Paperback, 285 pages
English language
Published June 9, 2013 by Hard Case Crime.
College student Devin Jones took the summer job at Joyland hoping to forget the girl who broke his heart. But he wound up facing something far more terrible: the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and dark truths about life - and what comes after - that would change his world forever.
A riveting story about love and loss, about growing up and growing old - and about those who don't get to do either because death comes for them before their time. It is at once a mystery, a horror story, and a bittersweet coming-of-age novel, one that will leave even the most hard-boiled reader profoundly moved.
Enjoyed this summer job coming of age storytelling, my first King in a long time. There's much intentional cliche, with smart perspective, but I felt the constraints of turning this towards mystery and murder dragged at the more central story around how we grow our sense of relationship and friendship after those first crushed crushes.
