Joyland by Stephen King

I recently relocated to a new city in Texas, and the first thing I did when I got my updated drivers license was to go to the library and get my library card. While I will primarily use it to get audio books, I decided that my first thing I should do would be to check out an actual book. I browsed the library, and came back to my old faithful, Stephen King. Most of the ones there were books I had already read, or did not feel like tackling at this point (I'm looking at you Gunslinger). Tucked between other huge novels, the one I selected was almost hidden, Joyland. It was short and had an interesting plot, and with that, I checked out my first book from my new public library.

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

It is the summer of 1973 and Devin Jones has just had his heart broken by the love of his life, and he does not know what to do with himself. He accepts a job working as a carny at Joyland in the small town of Heaven's Beach, NC in hopes of getting his mind off of her, and finds himself drawn into this beautiful business of fun. During the summer, he saves a little girls life, befriends a small boy with  not much time left, and delves in the mystery of murder from a few years back.

I was hoping that the plot would have more supernatural or murder aspects to it. It seemed like it started off strong. When Devin ends up in Heaven's Beach, he is told a pretty awesome story of the murder and how the girl haunts the ride she died in at Joyland. But the ghost, and the murder, really seem like a tertiary plot point that does not really matter until the end. A good portion of the plot, Devin is pining for Wendy Keegan, the girl who broke his heart, and man, can he go on about a bitch. I think back to breakups I've had and hope that I was not as obnoxious as him. But what I found more annoying, Devin is telling you everything is past tense and the times he comes to the present, he talks about how it still hurts him, to the point where you really want to suggest that Devin get some therapy because there are some underlying issues there. I wasn't a fan of the name Wendy before this, but now I really could care less if I never heard it again. But when there was a plot that did not revolve around him being depressingly heartbroken, it was a good story with interesting characters and lots of color.

(Source: Giphy)

I did not figure out who the murderer was until the end. Honestly, I had forgotten that I was supposed to be looking for that. There are endless paragraphs of Devin describing his times dressed up at Howie the Happy Hound (the Joyland mascot), but not much to remind you that there is still a murderer on the loose. For a while, I thought maybe a second murder would happen and that would bring this plot back to the forefront of the story, but by two-thirds through, I figured this would not happen. Then I thought that when Devin and his two friends, Erin and Tom, rode through the ride she is said to haunt, maybe something would happen in there that would drive Devin to figure it out. And technically, that did happen, but Tom was the only one to see anything and he refused to talk about it. Still, in the grand scheme of things, the murderer is not completely obvious, which for the reader is always the best kind.

What I did enjoy about the book is it reminded me of stories my parents have told me about growing up during this time. They would have been in their early- and mid-twenties, just like Devin, and there are many comments that adult Devin makes that sound exactly like things my parents have said. My dad worked first aid at events with the National Guard, and stories he has told me match closely with what Devin said, adding life to the plot.

This is far from the worst King novel I have read, but for me, it was not his strongest. I still love him as an author.

Rating: 5/10
Author: Stephen King
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Dates Read: October 11-23,2019