Richard Bachman

Richard Bachman was Stephen Kings other writing name for his non-supernatural work before he finally hit it big with "Carrie." The manuscript of "Blaze" sat in a university library until King rewrote it decades later.

A Novel

Blaze

Sarah Sammis

Pseudonyms are nothing new. Way back when before Stephen King's writing career had taken off he also wrote as Richard Bachman. One of the books he wrote back then (1972-3 per the introduction) was Blaze which mashes together Of Mice and Men and Ransom of Red Chief into a modern day kidnapping tale with a supernatural twist.

Clayton Blaisdell, Jr., (aka "Blaze") the stand-in for Lennie Small kidnaps the six month old son of a local millionaire. He does it with the help of his much smarter friend, George Thomas Rackley. There's just one problem: George is dead but that doesn't stop him from bossing Blaze around.

Blaze flip flips between the present and the past. The present focuses on the plan and execution of the kidnapping and the aftermath of it. The past starts with Blaze's childhood and works its way forward to the point where George dies. These glimpses into Clayton's past help make him a more sympathetic character in the present even if what he does puts the infant in danger.

For the most part, Blaze manages to be a present day or "America, Not All That Long Ago" novel as King puts it (p. 6). There are a few exceptions to this timelessness. The baby formula descriptions are the first big giveaway that the story was first written when I was an infant. Then there is the lack of modern technology: no cell phones, no computers, no ATMs and an abundance of pay phones. While King makes it sound like a bad thing that the book might still have evidence of having been written in the early 1970s, it doesn't bother me at all. If anything, it made the story feel more real to me. 


Reminds me of so many different books: Of Mice and Men, A Jolly Good Fellow, Miracle Life of Edgar Mint but all with King's creepy horror stylings.

*Blaze was a birthday gift from my dad, which was a month ago, but due to all the pending books, I haven't gotten the chance to read it earlier. 

At first, I found Blaze a little too complex. But as I started to get the hang of it, the story turned out to be thrilling and page turning. Because of the book’s great character development, you can make some friends along the way. Every now and then, you get to see a small flashback of Blaze’s life and understand him better. You get to see what made him mentally handicapped, how he met George and you even get to know about his childhood - including the adventures of him and his best friend John. King, in addition to the flashbacks that really show you who the characters are and what made them that way, also uses a good amount of diction to tell you about the characters.

Because of Blaze's situation, you get to understand things in a simple point of view. This was an extremely nice change, from the complex inner workings of brilliant men from the type of books I was reading lately. His behavior often varied from mellow to almost brutal, but if it weren't for his mental state, he would have been extremely admirable. This book is a perfect example of society's prejudices and humanity's crap. Although Blaze's life was immensely sad and lonely, I'm glad King didn't play out the whole melodrama vibe. Also, the friendship between John and the bittersweet moments of his childhood drew me more to the story. 

I found the ending tear-jerking, although right from the start, Blaze was expected to be doomed. The book was a good read (no pun intended), nothing major or earth shattering. And if Stephen King was the King of Horror, this book would probably haunt you more than scare you. Or make you lonely.

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The legendary Stephen King unleashes a new blockbuster from his crime noir alter-ego Richard Bachman.

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Blaze A Novel

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