The Complete Stephen King Universe

by Stanley Wiater

  Besides its central focus as a “haunted love story” (as King himself succinctly describes it), Bag of Bones also provides insight into both the writing process and the publishing industry, deftly conveying Mike’s (and presumably some of King’s) insider’s views on the interrelationship between business and art.

  In addition to the references to du Maurier and Melville, Bag of Bones mentions several of Mike Noonan’s companions on the bestseller lists, including Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, Jean Auel, and Mary Higgins Clark. Noonan also talks about writing novels and purposely putting them aside for later publication, demanding editors and publishers, and publication dates influenced not by when the book is done, but by when it will be best positioned to sell out in the marketplace.

  Although it downplays any element of the fantastic at first [Mike lives in Derry, Maine, the setting of It (1986) and Insomnia (1994), but has never spied a demonic clown poking his head out of a sewer], Bag of Bones is set squarely in the midst of the Stephen King Universe.

  Residing in Derry, Mike interacts with residents of that town already familiar to King readers, such as druggist Joe Wyzer and Ralph Roberts. Although the novel begins in Derry, the action shifts to Dark Score Lake, where Jessie Burlingame (1992’s Gerald’s Game) was sexually molested by her father in 1963. Noonan refers to two writers from the King canon, William Denbrough (It) and Thad Beaumont (1989’s The Dark Half). Denbrough and his “famous Creatures From Beyond” are favorites of Jo Noonan’s. Thad Beaumont is mentioned in a less pleasant context: after learning that Thad broke up with his wife in Needful Things (1991), readers hear from Noonan that the troubled writer has committed suicide. Finally, Mike encounters Norris Ridgewick, formerly of the Castle Rock police (Mike inquires after Alan Pangborn and Polly Chalmers).

  Bag of Bones marks a milestone of sorts in that, beyond its expected bestseller status, the author received extremely favorable reviews worldwide, even from the critics who had probably never read a ghost story—or a Stephen King novel—before.

  BAG OF BONES: PRIMARY SUBJECTS

  MIKE NOONAN: A successful writer who laughingly refers to himself as “V. C. Andrews with a prick,” Mike is the author of several bestselling novels, including Being Two, The Red Shirt Man, and All the Way from the Top. Suffering from severe writer’s block after the tragic death of his wife Jo (several weeks pregnant, she dies of an aneurysm), Mike resorts to publishing novels he had previously written and then purposely withheld from submitting to maintain the illusion that he is still creating new works.

  Besides his writer’s block, Mike experiences strange dreams centering on his vacation home at Dark Score Lake, Maine. Compelled by these dreams, hoping that the change in scenery will calm his anxieties and reignite his creativity, Mike moves back to Dark Score to his lakeside cabin, a large house known to locals as “Sara Laughs.”

  Shortly after arriving, he begins receiving messages from ghostly presences inhabiting his home. These spirits initially make their presence known in harmless ways—wailing in the night, sudden changes in room temperature, and refrigerator magnets that seem to move of their own accord—but their communications soon become more urgent, more insistent. Mike senses that one of the spirits might be Jo, but there are other, angrier and more dangerous presences haunting the environs of Sara Laughs as well.

  Mike is troubled by his failure to understand these messages, and by new information he unearths that indicates his beloved Jo may have been having an extramarital affair before she died. He becomes distracted, however, by the plight of Mattie Devore, whom he meets after rescuing her young toddler, Kyra, from a busy local highway. An attractive twenty-year-old widow, Mattie is engaged in a bitter custody battle with her father-in-law, millionaire Max Devore, over Kyra. Sympathetic to her plight, and prompted by Jo’s spirit messages, Mike offers his help.

  Mattie’s problems provide a much-needed diversion for Mike, who, for the first time since his wife died, actually feels useful. Buoyed by a budding romantic relationship with Mattie, Mike takes the battle directly to Devore, hiring savvy custody lawyer John Storrow to defend Mattie’s interests. Max pushes back, first through flunkies like Sheriff George Footman and real estate broker Richard Osgood, and then more directly. Accompanied by his “personal assistant” Rogette Whitmore, Max takes Mike by surprise on the shore of Dark Score Lake and nearly kills him.

