Sleeping Beauties: Stephen King and Owen King

I pre-ordered it and took advantage of Amazon’s cheap launch hardback facility which included a limited edition front cover illustration (as you can see on the golden sticker in the picture.) This illustration happens to be of a fox – which features heavily in the story, along with a mysterious giant magic tree, moths, peacocks, white tigers and a cast so large there is a list of characters in the initial pages just to keep you straight.Sleeping Beauties (SB) took me a couple of months to finish, not because I grew bored of the story but because I’ve got into an unhelpful habit of having several books on the go and it’s all getting out of control if I’m honest. Then again it is a big book at 718 pages long. Thank Crom that the print was large with plenty of appropriate white space which made this edition easy on the eye. Oh, and by the way, I loved the matt feel to the dust jacket with the raised lettering. Shame the smell of the book was nothing to write home about (it’s a fetish of mine.)If you watch interviews with SK and his son, you’ll be familiar with how the collaboration came about. The king of horror was sat at the table having a family meal when Owen told those present of a story idea he had about a mysterious contagion which afflicts only women, causing them to fall asleep and effectively be removed from the functioning world. What would be the result? How would men react? How would they cope? Would women be finally set free to live their lives unfettered by male dominance? How would the washing get done? (red spots from sniper rifles are already roving over chests after that last statement.)SK was so taken with the idea that he suggested they both write the book together. How exactly they did this remains a closely guarded secret as they wanted things to appear seamless. So, I guess the big question is: how does this book differ from a standard SK story (if there is such a thing?) Well, from my point of view, this is a book that wouldn’t have existed at all if SK had chosen not to partner up with his son. It might have come about as something else, but like previous collaborations of his e.g. Talisman/Black House with Peter Straub and (more recently) Gwendy’s Button Box’ with Richard Chizmar, the result is more than the sum of its parts.As is usual with my reviews, I won’t give a synopsis (you can get this from the blurbs), but I’ll highlight the impacts this novel had on me.Firstly, there’s that sense of settling into a favourite pair of ill-fitting old slippers. Familiar, yet faintly uncomfortable because you don’t quite know if there’s something waiting inside. A bit like when I donned a pair of wellies as a kid and promptly put my foot on a toad that had attempted to hibernate there for the winter. What I mean is, SK’s style is evident in that uncanny way he has of conjuring metaphor and character insights in a way that seems effortless. But there’s something else in there, which could be Owen or Owen’s effect on SK. A sense of discipline, or streamlining, allowing the story a chance to contain extra layers or scenes that might not have come about if SK had had his hand firmly on the rudder and allowed the boat to meander up one of his many side channels. This is a good thing and, as I say, makes the novel fresh and exciting. It also means the plot isn’t quite as predictable, plotwise, as some of SKs can sometimes be.Secondly, each character had likeable aspects and understandable conflicts. The way these played out as the story progressed made this book something to attract my wavering hand through my ‘to read’ pile and settle on it again and again. Masterful storytelling.What did I like most? The way scenarios were explored and the nature of the male-female dynamic laid bare. Can one gender/sex survive without the other? Can every woe of mankind be laid at the feet of testosterone-fuelled anger? I was impressed with how the motivations of each character were entirely believable and allowed suspension of disbelief for the more fantastical scenes.What did I like least? Despite the handy reference list at the beginning (and this may be a sign of my age and inability to focus as well these days) I did get a little lost with who some of the minor characters were. Perhaps some could have been cut out without affecting the run of the story. That said, the thought processes of all characters were interesting little vignettes into how each of them cope with the pandemic crisis called ‘Aurora .’ The name of the contagion also has meaning by the way. Nothing is left to random chance or whim in the King universe.What struck me throughout the book was how the writers seem to get away with multiple head hopping within scenes and not lose the reader. This surely has to be an example of rule-breaking used to its maximum effect.As with many SK dark fantasies, there are some questions which remain unanswered e.g. (spoiler alert) what happens to Evie at the end of the novel? I skipped back and tried to ascertain where she bowed out of the story but couldn’t find it. Not all of these unanswered questions were actually the sign of a bad ending, they leave the reader wondering what would happen next which keeps the story alive for months and years to come.Whether this world and alternative reality will come to be seen as part of SK’s ever expanding multiverse remains to be seen, but Dooling and its correctional facility will remain in my memory for a lifetime. I will never see the incarceration of women in quite the same way again.Verdict: a great and provoking read. Entertaining as well as disturbing – like all good stories should be.

