The Dark Half

Title: The Dark Half

Author: Stephen King

Published in: 1989

Date read: 27th January 2020

Score: 5/5

Genre: Horror, Psychological, Thriller

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"The Dark Half" by Stephen King, published in 1989, is a psychological horror novel that explores the terrifying consequences when an author's pseudonym, a separate creative identity, takes on a literal life of its own, turning violent and murderous.

The protagonist is Thad Beaumont, a successful literary novelist who writes highbrow fiction. However, to support his family, he also secretly writes extremely violent and commercially successful thrillers under the pseudonym George Stark. Stark's novels are gruesome and dark, and Thad keeps this identity completely separate from his respectable literary persona.

The story begins with Thad deciding to "kill off" George Stark. A magazine article is published, revealing Thad's secret and ceremoniously "burying" Stark with a mock gravestone. This act, however, has unforeseen and horrifying consequences.

Soon after, gruesome murders begin occurring. The victims are people connected to the exposure and "death" of George Stark. The police, led by Sheriff Alan Pangborn (a recurring character in King's Castle Rock universe), investigate, and all evidence points to Thad Beaumont. His fingerprints are at the crime scenes, and he has no alibi.

Thad, bewildered and terrified, insists on his innocence. He begins to suspect a truly impossible truth: that George Stark, his fictional alter ego, has somehow become real. As the murders escalate and become increasingly brutal, Thad realises that Stark is not just a manifestation of his dark side, but a separate, malevolent entity, a "tulpa" or thought-form brought to life by the act of burying him.

Stark is a terrifying figure: charismatic, utterly ruthless, and driven by a primal need for revenge against Thad for trying to erase him. He embodies all the dark impulses and violent fantasies that Thad channeled into his pseudonym, now unleashed into the real world. Stark not only commits murders but also systematically tries to destroy Thad's life, framing him and terrorising his family.

The novel is a tense cat-and-mouse game between Thad and his monstrous creation. It delves into the nature of creativity, duality, and the dangers of suppressing one's darker impulses. The boundary between author and character, imagination and reality, terrifyingly blurs. The climax builds to a horrific confrontation between Thad and Stark, where Thad must fight for his life, his family, and his sanity against the embodiment of his own dark half, with the very fabric of his existence at stake.

Comments:
Another excellent book. This book is frightening on many levels. It just left me thinking "what could I do?". Highly recommend it.

Books that we've read by Stephen King (68):
Carrie (1974), 'Salem's Lot (1975), The Shining (The Shining, #1) (1977), The Stand (1978), Night Shift (1978), The Dead Zone (1979), Firestarter (1980), Cujo (1981), The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) (1982), Different Seasons (1982), Christine (1983), Cycle of the Werewolf (1983), Pet Sematary (1983), The Talisman (The Talisman, #1) (1984), Skeleton Crew (1985), It (1986), The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) (1987), The Eyes of the Dragon (1987), The Tommyknockers (1987), Misery (1987), The Dark Half (1989), Four Past Midnight (1990), The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, #3) (1991), Needful Things (1991), Dolores Claiborne (1992), Gerald's Game (1992), Nightmares and Dreamscapes (1993), Insomnia (1994), Rose Madder (1995), The Green Mile (1996), Desperation (1996), Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4) (1997), Bag of Bones (1998), The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon (1999), Hearts in Atlantis (1999), On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (2000), Black House (The Talisman, #2) (2001), Dreamcatcher (2001), Everything's Eventual (2002), From a Buick 8 (2002), Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, #5) (2003), Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6) (2004), The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, #7) (2004), The Colorado Kid (2005), Cell (2006), Lisey's Story (2006), Duma Key (2008), Just After Sunset (2008), Under the Dome (2009), 11/22/63 (2011), Full Dark, No Stars (2011), The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5) (2012), Dr. Sleep (The Shining, #2) (2013), Joyland (2013), Mr. Mercedes (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #1) (2014), Revival (2014), The Bazaar of Bad Dreams (2015), Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #2) (2015), End of Watch (Bill Hodges Trilogy, #3) (2016), Elevation (2018), The Outsider (2018), The Institute (2019), If It Bleeds (2020), Billy Summers (2021), Later (2021), Fairy Tale (2022), Holly (2023), You Like It Darker (2024)