Stephen King’s ‘Revival’ Challenges Religion, Marks Return To Form For Horror Master

Master of horror Stephen King’s latest offering, Revival, by all accounts, sounds to be a return to form for the King. Expected to debut on next week’s New York Times Bestseller List, Revival, King’s second novel of 2014, has been lauded as belonging alongside the works of horror legends H.P. Lovecraft an Edgar Allen Poe.

In the aptly named Revival, King introduces us to a young boy named Jaime Morton who encounters a New England pastor named Rev. Charles Jacobs who continues to appear and effect Morton’s live over the course of the next 50 years of his life. Rev. Jacobs has a particular affinity for electricity and uses it to create parlor tricks meant to inspire faith in his congregation. After his wife and child are killed in a car accident, he resigns his reverendship and sets out to experiment with the healing powers of electricity. Meanwhile, Morton, a probable autobiographical avatar for King himself, falls into addiction that derails his life and prospects until reuniting with Jacobs, now a mere carnival attraction, decades later.

Like many of his inspirations, King tells Rolling Stone that the idea for Revival is one he has carried with him since childhood.

“I’ve had the idea for this book since I was a kid. I drew a lot of inspiration from Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein.’ I wanted to make the story as warm as possible, because the best way to scare people is to really make the reader care about these characters.”

The Guardian.com, while acknowledging the fervor surrounding King’s ending for ‘Revival’ argues that the novel features the ‘best opening King has written,’ while the The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel calls King’s ending “electric.”

The Boston Globe goes further, saying, “‘Revival’ is a brave book because it dares to look closely at the way that religion is a fiction, but perhaps a necessary one. It is a moving novel because it shows how religion’s assurances are just that, hardly guarantees of outcome.'”

Revival serves as a reminder to fans of the horror genre that at 67-years-old, King can still bring the scares. King told the Bangor Daily News that he felt he had something to prove with Revival. It appears King hit the mark.

“I think that one of the things behind ‘Revival’ was for people who really like books like ‘Pet Sematary’ and ‘The Shining,’ I really wanted to see if I could still bring a real scare to people and write the sort of book that people would say, ‘It’s a great story, but it scared the hell out of me and I had to keep the lights on. I was sort of aiming for that in particular.

“I’ve lost a few miles an hour. I’ve found in my later years a lot more I’ve had to go to the slider and the changeup. But I can still bring it when I have to. I’m old, but I’m not dead. So I can still wind up and fire. ‘Revival’ is a fastball.”