I don't like disclaimers on reviews, I never have and never will, however for this review I feel I have to come clean. I have never been that big a fan of Stephen King; I fully appreciate his immense talent and the role he has played in putting horror on the map, he is a writer who never spoke to me as a person, I couldn't connect with his writing. So with that dirty little secret out in the open what did I make of Sleeping Beauties?Welcome to Dooling a small Appalachian town, home to the Dooling Correctional Institute for women, whose inmates range from those who have just strayed from the path of law-abiding to those who have committed multiple murders and in some cases things even worse than murder. When a strange and baffling disease starts to spread across the world, whose symptoms are as terrifying as they are strange. Where any woman who falls asleep becomes cocooned in a strange weblike gossamer material, that puts them into a state of semi-hibernation, where they sleep seemingly at peace with the world, but be careful any attempt to wake them from their sleep will result in them turning into a nearly unstoppable crazed animalistic killer.As the world succumbs to this strange plague Dooling and its correctional institute become the epicentre of the battle between good and evil, where the remaining women will try anything to stay awake, where men revert to their seemingly fundamental bullish ways. A few good men and women barricade themselves in the institute to protect the mysterious Evie Black, a woman who can wake after sleep normally, a murderess, and a seer, a woman who seems to know where the sleeping women have gone and who appears to know what is destined to happen.Make no mistake about it Sleeping Beauties a massive doorstop of a novel coming in at over 700 pages it is a daunting read for someone who hasn't read a lot of King. However, don't let that put you off. Yes, the first couple of hundred pages are scene setters where the Kings take their time to introduce every cast member of the book, from the main dramatis personae, right down to a talking fox, I kid you not. In novels, this could be classed as padding, but thanks to the immense skill of the Kings, and the natural and absorbing way in which these scene-setting chapters are laid out, you quickly find yourself fully immersed in the World of Dooling and the battle of Aurora plague.Sleeping Beauties is a timely novel, in a world that seems determined to destroy itself from the actions of men cursed with a sense of toxic masculinity. Where every passing day sees mankind wondering what it means to be "a real man" the Kings place all of this under a finely focused microscope to provide an insightful and at times damning study of what many think makes a real man.Would the world be damned without the calming force of women kind or would it just continue to carry one as though nothing had happened? Depressingly it would seem that based on this thoughtful mirror on our world as it is, it would seem as though we would be determined to see it all burn.The King's portrayal of society almost devoid of female interaction is intelligent, and thoughtful if at times a little heavy handed. At times it feels as though they are slightly labouring the point, but thanks to a wide cast of characters, where only a small percentage of them can be classed as either inherently good or evil, King uses dark grey areas of humanity to explore the main themes of the book. We have the erstwhile female Sherrif Lila and the Institutes' psychiatrist fighting the good fight as the only two characters who stand completely in the light. Both of them are interesting in their own way. Lila is the stereotypical mother figure, protective of her son and husband, who just happens to be the Institutes' psychiatrist, and just as protective of her hometown, strong loyal and determined not to let chaos win. She is an interesting character, similar in many ways to the cliched square-jawed hero that seemed to litter every horror novel of the 1980s; it was rather refreshing to see this cliche turned on its head and seen from a woman's perspective.Her husband Clint Norcross is even more interesting, imagine a turtle necked sweater wearing therapist, whose hands are in constant state contemplative finger touching. A man who feels he is better suited to solving the crisis because, you know, he is a man with a degree in solving mental problems. The King's just manage to keep him on the right side of condescending, mainly because as a character he is genuinely concerned about those under his charge.However, the real meat on the bones is provided by those characters that straddle the line between good and evil, and this exemplified by the town dog catcher, Frank Geary. A brutish, mean man, who more often than nought resorts to using his size and fists to solve a problem. For example, when a neighbours cat is run over by a careless driver he takes the matter into his own hands for fear of his daughter being ruin over, by taking a course of action that would see him lose his job. He is a man whose actions has to lead to the breakdown of his marriage. There is a section near the start of the book where he talks about an incident that happened before his marriage broke down, where he talks about "bad Frank". It's a wonderfully written piece, genuinely chilling, yet very inconsequential, and it will have you wondering if he is related to Jack Torrence. Frank's journey from lowly dog catcher to... well you will just have to read the book, is the most enjoyable part of this excellent book. The King's shine when dealing with this character arc, a man determined to do the right thing no matter what the collateral damage will be.Strangely, Evie, despite being the focal point for both sides of the battle, is probably the least developed character in the book. This may very well be deliberate, with the King's using her more as a cypher/metaphor for the female struggle in a world dominated by toxic males. She is still a kick-ass character though, more like a smart-talking force of nature.​Sleeping Beauties is a powerful allegorical tale, and despite becoming a little bogged down in the final few acts of the novel, with its desire to get its message across. With a wonderfully ambiguous ending that may well set us up for a sequel. It is still a striking read, with a deft narrative, fantastic insights on the everyday life of small-town America, while still managing to take a thoughtful look at the failings of a modern world obsessed with pointless and pathetic displays of power.After reading this novel, I was left wondering as to whether I enjoyed it so much because it might not be a typical King novel, and the input from Owen may have tempered those parts of Stephen's writing that I could never take to. Or if I have just matured as the reader, hell it has been close to twenty-five years since I last attempted a full-on King novel. I would like to think it is a bit of both, either way; I'm going to head to the nearest bookshop and pick up a few choice King novels to test out the theory.

It’s been a while since I huddled down to read a Stephen King book. What can I say? I’ve been busy with other things. This was a good choice for a return. As with all of King’s great books you quickly become involved with the characters and the story narrative just torpedoes you though to the end.I’d be interested to know how much of this was father and how much son, or if it didn’t quite work that way. Anyway, I’m back on the “King Hook” and will be backtracking now to one of his earlier novels.