And the Cat Came Back...

I can't believe it's over a month since I last blogged.  And I was doing so well!  So what's stopped me?  Christmas shopping?  Internet problems?  Or maybe I was just too scared to revisit the superlative 'Pet Sematary' by the master horror writer Stephen King.

'Pet Sematary' by Stephen King
(Hodder and Stoughton, 1989)

Dr Louis Creed has left behind the rough and tumble of the city for a chance at the peaceful, rural idyll in Maine. Louis, his wife Rachel, children Ellie and Gage, with cat Church, think they've found the perfect family home and move in eager to begin a new life together.  Creed soon bonds with elderly neighbour Jud Crandall, a man full of stories about the town who can't help sharing news of a notable local landmark through the woods behind the house.  Beyond the fields where Creed hoped his children would play lies a pet 'sematary' where local youngsters have buried their beloved animals for decades.  At first Louis likes the eccentric charm of the place, but it's not long before death raises its ugly head and he discovers that the secrets of the cemetery cast a very long shadow indeed...

I've read a number of Stephen King books before ('Christine', 'Different Seasons', 'Carrie' and 'The Green Mile'), but none of them are any where near as impressive as this one.  King himself says that this is the most frightening book he's written and it's easy to see why.  It deals with powerful, universal themes and fears including family, grief and anxiety about our loved ones and helped me finally see why Mr King is popular worldwide.  This book deals with the worst of everyday fears and what ifs, then pushes further, forcing you to consider how far you would go in the name of familial love.

Louis Creed is a completely relatable, flawed yet optimistic human being and was so expertly written that I had to find out what happened to him.  He does so many things wrong, but completely understandably, and I just couldn't leave him on his own or shake the hope that someone, anyone, would help him pull back from the brink.  This is the first time that I can remember screaming 'No, don't do it!' at a book!  Mr King's descriptions of every physical exertion, every rogue thought, every painful emotion kept the novel tense right to the very last pages and my heart ached as I had to stand by and watch his life torn apart by the opposing forces of love and the cemetery.

This book is horrific in a very specific sense of the word.  It's not about cheap gore and even cheaper thrills, it touches a much more fundamental nerve that I still find tremors several weeks after finishing the novel.  I have no doubt that 'Pet Sematary' will stay with me for a long time to come, a credit to an incredible author who is clearly full of surprises.

'Pet Sematary' is about family and how far you'll go to protect them.  If you think you already know, then read this book.  It might change your mind.