Hearts in Atlantis, by Stephen King

A collection of five or six stories, which turn out to be linked (albeit fairly weakly) and take place in the 60s and 70s against the backdrop of the Vietnam war.

A couple of the stories (but not all) had supernatural elements. The first one, "Low Men in Yellow Coats"(?) was one of these, and was OK but had references to the Crimson King - I think that of late Stephen King has been trying to make all of his work relate back to the Dark Tower stuff of which the Crimson King is an important element. I remember the Crimson King stuff in Insomnia being totally incomprehensible, and so get a bit fed up when it seeps into other books, especially as I don't fancy the Dark Tower ones at all.

The title story was quite good though, and all of it was readable enough, but you do get the feeling that King has run out of new things to say.

I was impressed by the way that the title of the book suggests something romantic and perhaps mythical, but in fact has a very mundane reference: a bunch of kids who live in a university campus called Atlantis, playing a card game called Hearts.

Thought this was a nice quote: He loved the idea of time as an old bald cheater - it was absolutely and completely right, although he couldn't say why... and didn't that very ability to say why somehow add to the coolness? It was like a thinq inside an egg, or a shadow behind pebbled glass

OK but wouldn't bother reading it again.

Completed : 05-Apr-2007

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