Desperation

Desperation is a mammoth novel written by Stephen King in 1997. Set in and around the Highway 50 in the middle of the desert, near Ely in the USA, the novel centres around the Carver family, Johnny Marinville (National Award Winning author) and Peter and Mary Jackson. All find themselves bizarrely confronted by a towering cop, Collie Entragian, and taken back to the arid, delapidated mining town, Desperation. It rapidly becomes clear that it is not simply a case of a quick warning from the police; Entragian has his own dark agenda. Or is it his own? The star of the novel is David Carver, a sagacious, clear-thinking, recently converted Christian, who is seemingly directed by God. Will Entragian's victims follow David, in this epic battle of Good Vs. Evil? It seems the Evil once burried beneath Desperation has been unlocked. Faith is the only hope, in David and God.

King's characterisation in Desperation is sublime as in many of his other novels. We really get deep into the minds of the characters, undestanding their motives, quirks and histories. This is especially the case for David Carver where his past experience and conversion to Christianity is an overarching theme of the novel. What is clear thoughout is the sense of claustrophobia, possibly enhanced by the reader entering the character's minds. King seems to have a grasp of human thought under strain as he doesn't focus on the solemn but shows the banal or perverse side to human thought even when pushed to such terrifying extremities. What makes this novel such a page-turner is King's use of perspective and dramatic irony; King shifts perspective at tense moments and witholds his return to the altered perpsective. This works as to deepen our sense of dread and impending doom.

But what stood out most for me was King's detailed study of faith. Indeed, Desperation is inherently about God. However, King isn't in the Dawkins camp: faith is painted in a positive light. Perhaps King's introduction of charcters such as the hedonistic Merinville, transforming within the confines of the novel teaches us that when the human condition is pushed to the farthest reaches of extremity only faith will provide the guiding hand. Otherwise failure is inevitable. Desperation is gripping, terrifying, intelligent. It's a shame King isn't writing such good material nowadays...