Book Review: The Regulators by Stephen King
Even though I had read many books by Stephen King previously, when I started to read The Regulators in 1996, I got a sort of reader's overload. The opening introduces many characters quickly, and turns suddenly brutal. Fast forward to 2017, though, and this is just the kind of book to draw me in.
Right off the bat, the negative, which I mentioned above. No, not the brutal part. I read not only horror currently, but also bizarro. I'm get a kick out of stories in which the stakes are high.
Without giving anything away, I'd like to note some interesting things about the story. It is the "twinner" of "Desperation," which came out the same day in 1996. In both books, the supernatural enemy is the same and comes from the same place. It also features many of the same characters, though in different circumstances. It was as if King started with the idea of an ancient evil at the bottom of a mine shaft, came up with a cast of characters, and decided to write two different stories with the same essential cast. You can also consider it happening in two separate realities within King's multiverse.
Though King doesn't state it directly in The Regulators, it is connected to "The Dark Tower," as are all of his books, to some degree. The evil entity, Tak, uses the same language as the can-toi in The Dark Tower, for one thing. I also believe that a location described at the end is the manifestation of the Tower on that particular Earth, and there's a strong indication that Tak comes from the same place outside the universe as Pennywise/It and the Crimson King. The end of The Regulators made something at the end of The Dark Tower clearer to me, in fact. I wish I could ask Stephen King if my guesses, regarding these connections, are right!
One more thing of interest to readers of The Wild Steampunk Blog. The Regulators has some major western, as in wild west, elements. I should probably say "spaghetti western," though they are harsh and frightening.
The Regulators is imaginative, vibrant, and brutal throughout. I loved it.
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