.

The thing is, The Colorado Kid is actually a bit of a meta-story, and to appreciate it requires knowing a little bit about Stephen King. For example, in recent years he's been connecting all of his fiction loosely together in a self-referential manner.

Consider a supernatural thriller with inhuman creatures, magic, aliens, or whatever, operating in secret. Imagine the collateral damage these stories leave behind: dead bodies, burned-down buildings, unexplained holes in the ground. What happens when "mundanes" come across the aftermath of such incidents? They have no idea about parallel dimensions or battles between good and evil. They just know there's a dead body lying there and they have no idea how it got there or how he died. They try to piece together the clues, but there are holes in any story they come up with, because even if they are open-minded enough to consider the paranormal, they can't know the whole truth.

This story is kind of like getting a peek at a mystery like that. If you take it at face value, it's just an odd tale about an unsolved death. But if you think about all the other King you've read, you might say, "Damn, some serious stuff went down here, and these people just have no clue..."

Story: Two reporters tell an unsolved mystery of an unidentified man who was found dead on a tiny island off the coast of Maine 20 years ago. The premise seemed perfect for a murder mystery or a paranormal thriller. However, the book failed to deliver on either front.

Throughout the story, the characters discuss several scenarios about how the dead person ended up on the beach so far from his home. But by the end, you know almost nothing about the man who died, except for his name and the fact that he was found dead on the beach one morning. The story simply leaves you hanging.

I enjoy unsolved mysteries, but this one neither explores any possible explanations nor provides a satisfying conclusion. At the very least, it could have presented a number of possible scenarios and let the reader figure it out for themselves. After reading the entire story, you just feel cheated.

Even in the afterword, the author admits that "Depending on whether you liked or hated The Colorado Kid (I think for many people there'll be no middle ground on this one, and that's fine with me)..... " That sums up the book for me. You will either love it or hate it. There are no middle grounds with this one.

The Colorado Kid was first published in the US in 2005 and had been out of print for a decade. It was never released in the UK until now.

This book shows the love and care that went into its creation. There's an introduction by Charles Ardai, one of the co-founders of Hard Case Crime. It's an illustrated edition with amazing artwork from many talented artists. The cover's sleek and sexy retro design is full of charm and charisma, taking us back to a bygone era.

The story starts with lunch in a bar on Moose-Lookit, an island off the coast of Maine. Dave Bowie and Vince Teague, the elderly proprietors of The Weekly Islander, along with their new intern Stephanie McCann, meet a writer from the Boston Globe. The newspapermen share local unexplained mysteries, but they don't impress the writer. He leaves, and the trio finish their lunch and go back to the office.

Later, Stephanie, interested in the subject, asks Dave and Vince about unexplained mysteries. They have a story to tell, one that has haunted them for 25 years. In 1980, a dead body was found on Hammock beach. The man was a John Doe for 16 months. They only had an uncertain cause of death. Then, a year later, a student noticed something that revealed the man's identity, but the question of what he was doing on the island remained.

The Colorado Kid takes place over an August afternoon and is like a conversation between Dave, Vince, and Stephanie, full of regional dialect and colloquialisms. King's characterisation is excellent. Stephanie is likeable and inquisitive, and Dave and Vince are charming old timers.

Some might have an issue with the ambiguous ending, but I think it's clever. It leaves the reader to think and ponder. The book is a short but captivating read, full of spirit and thought-provoking. King's storytelling ability is on full display, and I found it a charming and enjoyable read.

As always, this review can also be found on my blog The Tattooed Book Geek: https://thetattooedbookgeek.wordpress...

This is truly such a quaint and nice little story.

King has a remarkable ability to go all out when it comes to describing a story. He painstakingly answers every question that the reader might have, which makes this book a breath of fresh air in the literary world.

It is a quiet, short story that delves into the realm of things you'll never truly know. The mystery at its core keeps the reader engaged and guessing.

Interestingly, it is very weird that this was released as a Hard Case crime book. In fact, this is 100% NOT a hard boiled story in any sense. Instead, it is a charming tale about two old newspapermen who share a classic mystery with an up and coming female reporter.

The brevity of the story really helps enhance its appeal. It doesn't overstay its welcome and manages to convey its message effectively. I loved it for its simplicity, charm, and the way it made me think about the unknown.

Overall, this is a delightful read that is sure to please fans of mystery and short stories alike.

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