Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange …
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was seven, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. When Charlie is seventeen, he meets a dog named Radar and her aging master, Howard Bowditch, a recluse in a big house at the top of a big hill, with a locked shed in the backyard. Sometimes strange sounds emerge from it.
Charlie starts doing jobs for Mr. Bowditch and loses his heart to Radar. Then, when Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe. What Bowditch knows, and has kept secret all his long life, is that inside the shed is a portal to another world.
King’s storytelling in Fairy Tale soars. This is a magnificent and terrifying tale in which good is pitted against overwhelming evil, and a heroic boy—and his dog—must lead the battle.
Audiobook
English language
Published Sept. 5, 2022 by Simon & Schuster Audio.
An ode to the fairy tales we've all heard, very nicely written. The characters are sympathetic and the plot moves along at a steady, engaging pace. I'd recommend it.
Started out promising but the main story felt completely phoned in
I think that King went out on a huge limb here... and boy am I glad he did. This story, like the Shining, It, and the Institute before it, show the magnificent theme of "kid power" that Stephen is so good at. charlie Reade was no exception. I think that if he were a real person, I would want to get to know him, and I would probably hang out with him on a regular basis. Either way, if you want a book that's emotional as it is rivetting, then King does it again. It does have some of his normal horror, but this one gives the reader a bit of a break from that, where we see the more fantastical side of this wonderful and legendary author.
