From A Buick 8 By Stephen King



From a Buick 8 surprised me, mainly because it's a more or less straight science fiction story from Stephen King. Set almost completely at the barracks of Troop D of the Pennsylvania State Police, the "Buick 8" is a mysterious car left abandoned at a gas station. It looks like an 1954 Buick Roadmaster, the engine is stamped "Buick 8," but in other ways it isn't right. The exhaust system is made of glass, and the dash and steering wheel are made of wood. Not knowing what else to do with the strange car, the police stash it in a shed behind their barracks.


It is a pretty creepy car.

The car has more surprises in store. Occasionally lights flash inside it, so bright they drown out the sun. Even more rarely the trunk opens and things come out... alien things. Most of the story (told in flashback) concerns one trooper who became obsessed with solving the mystery of where the car came from.

The book is well written, and the things that happen are involving. But the whole novel is built around the rather unlikely proposition that these state police troopers decide to keep the car a secret, and succeed. This policy is kept in place even after one trooper mysteriously disappears and alien creatures start popping out of the trunk. Between all that and the light shows you'd think keeping it a secret would be impossible, and really stupid besides.

One this that did kind of annoy me about the novel was some gratuitous gore. I'm sure King feels obligated to throw these kinds of details into a book like this so it can still be called a "horror" novel, thereby avoiding being shelved in the science fiction ghetto in the back of the store, but still. I assume that the same concern was his inspiration for having the alien creatures burst out of people's asses in Dreamcatcher.

Posted: Sun - April 25, 2004 at      

©