  Mike obviously faces a powerful enemy in Max Devore, but has an even more formidable opponent in the vengeful spirit who haunts Sara Laughs. Following a trail initially blazed by his wife, Mike learns that Kyra’s predicament has its roots in the town’s past, specifically in the rape and murder of a vibrant blues singer named Sara Tidwell nearly a century ago. A black woman whose confident, forthright manner offended some of Dark Score’s residents, Sara and her son Kito were killed by a group of local hooligans led by Max Devore’s ancestor Jared. To conceal their perfidy, the killers stuffed the corpses in a burlap bag and buried it near the lake.

  Sara takes her revenge on Dark Score from beyond the grave. Instigating the deaths of several children over the course of the next century, she has most recently turned to the progeny of her chief tormentor, Jared Devore, seeking the death of Kyra.

  Knowing that Sara is the root cause of the evil he faces allows Mike to defy her power, no mean feat considering Sara has influenced otherwise loving parents to kill their own children. Mike breaks Sara’s hold over the town by uncovering and destroying her remains, which had been laid to rest near the lake. Mike survives his supernatural encounter with the ghost of Sara, and, when last heard from, had initiated adoption proceedings to gain custody of Kyra. Meanwhile, shaken to the core by the tragic events related in Bag of Bones, Mike abandons his writing career.

  JO NOONAN (née ARLEN): Mike’s late wife, she died of a brain aneurysm in August 1994 at the age of thirty-four. Adding to the tragedy, Noonan discovers soon thereafter that she was pregnant with their first child. Mike also learns Jo was hiding something from him. Initially, Mike concludes it was an affair. Later, however, he finds out that she had uncovered the secret shame of Dark Score Lake (i.e., the rape and murder of Sara Tidwell). Jo had gathered these facts in secret, and was presumably waiting for the right moment to reveal them to Mike. Jo’s spirit haunts Dark Score Lake, guiding, then actually aiding Mike in his supernatural fight against Sara Tidwell.

  “SARA LAUGHS:” The name of the Noonans’ summer residence at Dark Score Lake. The cabin is named after blues singer Sara Tidwell, a former resident. Sara was famous for (among other things) her raucous laugh.

  MATTIE DEVORE: The widow of Lance Devore, mother of Kyra Devore, this young woman becomes involved in a tug of war with her father-in-law, Max Devore, over legal custody of Kyra. Although reluctant to do so, Mattie accepts Mike’s emotional and financial support in her battle to keep her child, promising him she will someday pay him back. Despite their age difference (Mike is in his early forties; Mattie is only twenty), she is attracted to him, and makes her feelings very clear in this regard. Mike in turn struggles with his feelings for Mattie, eventually professing his love. Tragically, they never consummate their relationship, as George Footman fatally shoots Mattie.

  LANCE DEVORE: The youngest son of millionaire Max Devore, Lance came to Dark Score Lake in 1994 to survey his father’s holdings and instead fell in love with Mattie Stanfield, whom he met at a softball game. Three weeks later they were inseparable and Mattie was pregnant. They were married in September 1994, three months after they met. Mattie and Lance were married a little over three years when Lance died after falling off the roof of their trailer home in the midst of a lightning storm. During those years, Lance was estranged from his father, who disapproved of the marriage (and had, in fact, offered Mattie a considerable sum to abandon her husband and child). Lance attempts reconciliation with his father shortly before he dies, sending the old man a picture of his granddaughter. The picture arouses Max’s interest in Kyra, and leads to his coming to Dark Score Lake a few weeks
later.

  KYRA DEVORE: The daughter of Lance and Mattie Devore, Kyra is a precocious three-year-old who steals Mike Noonan’s heart seconds after he “rescues” her from the middle of a busy local highway. Mike feels a strong bond with Kyra, mainly because her name resembles one he and Jo had picked for their intended baby, and because she is the age his child would have been had Jo lived and given birth. Their bond grows stronger as Mike learns that the spirits who haunt Sara Laughs are also speaking to Kyra, and deepens after they share a dream in which they visit Dark Score Lake at the turn of the century. The focus of the custody battle between her mother and grandfather, Kyra is caught in the middle—she loves her mother, but also feels affection for her grandfather and her “White Nana,” Rogette Whitmore. Kyra is suddenly orphaned when George Footman guns down her mother. After her mother’s death, Mike begins proceedings to adopt her legally.

