REVIVAL

Revival is Stephen King at his Lovecraftian best. King has many works that refer to, or play in, the realm of the Cthulhu Mythos. The first story I ever read by King, "Crouch End" in New Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos (1980), is good Lovecraftian horror that marries King's voice with elements of the Mythos—and does so while never revealing too much of "the other realm" but enough to keep the "creepy factor" high. Revival reads in a similar vein.

Revival is aptly named, as the novel plays with the various denotations and connotations of the word. There is religious revival, restoration to life, and rising up from disease or drug addition.

All of the horror is contained within the story of two men—Jamie Morton and the Reverend Charlie Jacobs—who first meet when Jamie is six and Rev. Jacobs is the new pastor of the church Jamie attends. The book develops their characters well, revealing more of Jamie over the course of the novel, and visiting the various points throughout the years when Jamie and Rev. Jacobs meet up again.

Just as Lovecraft was good at peeling back the onion-like layers of the cosmos to reveal what lurks beneath, so does King. And King does such without worrying too much about the mechanics of some of the pieces that lie beneath. We don't need to know exactly how they function because (a) it doesn't ultimately matter to the story, and (b) it lends the novel a sense of mystery.

When the ending arrives, which I had been trying to figure out and anticipate throughout reading the novel, it was not quite what I expected, but was ultimately fulfilling. If the latter word is adequate to explain the cosmic horror that rises up and leaves the reader off-kilter!

One of my favorite King novels. Highly recommended.