"Wireman was afraid of snakes, Jack was afraid of bats. I had no idea I was afraid of alligators until I saw that chunk of prehistoric darkness separate itself from the decaying stew in the old pool and come for us, first across the overgrown concrete (brushing aside the last surviving, tipped-over lawn chair as it did) and then sliding into the weeds and vines trailing down the nearest Brazilian Peppers. I caught one glimpse of its snout wrinkling back, one black eye squeezing shut in what could have been a wink, and then there was only its dripping back protruding here and there through the shivering greenery, like a submarine that's three-quarters under. It was coming for us, and after telling Wireman, I could do no more. Grayness came over my sight. I leaned back against the old warped boards of Heron's Roost. They were warm. I leaned there and waited to be eaten by the twelve-foot-long horror that lived in John Eastlake's old swimming pool."

I always enjoy reading Stephen King!

This is my first Stephen King book so I can't compare it to the rest of his work. That being said I was really enjoying this up until the end when the spooky stuff came into the foreground. The whole creepiness and slow burn of the reveal in this book was what made it interesting. The juxtaposition of a severely injured man finding companionship and healing in Florida and a mysterious Chinese ghost burrowing into the minds of damaged people on Duma Key was amazing. I did like watching Edgar's slow process of acceptance, I loved Wireman's optimism and friendship, Elizabeth Eastlake's attempts to stay together in the face of the horrors of her childhood and even Jack's pluckiness and willingness to do whatever the weird guy from Minnesota asked him to do. The slow devolution of Edgar's art from harmless sunsets to creepy visions and the ghost ship was jaw dropping. And there were just enough hints at the history of the Eastlake family and the Key to keep me invested. Even my own mental images of some of the ghost children in the doorway and the described painting will haunt me for a bit. Now, all of this took its sweet time getting there. It was very meandering. But it gave us a lot of time to get to know all of our chief players.

Where things sort of fell apart for me was near the end. When the three men had to take on the ghosts head on. When weird disjointed lawn jockeys and colorful frogs exist to scare people back from the simulacrum of a long dead spirit. For some reason that's when the tension eased up. Maybe it was because the narration of the book was clearly Edgar looking back so I knew he made it? But I was super stressed and ready to riot if Wireman or Jack got caught out by the ghosts. And they were technically fair game. The climax made sense, but was also slightly underwhelming. I don't know what I needed to punch it up, I'm just glad it really did tie everything together.