The iconic, “extraordinary” (The Washington Post) collaboration between #1 bestselling author Stephen King and Peter Straub–an epic thriller about a young boy’s quest to save his mother’s life. Why had twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer’s mother frantically moved the two of them from Rodeo Drive to a New York City apartment to the Alhambra, a fading ocean resort and shuttered amusement park in New … shuttered amusement park in New Hampshire? Who or what is she running from? She is dying . . . and even young Jack knows she can’t outrun death. But only he can save her–for he has been chosen to search for a prize across an epic landscape of dangers and lies, a realm of innocents and monsters, where everything Jack loves is on the line.more
This, together with Black House, is the best collaboration I have ever read!
The total package. One of the best books ever!
This is my favorite book of all times. The story or quest of Jack Sawyer from one coast to another and one world to another put me on a roller coaster of emotions. I was captivated, curious, scared, exhausted at times and actually cried (this is the only book that’s made me cry)…fantastic story and a most lovable hero.
I LOVE BOTH OF THE TALISMAN BOOKS. GREAT FOLLOW THROUGH. THIS IS A TYPE OF HORROR I DON’T USUALLY READ BUT I REALLY LIKED THE BOOKS. REALLY BUILDS TENSION.
I revisited this book with some downtime over Christmas and was taken aback by how many of the images hadn’t diminished in my mind at all from when I first read it. This may be King and Straub’s most elaborate world building, but it’s the characters that keep you glued to the page. Nothing is what it seems, and for a brick of a book, it’s a surprisingly fast read. Not talked about often enough these days, The Talisman is a real road trip of a book. Scary as hell, downright weird in places, it’s guaranteed to give you dreams you wake up from covered in sweat and chilled to the bone.
This book has it all; drama, action, scary vibes, and it’s sad moments. Both authors do a wonderful job in character building and story telling.
What could be better than King and Straub together?
Although I have read The Stand more than The Talisman, this book remains my favourite Stephen King story. It has it all, coming of age, friendship, loss and it is packed with action. If you haven’t read this, why not???
This is one of my favorite King books. I’ve been listening to all of Stephen King’s books on audio as a different way to experience them. This was awesome. Frank Muller does an amazing job (though I kept hearing the Gunslinger at first). I highly recommend this!
It was great. I would recommend it to any Stephen King fan.
I love this book and it’s wonderful characters. I last read this book decades ago and I still think about Wolf the Shepherd. Maybe it’s time for a reread.
I love this book!! I have read it three times and it still entertains me every time.
One of my favorite books at all time.
One of my absolute favorite King masterpieces!
If you’ve never read this book, stop what you’re doing and go read it. Now! As usually happens with any book Stephen King ever wrote, the characters will seem like family by the end of the book and you’ll want to know what happens to them next, even if it turns out that all they’re doing is reading the newspaper by the fire. And when you do find yourself feeling that way…. go find Black House (not Bleak House, tho that’s a great book too) and read it too.
What a collaboration! brilliant story-telling, incredible worlds created, i’ve read this four or five times
Read this 20 + yrs ago; only Stephen King book I could get through… Great thriller, intricate charactters, surprise ending, did not see it coming. Scary, but worth “dipping a toe” into that genre!
Loved it
Great team collaboration with elaborate world building, in multiples, wonderful characters who invoke intense empathy and emotion from the reader. I laughed out loud, I cried… like totally bawling my eyes out, cried. Once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down! I bought it hoping to have a good book for at least a week; and figured since it’s over 900 pages it wouldn’t be a problem, but I read it in two days… a little less than a weekend. That’s how good it was!
One of the greatest stories I’ve ever read.