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Regulators

by Stephen King

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.

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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."

   -- Library Journal

"'The Regulators' is less akin to the other Bachman books than to King's 'The Mist' and 'The Langoliers'. All three feature a handful of more-or-less ordinary Americans who find themselves inexplicably isolated from the rest of the world and besieged by supernatural forces of unknown origin. And, as in those earlier novellas, the fantasy elements in Bachman's novel strongly evoke 'The Twilight Zone', an acknowledged influence on King's pop-culture inspired fiction."

   -- Washington Post Book World

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Penguin Group USA
Published date: 1996
Size: 6.5 x 9.75 inches
Weight: 1.85 pounds
Pages: 466

Publisher's Notes

It's a summer afternoon in Wentworth, Ohio, and on Poplar Street, everything's normal. The paperboy is making his rounds; frisbees are flying; barbecues are being contemplated. The only thing that doesn't quite fit the picture is the red van idling just up the hill. Soon it will begin to roll, and the killing will begin. And by the time night falls on Poplar Street, the surviving residents will find themselves in another world, one where anything, no matter how terrible, is possible...and where the regulators are on their way. At the center of "The Regulators" is Seth Garon, a young boy whose supernatural powers are just awakening. Like Seth's powers, the novel tears across its landscape to create a world where absolutely terrifying things are not locked in the imagination but are free to come true.

Other Editions

• Hardcover - Penguin USA (1996) - from $1.00
• Paperback Large Print - Thorndike Pr (1997) - from $2.99

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