Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Sometimes the horror of the unknown is that it stays unknown
Just because there is a car, or at least something that looks like a car, on the cover and in the story Stephen King tells in his latest novel, "From a Buick 8," is no reason to think this is "Christine" revisited. This is not a novel about a possessed car and half the fun is trying to speculate along with the book's characters as to what exactly is that thing in Shed B. The strongest similarity between the two novels is actually the switch from first person to third person narrative, although this new novel does that with much more frequency that the other work, which was divided like Gaul into three parts. King has announced he is in the final stages of cleaning out his literary cupboard and it is fairly clear that the blaze of glory he intends to go out on and write "fini" to his career is going to be the three volumes ending his epic of Roland of Gilead and the Dark Tower. So I did not start reading "From a Buick 8" expecting something on a par with "The Stand" and "It." I was hoping for something more akin to "The Dead Zone," and that is closer to the mark in terms of where this novel stands in the King oeuvre.
The idea that the greatest horror of all is the unknown is not exactly a new one and King has explored it before, albeit to lesser degrees than he does in this novel. The Pennsylvania Troopers of Troop D are telling high school senior Ned Wilcox the story of the mysterious Buick in Shed B. Ned's father was a trooper who was killed by a drunk driver and the boy has been hanging around the Troop, learning dispatch codes and such, in an obvious effort to connect with his dead father. As the Troopers take turns telling the story they kept warning young Ned that there is not going to be a punch line; as much as the boy wants answers, they just are not going to be forthcoming, get used to it, kid. Even as the story sticks to this line through the final downward path of the novel you find yourself wondering how far will King go. Will he actually come clean and resolve the mystery he has been developing, will he stick to his guns and show that sometimes there are no answers to the big questions, or will he find a middle ground that provides some inadequate explanation that preserves the uncertainty that is the story's compelling hook? Usually my disappointment in a Stephen King novel comes when the ending does not live up to the set up, and while it might simply be a case of lowered expectations this time around, I think he does manage to have his cake and eat it too at the end of this one. The ending is satisfying, even if it is not as memorable as what he has provided on occasion.
I heard tell that as he was recovering from his own close encounter of the worst kind with a motor vehicle King was tooling around Western Pennsylvania in the company of State Troopers. The geographical setting of the novel does not seem distinct from King's beloved Maine, but he does seem to capture the authenticity of police work for State Troopers (who are not exactly high up on the list of law enforcement types who are the subject of fictional narratives). You get the feeling that most of the stories that make their way into "From a Buick 8" were told to King while he was in the company of those real Troopers, and the Author's note in the back of the book confirms as much. This speaks to what has always been the backbone of King's work, which is not so much his ability to come up with nightmares a plenty, but rather how he could consistently convince us that his horror stories and tales of terror are taking place in the real world in which we live. Laurell K. Hamilton has come up with some horrific conclusions for several of her Anita Blake novels, but her alternative reality would never be confused with the real world. King simply tapped into our cultural consciousness and served as our conduit to what was out there on the other side. "From a Buick 8" is simply the latest reminder of that particular truth.
Rating:  - Don't Think of This One as King's Christine
Behind a police station in rural Pennsylvania is a shed which holds a secret. One that is shared only among the state police of Troop D. It is a secret that would be unexplainable if the public were to find out about it. It's a secret about a car. A Buick 8, to be precise...or so it appears at first. Years ago, the car was abandoned at a local gas station. The owner was never found. The troopers quickly learned that the Buick 8 is no ordinary car. In fact, it just might not be a car at all. Young Ned Wilcox is spending a lot time with Troop D as he struggles with the recent death of his father, a state trooper who was run down by a drunk driver. Soon enough, he discovers the old Buick 8 behind the barracks in Shed B. He becomes especially fascinated when he learns his father had a special interest in it that neither he nor his mother had ever known about. Each of the officers in Troop D has a part in telling the bizarre story about the Buick 8 and Ned must learn to accept their account, even if it isn't exactly what his itching ears want to hear. But the one thing that is made clear is that when the temperature goes down in the shed, a phenomenon is about to occur. Moreover, when the phenomenon manifests, strange things come out of the Buick 8. Things that no one has ever seen before. Sometimes things even disappear. Like people. Forget about picking up this novel with Stephen King's "Christine" in mind - and other stories like it - because "From A Buick 8" is unlike any other horror car story. At first the plot may appear to be slow-moving, and just like the character Ned Wilcox, you may find yourself eagerly awaiting the punch line. But when it is finally revealed, you'll quickly realize it was worth the wait.
Rating: - Shed B - Repository of Magic
It used to be fun for Stephen King. Many of his books contained a spirit of mischief, glee and a lot of "gotchas!" "Buick 8" is a mature work, sadder and wiser, nostalgic and uncertain of the certainties. The big answer is: there is no answer.Pennsylvania State Police, Troop D towed an abandoned car to their headquarters in 1979. Its driver had stopped for gas and disappeared. The squad discovered the car repelled dirt and self-repaired scratches, and its tire treads would not even hold a pebble. Sgt. Sandy Dearborn decides the "car" ("because you have to call it something") merits further investigation and stores it in the barracks unused Shed B---and there it remains for the next thirty years, with only Troop D aware of just how strange this thing is. In the present, a grieving son of Trooper Wilcox (who had brought the car in) is trying to get closure on his father's sudden death by vehicular homicide. Ned helps out around the barracks and is given temporary duty during his summer before college. He wants to know the story of the Buick. The sergeant and troopers decide to tell him---of the "lightquakes" (a Stephen King word if I ever heard one!), the strange and disgusting creatures the car would bring forth, the disappearing of Trooper Ennis and the glimpses of alternate universes. Different troopers tell the story, Sandy taking the lead. Sandy emphasizes that the "goings-on" were intermittent, not a daily thing, and weeks and months would go by with nothing happening at all. Troop D would almost forget the Buick. Ned is an impatient listener and his interest in the car becomes compulsive. The 1979 references were so nostalgic and ephemeral, I felt we were talking about 100 years ago rather than thirty. I had a slight aggravation with the esprit de corps of Troop D. Not just Sandy, but all of them seemed to have no life outside of the State Troopers. Their loyalty was first and foremost to the Troop, then the State Police, and way down on the list: family, friends and outside interests. When they were off-duty, they gathered at the barracks; they even slept and ate there. King's emphasis that day-to-day life frequently transcends the wonder of the supernatural in Shed B was hard on the pace of the story. If Troop D can forget for months at a time, so can the reader. It is true that we cannot constantly and obsessively be aware of our own mortality and where we fit in the universe, but we do need the focus for King's story to have maximum impact. "Buick 8" was not meant to be presented as a leisurely told tale spread over many years. I think it would have worked better as a novella. I would call "From a Buick 8" medium-King. A race to the bookstore for all diehard Kings fans (me); others might want to wait for the paperback.
-sweetmolly- Amazon Reviewer
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