Joyland (Hard Case Crime Novels)

This book is one of those thrills we come across every so often when least expected! - Hellnotes

Joyland is one of Stephen King's best novels - Horror Movie Reviews

King saved the big scares for Dr. Sleep, but Joyland is ultimately superior. - Complex's Best Books of 2013

Set in a dying amusement park in the south, Joyland features a ghost and a serial killer, but the real heart of the novel is a coming of age story, one that took me vividly back to my own youth, working the rides at Uncle Milty's in Bayonne. - George R.R Martin

Joyland is full of nostalgia and some really sweet moments that had me tearing up. It's easy to forget that anything else is going on, you're so wrapped up in the lives of these characters.
4.5 out of 5 Stars (read it, read it now) - Only The Best SciFi

This one's a must for King fans and may also attract YA readers. - Library Journal

.. .period murder mystery with a heart...King brings his usual finesse to this tale's mystery elements - Publishers Weekly

.. .the book...features some of King's most graceful writing...ruminative, amused, digressive, marvelously unaffected, and finally, devastatingly sad. - Entertainment Weekly

An amusement park and murder figure into a coming-of-age tale in this miniature thriller with a hint of the supernatural. - Los Angeles Times

Undeniable...charm [and] aching nostalgia...[JOYLAND] reads like a heartfelt memoir and might be King's gentlest book, a canny channeling of the inner peace one can find within outer tumult. - Booklist

Wrapped in a gloriously pulpy cover, Joyland is a coming-of-age story set in 1973 at a North Carolina amusement park -- creepy! -- that's haunted by a murderer. - Time Magazine

Stephen King's carny-saturated Joyland evokes the ghosts of summers past -- literally. - New York Magazine

Joyland, by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime, June). An old-school, pulpy paperback ghost story set in a North Carolina amusement park. - Departures Magazine

King's latest thriller, a PG-13 pulp paperback crime novel takes place at a remote carny park where college kid Devin is desperate to see the ghost of a girl whose murderer might still be
lurking around the hot dog stands. - Cosmopolitan Magazine

Joyland is a joy. A gem whatever its genre. - Tor.com

This is a wonderful return to old school King. - We Love This Book

Joyland is a fantastic story. This is a compelling and yet oddly gentle tale of a young man experiencing the ache of heartbreak and the curve-balls life can throw at you. - Geek Native

From horror authority Stephen King comes some hard-boiled action, with all the elements of a good crime novel--including the early '70s, southern secrets, carnivals, and a meddling college kid. - The Daily Muse

If you're a King fan you may want to set this on your wishlist - Bookmuch

This Joyland is not innocent, of course. Its retro thrills include an enticingly steamy cover, Hard Case Crime's sensually tactile paperback format, and a cover line that asks, Who Dares Enter the Funhouse of Fear? - New York Times

It's good to have a book like this now - simple, sweet, and not a little scary - to remind us that among the prequels and sequels, the epics and the TV miniseries, Stephen King can still spin one hell of a little yarn. As usual, King slips in and out of genre effortlessly, but it's gratifying that at the core of Joyland exists a story worthy of being called a Hard Case Crime. Misdirection and red herrings abound, delightfully, and the weather-ravaged denouement could play out as the conclusion to a Donald Westlake or Lawrence Block novel. - FEARnet

Red meat for any Stephen King fan. - TalkStephenKing.com

This is a Stephen King novel that you can start on your vacation and actually finish before the flight home. - Men's Health, Selected By Amazon

A remarkable tour-de-force. - Comic Book Resources

This is Stephen King at his emotional best. - Florida Times-Union

It is easy to connect with Devin as well as many of the secondary characters as King develops this descriptive, entertaining tale of personal growth and murder. -
Luxury Reading

Joyland is pretty much perfect in its pursuit of diversion. This story of a broken heart, a summer job and a beach amusement park -- infused with ghosts, killers and a boy with the sight -- is lovingly streamlined. It starts strong, ends stronger. Sturdy finales are never a given with King, but this one, Constant Readers, will have you gasping and, ultimately, blinking back big fat tears. The ultimate beach book from one of literature's slyest entertainers. - Tampa Bay Times

As you read the dialogue, the book becomes less a story about a summer's mystery than a tale of entry into another, coexisting world, one with its own rules, codes, and language. The splashy and aggressively sexy packaging is the tip of the iceberg. - LA Review of Books

[a] fun book with a touch of winter's chill around the edges Tor.com