On an island off the coast of Maine, a man is found dead. There’s no identification on the body. Only the dogged work of a pair of local newspapermen and a graduate student in forensics turns up any clues. But that’s just the beginning of the mystery. Because the more they learn about the man and the baffling circumstances of his death, the less they understand. Was it an impossible crime? Or … Or something stranger still…’
No one but Stephen King could tell this story about the darkness at the heart of the unknown and our compulsion to investigate the unexplained. With echoes of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon and the work of Graham Greene, one of the world’s great storytellers presents a surprising tale that explores the nature of mystery itself…
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A fun read full of fun characters. The story reaches out to the reader asking them to play along. An easy, quick read perfect for a rainy day.
For me, this book worked. I really enjoyed the story, and the lack of any kind of resolution about the mystery was exactly what I expected and wanted. Just enjoy the ride.
Little old newspaperman talking about an old unsolved death. Beautifully written as expected with an open ending that sends you into deep thoughts.
Stephen King is well known as a horror writer, yet among his five dozen or so books you will also find science fiction and mysteries. The Colorado Kid is one of the latter. If I were to describe this book in one sentence, it would read: Murder She Wrote meets … well, Stephen King.
Published by Hard Case Crime in 2005, The Colorado Kid is the story of the unsolved death of a Colorado visitor to Moose-Lookit, an island community off the Maine coast. The story of the Kid’s death and the subsequent investigation that resulted is told in Socratic style by two aging newspapermen, Dave Bowie and Vince Teague, as they test the deductive powers of their young college intern, Stephanie McCann.
Over a matter of decades Bowie and Teague discover the Kid’s real identity but, despite tracing his steps from Colorado to Maine, are never able to determine how he died or what he was doing in Moose-Lookit. The mystery remains unsolved, as the two men conclude it should remain. At the end of the book, Bowie and Teague have handed the mystery over to the young woman they know will be their successor at the island newspaper . . . and the mystery shall live on.
The Colorado Kid was credited as being the inspiration for the popular television show, Haven, which ran on the SyFy Channel from 2009-2015. However, other than two characters based on Bowie and Teague, the setting in Maine, and a passing reference to a Colorado Kid mystery, the two have little in common.
Another home run by S. King.
Hard Case Crimes publishes old classics as well as new books. They have well over 100 books in their catalog, written by such icons in the pulp field as Max Allan Collins, Lawrence Block, (Who wrote the first Hard Case Crimes book, “Grifters Game, “in 2004) Mickey Spillane, Erle Stanley Gardner, Donald Westlake, and Stephen King. The list is impressive, and you could imagine the joy that a die hard pulp fan feels when discovering Hard Case Crime. As an added bonus, Hollywood legend Paul Mann created many of the covers, and let me tell you, that’s a treat!
So how does a small startup in the publishing industry get Stephen King to write an original story for them? One of the owners of Hard Case Crime, George Ardai, knew that Mr. King was an enthusiastic pulp fan, so he did what any good entrepreneur would do and he wrote Mr. King a letter and asked him to write a blurb to help market their pulp novels. Mr. King did one better, and penned The Colorado Kid for Hard Case Crimes in 2005. It was their 13th published book.
I just finished The Colorado Kid, and it’s an excellent read. I did feel that it was more of a cozy style mystery than hard boiled pulp, but if your Hard Case Crime, I’m sure you’re grateful to get anything written by Mr. King in your house. I know I would be…
Our protagonist in The Colorado Kid, Stephanie, is a young journalism intern for a Maine weekly newspaper. She’s hoping to receive a job offer when the internship ends, and the two old geezers who she works for are telling her the story about a young man that was found dead on their beach in the 80’s. They take her step by step through the investigation and as expected, Mr. King spins a great tale.
It’s a quick read, and if you like cozy mystery style pulp, you’ll love the Colorado Kid. It’s a solid 4 stars, as can be seen on Amazon. As an aside, if you’re a novelist in any genre, it’s a solid 5 stars, and you owe it to yourself to read The Colorado Kid even if pulp isn’t your favorite read. Why? Mr King does a fantastic job of storytelling with silky smooth prose that we can all learn from, regardless of what you write.
I’m surprised I didn’t love it. Interesting story, well told. Just not my cup of tea. The inimitable Mr. King very rarely disappoints me. But he got into this whole mystery story thing, and they don’t grab me like his usual works.
You might read this short novel in one sitting. This came out some years ago and was one of the first titles for the Hard Case Crimes Imprint. The story of how the publication (and Hard Case Crime) came to be, at the beginning of the book, is worth the cost of the book in itself. But there’s more than a great story here. King tacks on an insightful short essay at the end in which we gain insight into the author’s philosophy on life and writing. A wonderful little package of a book.
The story? Two old newspaper geezers in Maine recall a murder to their 22 year-old female apprentice. She asks the right questions, to the delight of both her and her male companions. The tale unfolds as they look to hire her permanently for the newspaper, and she tries to solve the riddle of a dead man on the beach.
Do we like our stories, like life itself, to be neat and resolved? This is the question King poses, both in the story and in his defense (as if any is needed) of the story.
Pretty different from a normal crime novel. Timeless and easy to read. Could easily finish it in a single sitting if you wanted.
Stephen King at his twisted best…read first then watch Haven .
Reminder me of an old time crime novel. Just could have used a little suspense
I couldn’t stop reading!!! I really liked this book, but SPOLER ALERT ……..you never find out exactly what happened! Even so, you never disappoint me, Sir King.
I really wanted to read this story as the Scy-Fy series Haven is built around this story. This is the only time I have been disappointed in a King story. He made his point that you do not always have to solve the mystery but I was not pleased.
I think this one slipped under the radar of a lot of Stephen King fans, but it’s well worth the read. A journalism internship at a small island newspaper leads Stephanie McCann to help investigate a cold case with two seasoned journalists. Who was “the Colorado Kid” found dead in 1980? Where did he come from and what was he doing on this little island in Maine?
Old-school investigative journalism in a small, tight-knit island community is at the heart of this mystery and as a former journalism major, I was in love with King’s descriptions of the newsroom at The Weekly and the conversations between his old journalists and their young, smart intern.
The Colorado Kid is one of those books that is an unexpected surprise from a favorite author. Proving that King still knows how to weave a unique tale outside his usual wheelhouse. For fans of King’s newer Bill Hodges police mysteries, The Colorado Kid is a quick and entertaining read.