Fairy Tale

WELCOME TO THE DARK SIDE OF HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student.

But 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. When Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie a cassette tape telling a story no one would believe - inside the shed is a portal to another world.

Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes into the deepest well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher - for their world or ours.

I read (in one long, long sitting) Stephen King's fabulous Fairy Tale and it was just such a trip! A trip to a magical, terrifying land where wonders and horrors are one. But also a trip back home- to that prose that lulled me into nightmares in my teens. The voice of the King -- Guillermo del Toro
Stephen King has all the daring, enchantment and even romance of a classic bedtime story, but King's signature unsettling style will keep you sitting up straight and wide-eyed rather than drifting off to dreamland Vanity Fair
There is a splendid climactic battle . . . King's delight in the world he has created is infectious and there's much to revel in here Daily Telegraph
With ogres and castles, maidens and pots of gold, this is a fairy story through-and-through. Because it's Stephen King's, it's a Once-Upon-A-Time tale like no other Daily Mail
Fairy Tale is a multiverse-traversing, genre-hopping intertextual mash-up, with plenty of Easter eggs for regular King devotees . . . allusions and homages abound . . . a page-turner driven by memorably strange encounters and well-rendered, often thrilling action New York Times Book Review
Fairy Tale is vintage, timeless King, a transporting, terrifying treat born from multiple lockdowns which, in true King style, puts its finger right on that tender point which is the threshold between childhood and growing up Guardian
The latest addictive thriller from King The List
King's reputation precedes him, and his spellbinding new novel is magnificent and terrifying Living North Magazine
The hailed King of masterful writing has pierced the page with mighty words once again, releasing a whopping fantasy novel, reminiscent of the haunting magnificence of those Brothers Grimms . . . Fairy Tale soars, allowing you to bask happily ever after in its unforgettable spell Buzz Magazine
A blazing flash of creativity . . . King's best book in over a decade Esquire
A really enjoyable and enthralling read, both exciting and enchanting, and yet another captivating tale from the pen of Stephen King The Afterword
A fantasy gem . . . King tells this wonderfully fantastical tale with such effortless skill that the reader cannot help but fully invest in Charlie and all the characters, his evocation of late 20th-century small-town USA and its people pitch perfect, and his descriptions of the parallel world of Empis . . . vividly terrifying Irish Independent
Some brilliantly written escapism . . . featuring a loyal dog, a grieving hero and childhood fears and dreams made real . . . King at his finest Evening Standard
A spellbinding tale that bursts with imagination Woman's Own
Stephen King is the world's greatest storyteller. Fairy Tale had me enchanted from page one. I remain in total awe at his genius David Walliams
Magnificent . . . a doorstop chronicle of small-town America, and the battle between good and evil. Classic King, and clearly written with joy . . . He is one of the best writers on childhood and teenagers, which continues in Fairy Tale Richard Osman, The Sunday Times
The master storyteller returns with a spellbinding story of mysterious houses, parallel worlds and reluctant heroes as an ordinary high school kid discovers a portal to a universe populated by classic fairy tale archetypes Waterstones
If you've ever enjoyed classic King - coming-of-age stories grounded as much in suburban neighbourhoods as in supernatural fairylands - you will enjoy this Literary Review
A dark, dazzlingly inventive fantasy novel Daily Mirror, Best Books of 2022
There is a splendid climactic battle . . . King's delight in the world he has created is infectious and there's much to revel in here Daily Telegraph
With ogres and castles, maidens and pots of gold, this is a fairy story through-and-through. Because it's Stephen King's, it's a Once-Upon-A-Time tale like no other Daily Mail
Fairy Tale is a multiverse-traversing, genre-hopping intertextual mash-up, with plenty of Easter eggs for regular King devotees . . . allusions and homages abound . . . a page-turner driven by memorably strange encounters and well-rendered, often thrilling action New York Times Book Review
Fairy Tale is vintage, timeless King, a transporting, terrifying treat born from multiple lockdowns which, in true King style, puts its finger right on that tender point which is the threshold between childhood and growing up Guardian
The latest addictive thriller from King The List
King's reputation precedes him, and his spellbinding new novel is magnificent and terrifying Living North Magazine
The hailed King of masterful writing has pierced the page with mighty words once again, releasing a whopping fantasy novel, reminiscent of the haunting magnificence of those Brothers Grimms . . . Fairy Tale soars, allowing you to bask happily ever after in its unforgettable spell Buzz Magazine
A blazing flash of creativity . . . King's best book in over a decade Esquire
A really enjoyable and enthralling read, both exciting and enchanting, and yet another captivating tale from the pen of Stephen King The Afterword
A fantasy gem . . . King tells this wonderfully fantastical tale with such effortless skill that the reader cannot help but fully invest in Charlie and all the characters, his evocation of late 20th-century small-town USA and its people pitch perfect, and his descriptions of the parallel world of Empis . . . vividly terrifying Irish Independent
Some brilliantly written escapism . . . featuring a loyal dog, a grieving hero and childhood fears and dreams made real . . . King at his finest Evening Standard
A spellbinding tale that bursts with imagination Woman's Own
Stephen King is the world's greatest storyteller. Fairy Tale had me enchanted from page one. I remain in total awe at his genius David Walliams
Magnificent . . . a doorstop chronicle of small-town America, and the battle between good and evil. Classic King, and clearly written with joy . . . He is one of the best writers on childhood and teenagers, which continues in Fairy Tale Richard Osman, The Sunday Times
The master storyteller returns with a spellbinding story of mysterious houses, parallel worlds and reluctant heroes as an ordinary high school kid discovers a portal to a universe populated by classic fairy tale archetypes Waterstones
If you've ever enjoyed classic King - coming-of-age stories grounded as much in suburban neighbourhoods as in supernatural fairylands - you will enjoy this Literary Review
A dark, dazzlingly inventive fantasy novel Daily Mirror, Best Books of 2022
In her new leading role, Holly shines. She's tough, relentless, and compassionate while at the same time being vulnerable and prone to lapses of confidence. The story is the kind of thing King excels at, too - dark, mysterious, and deeply unsettling. This is the novel Holly deserves Booklist

STEPHEN KING is the author of more than seventy books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. His crime thrillers featuring Holly Gibney include Mr Mercedes, winner of the Edgar Award for best novel, and The Outsider, both of which were adapted into successful TV series, as well as Finders Keepers, End of Watch and the title story from If It Bleeds.

Many of his titles are the basis for major motion pictures including IT, Stand By Me (adapted from The Body) and The Shawshank Redemption, which is IMDb's top-rated movie of all time.

King is the recipient of The Sunday Times Award for Literary Excellence 2022, the 2020 Audio Publishers Association Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 PEN America Literary Service Award, the 2014 National Medal of Arts, and the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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