Lisey Langdon’s late husband, the author Scott Langdon has a dark past. After his death Lisey is blackmailed by a Professor Woodbody into giving him the author’s unpublished papers for the University of Pittsburg’s English Department (where Scott was affiliated), after she denies his initial request. The thug that he sends to get his message across is determined to hurt Lisey whether she hands over the papers or not and Lisey must draw on her repressed memories of her husband’s dark side to stand up to the madman who has entered her life.
Scott had an ability from when he was a child to travel to another time and place just by imagining it. He named this place Boo’ya Moon and he buried his older brother there when he was child. Lisey’s catatonic sister also travels to Boo’ya Moon to ‘watch the Hollyhocks’, but she has named this place Southwind. Many people who are troubled can find their way there and would all have their own name for this place that they hold dear to their hearts. BUT, this is also a dark place, where evil things lurk in the forest, when food becomes poisonous after dark and the long boy with the endless piebald side can find you when you least expect it, in the reflection of a whisky glass, from a glance in the bathroom mirror…….
Lisey must relive her memories of her husband to open the way for her to return to Boo’ya Moon, rescue her sister and deal with Dooley the man so intent on hurting her, and to find the ‘anchor’ that will prevent her from slipping over to Boo’ya Moon when she least expects it.
This is a love story of sorts built around the memories of Lisey’s husband, and also a tale of sisterly love. The slow narration doesn’t really come to life until halfway through the novel. The memories of Scott’s childhood reminded me of the movie ‘Frailty’ and was quite frightening. King’s later work in no way compares with his early novels such as The Stand, however his actually story telling ability still shines through.
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