  MAX DEVORE: The great-grandson of Jared Devore, the man who instigates the attack on Sara Tidwell. Said to be worth some $600 million, eightysomething Max Devore made his money in the advent of the modern computer revolution. Estranged from his son Lance, Max cut off all contact with him until Lance sent him a picture of his grandchild. After Lance’s accidental death, Max returns to his childhood home of Dark Score Lake, currying favor with the locals by spreading his money around. Shortly thereafter, Max (no doubt “pushed” by the ghost of Sara Tidwell) seeks custody of his granddaughter Kyra. Due to the intervention of Mike Noonan, however, these efforts prove unsuccessful. Max dies shortly after he and Rogette Whitmore attack Mike at the Lake.

  ROGETTE WHITMORE: Devore’s “personal assistant,” who is later revealed to be his daughter. Called “the White Nana” by her niece, Rogette lives for her father’s approval, eagerly carrying out his every wish. Although Rogette has been ravaged by cancer (people automatically think of the horrific woman in artist Edvard Munch’s painting “The Scream” when they see her), she seems to have an almost preternatural athletic ability. She demonstrates this skill when she starts hurling rocks at Mike after he flees her and Max Devore’s roadside attack by diving into Dark Score Lake. Rogette’s stone throws are amazingly strong and accurate; one hits Mike in the head, almost causing him to pass out.

  After Max’s death, Rogette schemes to kill Kyra, eventually sending her father’s lackeys to shoot Mattie, Kyra, and their friends. When this attempt fails to destroy the little girl, Rogette kidnaps Kyra. When Kyra again escapes, Rogette perishes in her attempt to retrieve the little girl.

  GEORGE FOOTMAN: The Castle County sheriff, he works for Max Devore on the side, threatening Mike in the early stages of his ongoing conflict with the multimillionaire. Footman is the gunman who opens fire on Mattie Devore’s trailer, killing her and wounding three of her four guests. Footman is later captured by private investigator George Kennedy and Mike Noonan, and is eventually sent to nearby Shawshank State Prison for his crimes.

  RICHARD OSGOOD: A local real estate agent who spies on Mattie Devore for her father-in-law, Osgood is driving the car from which George Footman shoots and kills Mattie Devore. Osgood dies horribly when George Kennedy’s gunshots ignite the gas tank of the sedan he is driving; unable to free himself, he is burned alive.

  JOHN STORROW: The lawyer Mike hires to protect Mattie’s interests in her custody battle with Max Devore, Storrow successfully fends off of all Max Devore’s legal feints. John, who has a crush on Mattie, is wounded in a hail of gunfire during Mattie’s victory party to celebrate Max Devore’s death.

  SARA TIDWELL: A provocative turn-of-the-twentieth-century African-American blues singer, she and her family made their home on Dark Score Lake for a time, at least until prejudice brought them all tragedy. Sara makes the fatal mistake of humiliating Jared Devore in front of his cronies, Oren Peebles, Fred Dean, Harry Auster, and George Armbruster. The group strikes back, beating, raping, and finally killing her, but not before she witnesses her son’s drowning at the hands of Harry Auster (who, unknown to Mike Noonan, is a distant relative of his). Sara’s rage survives her death—over the ensuing decades, her vengeful spirit is responsible for the deaths of several children at Dark Score Lake, all descendants of the group that took her life. Nearly a hundred years later, Sara sets her murderous sights on Kyra Devore, but is ultimately frustrated by the efforts of Mike and Jo Noonan. Her spirit, anchored to Dark Score Lake by her mortal remains, vanishes when Mike destroys her skeleton in a final confrontation.

