A new gothic tale

http://looneybooks79.blog/2025/08/23/vel-over-been-limited-edition/

After the sudden and unexpected death of his (apparently pregnant) wife, Johanna, author Mike Noonan is suffering from a sickening (literally) writer's block. His publisher and agent are unaware of this and Mike has some stories stored so for a few more years he can supply them with a new book every year. But then comes the time when the last of these stored novels have been given. While he's suffering from this writer's block and still reeling from the death of his lovely wife, he starts to get weird dreams about their summerhouse 'Sarah Laughs', named after a black singer (Sarah Tidwell) who performed at Dark Score Lake until they left after a tragic event and they were never heard of again. He then decides he needs some time away and moves to 'Sarah Laughs' for some time. But as soon as he arrives in Dark Score Lake he gets into trouble with a local billionaire tech wiz, who wants custody over his grandchild. And on top of those troubles, he feels a presence in his summerhouse, a presence that has big plans for Mike.

Mike Noonan gets to know Kyra and her mother Mattie better and he decides to help them. With the help of a New York based lawyer they start the battle for the custody of Kyra. But by putting himself in the middle of the crossfire, Mike endangers his own life and that of the people around him. During his stay at 'Sarah Laughs' he starts writing again which is a big relief for him. But at night when the dreams come he feels the presence(s) in the house are trying to tell him something, something important. Something Johanna has been hiding for him, just like she hid her pregnancy for him. The past will come for everyone in Dark Score Lake!

Like with a lot of Stephen King novels he elaborates a lot on the backstory of the town of Dark Score Lake and the road to where he wants us to go. That makes for a thick book, a bit of a slow burner at first but a very well worked out story that could compete with a lot of the gothic horror novels written before, such as Susan Hill's The Woman in Black, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House or James Henry's The Turning of the Screw. King's Bag of Bones is a piece of art, which hasn't really sunk in until I read it for the second time. It builds up slowly and has a lot of character building and apart from a few eerie happenings in and around the house (or in dreams), the story doesn't turn into a true horrorstory until the third act.

I reread it because I received the beautiful Dutch Limited Edition recently and I wanted to experience it again a little sooner in my chronological reread. But I'll probably read it again once I am at a point my 'King revival' reaches it.

And as always, there are a few links to other novels written by the King himself (these are the ones I found):

Derry: Mike Noonan lives there, a few places are mentioned (like the Derry Rite Aid) and Ralph Roberts is mentioned as well (he is a character from the novel 'Insomnia). Mike also mentions Bill Denbrough, his fellow author... of course, Bill is one of the protagonists in 'It'!

Castle Rock (near Dark Score Lake): the mentioning of Alan Pangborn (former sheriff) and his girlfriend, Polly (refers to 'Needful Things) and we see Norris Ridgewick pass by (the former deputy, now sheriff)