Elevation, book review. (Stephen King)

A novella from one of my favourite authors is the subject of today's post and for what it lacks in length it makes up for in traditional King quirkiness.

The book opens with Scott Carey visiting Bob Ellis, an old doctor friend of his (long since retired) about an unexpected weight loss issue that seems to make no difference to his physical appearance.

The book starts with Carey weighing in at around 225 pounds. It's been a few years since he last weighed himself so he could have been losing weight for ages without realising it, but it's quickening and he's certainly realising it now. (If this reminds you of the book, Thinner, don't worry, the two books are really quite different).

Aside from his continued weight loss and the various theories doctor Ellis comes up with, the main tension in the book is a spat between Carey and his neighbours (they are a married lesbian couple who have a restaurant in town which the conservative town's people frown upon) and it's all because their dogs continually mess on his front lawn, which they deny.

The characters and the setting (yes we're back in Castle Rock folks, which you may remember from previous King books like Cujo and Needful Things) are immediately likable and believable, and there’s just enough backstory and conflict for the reader to be entertained.

Carey confronts the couple over the dog mess after photographing one of the incidents but gets rebuffed, so he devises a wager: If he can win the annual 12K charity run against Deidre, one of the dog's owners - who used to be a runner of almost Olympic standard - she will have to come to his house for dinner with her wife. If she wins, however, he will never mention the dog mess again.

The build-up to the 12k run is minimal but the run itself is truly epic, worthy of the time it takes to read the rest of the book alone and when the finish line comes into view and lightning rents the sky, rain lashing the town, Carey and Deidre are neck and neck, but who will win? Will one of them cheat? Will Deidre and her wife have to dine with Carey? And last but not least, will Carey ever stop losing weight?

Well, they're all fair questions, but to find out you'll have to read the book of course as you won’t get any spoilers from me and as it's only a hundred pages there's really no excuse.

Three and a half stars overall for Elevation then but if the 12k run was a short story on its own, it would get five – it really is that good.