The Tommyknockers

by Stephen King

From the Flap:

Late last night and the night before,

Tommyknockers, Tommyknockers,

knocking at my door.

I want to go out, don't know if I can,

'cause I'm so afraid

of the Tommyknocker man.



It begins with nothing more frightening than a nursery rhyme; yet in Stephen King's hands it becomes an unforgettable parable of dread, a threat from an unimaginable darkness that drags the practical inhabitants of a New England village into a hell worse than their own most horrible nightmares . . . and yours.

It begins with a writer named Roberta Anderson, looking for firewood in the forest that stretches behind her house. Bobbi stumbles over three inches of metal, which unusually heavy spring runoff has left sticking out of the soil. A logger's beer can, she thinks at first, but "the metal was as solid as mother-rock."

It begins with Bobbi's discovery of the ship in the earth, a ship buried for millions of years, but still vibrating faintly, still humming with some sort of life . . .faint . . . weak . . . but still better left alone.

Bobbi then begins to dig--tentatively at first, then compulsively--and is joined by her old friend (and onetime lover) Jim Gardener. Aided by a weirdly advanced technology, their excavation proceeds apace. And as they uncover more and more of an artifact both familiar and so unbelievable it is almost beyond comprehension, the inhabitants of Haven start to change.

There is the new hot-water heater in Bobbi's basement--a hot-water heater that apparently runs on flashlight batteries. The vengeful housewife who learns of her husband's affair . . . from a picture of Jesus on top of her TV, a picture that begins to talk. Not to mention the ten-year-old magician who makes his little brother disappear . . . for real.

The townspeople of Haven are "becoming"--being welded into one organic, homicidal, and fearsomely brilliant entity in fatal thrall to the Tommyknockers.

In this riveting, nightmarish story, Stephen King has given us his tautest, most terrifying novel to date. And the next time someone raps at your door, you may want to keep the chain on. It just might be the Tommyknocker Man.

• ISBN10: 0451156609
• ISBN13: 9780451156600
• Publish Date: 31 October 1988 (first published 10 November 1987)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Signet Book
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 747
• Language: English

Reviews

[remo]

Bobbi Anderson, una escritora que vive en un pueblecito de Maine, encuentra enterrado en el bosque de al lado de su pueblo un misterioso y gran objeto, que siente la necesidad de desenterrar. El objeto resulta ser un ovni, y su sola exposición al aire libre causa efectos en la gente del pueblo, cosa que vamos descubriendo a medida que se va desarrollando la historia.
Esta novela es Stephen King en estado puro, para lo bueno y para lo malo. Lo bueno: es un maestro construyendo el cuerpo a cuerpo de la narración, el párrafo adictivo, el conector, el page-turner, la descripción de personajes y sus interacciones. Qué bien escribe este señor.
Lo malo: la larga distancia. No puede evitarlo, nos cuenta una historia que tiene un planteamiento fantástico pero (casi) siempre que necesita algo de ayuda empieza a subir el nivel de paranormalidad que todo lo arregla, para luego descender durante un rato si no hace falta para propulsar la trama. Es la única crítica que le he hecho a King en todos estos años, pero es una crítica continua.