  “THE RED TOPS”: Sarah Tidwell’s band, consisting of her family and friends. These performers and their families (approximately 40 individuals) tried to make a home at Dark Score Lake, settling in what came to be known as Tidwell’s Meadow, where they built the home that was soon known as Sara Laughs. They are described condescendingly in ancient newspaper clippings Mike discovers as Castle County’s “Southern Blackbirds” and “rhythmic darkies.” Although most members of the white community had no objection to their presence, racism and prejudice eventually reared their ugly heads, resulting in the deaths of Sara and her son Kito. After that, the locals closed ranks against the survivors, most notably against Sara’s brother Reg Tidwell and his family. The Tidwells et al. abandoned Dark Score after Reg’s son Junior died of blood poisoning—brought on by sustaining an injury in a bear trap set on a path he was known to frequent.

  BAG OF BONES: ADAPTATIONS

  A full-length audio version of Bag of Bones, read by the author, is available from Simon and Schuster audio. In many ways, King is the perfect reader for this novel. Because it is a regional novel, the author’s natural Maine accent is perfectly suited to the material. Then, too, although King is more successful a novelist than his character of Mike, he still has a lot in common with his creation, lending verisimilitude to his reading. Finally, King is also in tune with what he refers to as the “temperature gradient” of the characters, meaning he knows precisely how much emotion to invest in any given scene. The audio version also includes a substantial interview with the author conducted by the tape’s producer, Eve Beglarian, who is reportedly developing an operatic version of King’s story “The Man in the Black Suit.”

  17

  DREAMCATCHER

  (2001)

  “We don’t know the days that will change our lives.” This sentiment, expressed by Gary Jones, a major character in Dreamcatcher, is the statement of a man who knows from painful experience just how true those words are. Gary, you see, is the recent victim of an automobile accident. Struck as he crossed a busy city street, Gary was nearly killed. As it was, he suffered serious damage to his hip and leg, leaving him with a pronounced limp.

  Originally titled “Cancer,” Dreamcatcher was King’s first published novel after his near-fatal car accident in June 1999 (an event described in harrowing detail in 2000’s nonfictional On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft). As such, it’s not surprising that a car accident features prominently in the narrative. However, it’s what King, the preeminent storyteller that he is, does with this incident that makes Dreamcatcher one of his most moving examinations of male friendship since his novella “The Body.”

  King describes how this novel, which author Colin Harrison described in his April 15, 2001, New York Times review as “a frenzied, multilayered, ever-accelerating nightmare,” came to be in an author’s note at the end of the book:

  I was never so grateful to be writing as during my time of work (November 16, 1999–May 29, 2000) on Dreamcatcher. I was in a lot of physical discomfort during those six and a half months, and the book took me away. The reader will see that pieces of the physical discomfort followed me into the story, but what I remember most is the sublime release we find in vivid dreams.

  The plot is simple: four childhood friends from Derry, Maine, get together each November for a hunting trip. This year is especially important to them because it’s the first time they’ve been together since one of their number was struck by a car some eight months prior. Their getaway is interrupted, however, by the crash landing of a spacecraft, bearing an
alien life-form that spreads virally. The four find themselves embroiled in a battle to save the Earth from an alien takeover, caught between the aliens, who have possessed one of them, and a special military group intent on eradicating the aliens and every manifestation of the virus.

  Perhaps because it was the first book King wrote after his accident, at a time when he wasn’t sure if he’d ever write fiction again, it contains many familiar themes. Most prominent is the theme of a group combining to battle a great evil, featured in The Dark Tower series, and in novels like It. Gary (the memory), Henry (the brains), Joe (the drive), and Pete (the point man, the pathfinder) compose a ka-tet, much like Roland and his group, or the Losers. This ka-tet is unique, however, because it centers on a sickly man afflicted with Down Syndrome named Douglas Cavell. Duddits, as he refers to himself, is the human hub of the quintet, a telepath whose wild talents, like those of Carrie White and Dinky Earnshaw, make him, in King’s parlance, a tranny.

  The alien spaceship that crashed in the forest known as the Jefferson Tract (some 150 miles north of Derry) was not the first such craft to touch down in that neck of the woods—that honor belongs to the vehicle that bore the Tommyknockers to Earth, which came to rest near Haven. As in that eponymous novel, the aliens in Dreamcatcher can possess human hosts. Harkening back to one of the episodes of Creepshow, “The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill,” the novel features a red-yellow fungus that quickly comes to cover everything it comes in contact with.