Stephen King takes us on a trip back in time as high school English teacher Jake Epping discovers through an essay that an elderly GED student’s family was brutally murdered back in 1958. The essay, written by the school's janitor, is crudely written, but it still makes a large impression on Jake, and it’s not long after that he’s shown a door to the past. Somewhat reluctantly, he decides to go back and change that terrible crime, but soon realizes that he wants to change not just that student’s history, but the history of the world, as well. But history doesn’t want to be changed so easily, and after falling in love with a woman who existed before he was even born, Jake is left wondering if he really wants to return to his own time, or stay in the past with the unknown consequences of what could be. Or won’t be.

Athough it’s more than 800 pages long, I think this could serve as an entertaining lesson for a high school history class. The times might have been simpler then, but for a short while the world really was holding its breath.

Stephen King is in a class all by himself, and even though this is a bit out of his usual genre, it’s still an exceptional book.

If anyone wants to know what life was like with sock hops, big cars, and drive-in movies, this book is for you. Not only is it a story of one man’s quest to change history, but it’s also gives a great summary of the political and world scenes that very easily could have created WW 3, if not Armageddon itself.

If anyone wants to know what life was like with sock hops, big cars, and drive-in movies, this book is for you. Not only is it a story of one man’s quest to change history, but it’s also gives a great summary of the political and world scenes that very easily could have created WW 3, if not Armageddon itself.

Have you ever wondered what would the world would be like now if JFK wouldn’t have been assasinated? Since we’ll never know (unless somebody really does find a way to go back in time), Stephen gives us a few of his own scenarios. Would the world be better? Or would it be worse? Or would there be a world at all?
This is King at his usual best.

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Created Dec 11, 2012 at 1:34pm • Submit your own review...