Book summary

Stephen King has brought back his pseudonym Richard Bachman, originally kiboshed when a King fan discovered Bachman's true identity; Bachman's novel concerns the small town of Wentworth, which is invaded by five vans, the first of which perpetrates a drive-by shooting that upsets the natural order of things and begins the story. The novel is a companion piece to "Desperation", which is written under the name Stephen King and which involves many of the same characters in the same sort of setting, but exhibits an entirely different flavor than "The Regulators". The books can be read separately, in either order, and each can stand on its own as a fully-realized work.

Media reviews

"Those who have read the cynical but exciting Bachman books (e.g., 'Thinner', 1985) know that King's stories take on a misanthropic edge when he dons his nom de plume, and 'The Regulators' is no different....Bachman gleefully kills off his most sympathetic characters in a plot that's reminiscent of an old Western crossed with a Saturday-morning cartoon. Although the action is fierce and Bachman's imagination proves boundless, the hopelessness of his characters' predicament makes it a bleak and tiresome reading experience."