Pet Sematary by Stephen King

The house looked right, felt right, to Dr. Louis Creed. Rambling, old, unsmart and comfortable. A place where the family could settle; the children grow and play and explore. The rolling hills and meadows of Maine seemed a world away from the fume-choked dangers of Chicago. Only the occasional big truck out on the two-lane highway, grinding up through the gears, hammering down the long gradients, growled out an intrusive note of threat. But behind the house and away from the road: that was safe. Just a carefully cleared path into the woods where generations of local children had processed with the solemn innocence of the young, taking with them their departed pets for burial. A sad place maybe, but safe. Surely a safe place. Not a place to seep into your dreams, to wake you, sweating with fear and foreboding...

Once again I took my sweet time in reviewing a read book and once again I've got to wring my brain to remember the details (seriously, it's scary how bad my memory is sometimes - I can remember the overall feel of the book but details are like mist, you can't see it up close).

I love Stephen King's writing. Starting a new book by him is like putting on a pair of warm socks that fit perfectly. It's a marvellous feeling and you feel right at home; he's just great.

The edition of the book I have has an introduction by King from 2000 in which he says that Pet Sematary was never the scariest book he'd ever written, but it was the one where he felt like he'd finally crossed the line - and it is indeed a far more disturbing book than scary. I was never completely captivated by it though.

I'm in two minds about the characters. On one hand to me only main character Louis actually stood out and where many of his feelings were very palpable he never grew on me. I could understand his frustrations and King made it clear the dark draw the Sematary (spelling intended) had on him, but I could never really get into his head. Though on the other hand I'm not sure I'd ever want to be in his head.

I had read a review before reading the book and it warmed me that the ending was unsatisfactory. Personally while I'm usually not a fan of open endings (I want to know it all!) I think it works great in this case. You've got to end a book at some point, and this leaves you hanging with a grim smirk on your lips.

	Pet Sematary by Stephen King ISBN13: 9780450057694 465 pages / published in 1988
	Review by Iben Jakobsen, BoB, 2013

Also, for those who've read the book, you'll understand why it freaks me out a tiny bit that Sofie does this every single time I leave the book lying around.