Staff Pick
Jamie Morton can't seem to shake the charismatic preacher he first meets as a child, later appearing randomly throughout his life. Each encounter becomes increasingly strange — right up to the astonishing conclusion. This gripping thriller demonstrates what King does best: evoking sinister, supernatural forces into the lives of seemingly ordinary people. Recommended By Jen C., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.
In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs — including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.
Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties — addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate — Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.
This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.
Review
"King continues to point out the unspeakably spooky weirdness that lies on the fringes of ordinary life....No one does psychological terror better than King. Another spine-tingling pleasure for his fans."
Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Revival finds King writing with the infectious glee that has always been at the heart of his popular success... Older and wiser each time he writes, Mr. King has moved on from the physical fear that haunted him after he was struck by a van while out walking to a more metaphysical, universal terror. He writes about things so inevitable that he speaks to us all."
The New York Times
Review
"Stephen King's splendid new novel offers the atavistic pleasure of drawing closer to a campfire in the dark to hear a tale recounted by someone who knows exactly how to make every listener's flesh crawl."
Washington Post
Review
"Revival is dark, disquieting and pretty horrifying, revealing a mind (the narrator's, for sure; King's, perhaps) searching for answers to life's age-old questions about life and death."
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Review
"All of the elements that have made King the preeminent American horror author come alive in this ultra-creepy tale of love, loss, evil and electricity....Riveting."
Cleveland Plain Dealer
About the Author
Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His recent work includes Mr. Mercedes, Doctor Sleep, and Under the Dome, now a major TV miniseries on CBS. His novel 11/22/63 was named a top ten book of 2011 by The New York Times Book Review and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Mystery/Thriller as well as the Best Hardcover Book Award from the International Thriller Writers Association. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.