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The Dark Half

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Summary

Creating George Stark was easy. Getting rid of him won't be....

The sparrows are flying again. The idea - unbidden, inexplicable - haunts the edge of Thad Beaumont's mind. Thad should be happy. For years now it is his secret persona, George Stark, author of superviolent pulp thrillers, who has paid the family bills. But now Thad is writing seriously again under his own name, and his menacing pseudonym has been buried forever. And yet...the sparrows are flying again, and something is terribly wrong in Thad Beaumont's world.

©1989 Stephen King (P)2010 Penguin Audio
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What listeners say about The Dark Half

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Really great listen!

I enjoyed this, coming straight after the stand, I was worried it would bore me but nope!! The details, plots and lives of the family kept me wanting to hear more

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  • Overall
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his usual excellence

True to style, a bit gruesome in places but the heroes carry the same traits as always, as do the villains! Where this man gets his ideas from, goodness only knows and not sure I want to know. Kept me engaged the whole way through, in no small part due to Grover Gardner's excellent narration. He is one of the best audio book narrators I've come across. Mr King does it again

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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king at his best

one of kings better novels fantastic narration added to my enjoyment of this book must read for king or not king fans

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Excellent

The narrator really brought this to life. Having listened to many King audiobooks now, he’s head and shoulders above the rest including SK himself. Outstanding!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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The Sparrows Are Flying Again...

An author seems to have it all, a new set of twins, a happy marriage and a blossoming career... only when he was eleven he had his twin surgically removed from his brain as a mere group of cells containing an eye and fingers, nice.

The pen name he uses has had his day and a big PR stunt shows he's done for good, only now someone with the author's dna is bumping off people. What does this have to do with the pen name?

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7 people found this helpful

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More terrifyingly brilliant than I remembered

I loved listening to every minute of this masterpiece. It is compulsive listening.
I remember reading this book years ago , and absolutely loving it. It was such a luxury to listen to the characters come back to life again, and the narrator perfectly captured the characters was genius. Such a fabulous performance, such a brilliant story, WOW!!

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Altered ego

The psychopathic alter ego of a famous author comes alive and terrorises his creator, in a bid to force him to keep writing ultra-violent - and ultra-successful - novels under his pseudonym. Thad Beaumont wants to write ‘straight’ novels and turn his back on the pulp fiction produced under his nom de plume of George Stark. But Stark has other ideas. The Dark Half was Stephen King’s response to his outing in real life as Richard Bachman - the pseudonym he used for some of his own novels. It’s a terrifying ride from the start, darkly compelling and highly listenable, with excellent narration.

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This is King in top form

I’m an unusual Stephen King fan in that I love his work (I’ve read about 40 or so titles) but I will always call him out if a book is bad (Lisey’s Story I’m looking at you).

But this book is Stephen King as the world originally fell in love with him. Great characters, great plot/story and this one gets pretty damn dark in places.

I loved this story and would recommend it to anyone. It was also helped by a great narrator which is hugely important to me.

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3 people found this helpful

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Brilliant story excellently read.

Another classic tale from Mr King who always manages to make the unbelievable totaly real.

Very well narrated - Highly recommended.

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perfection from King as always

If u like king you don't need a review. you already know it's going to be awesome.

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2 people found this helpful