It’s been years since I read anything by Stephen King, and I’ve sort of missed him. When most people hear his name, they immediately think “horror,” but he has so much more to offer than that.

Stephen King is the kind of writer who can sit down with a plot idea—any idea under the wide blue sky—populate that idea with intriguing characters and publish it within weeks…and still entertain his base. He’s prolific, and he also has the ability to cross genres whenever he likes. That’s what happens in The Colorado Kid.

Looking at the title, one might think this were a western novel, like his series, The Dark Tower. In fact, this novel from 2005 is closer to gumshoe than cowboy, with a touch of crime noir added for flavor.

What makes this book really wild is that it is, in its entirety, a three-person conversation. And nothing else. It’s all dialogue, recollections, responses, considerations. It’s a crime-novel style that I’ve never come across before. It may be a popular style in the genre, but then again, I don’t read all that much crime—unless it’s Robert Van Gulik and it takes place in ancient China!

Stephanie McCann is an intern at a small newspaper on the coasts of Maine. Vince Teague and his fellow newspaperman, Dave, are aging and wouldn’t mind some young blood in the biz. After a Boston Globe reporter sniffs around about some unsolved mysteries in the area for publication as feature pieces in his own newspaper, these old gents clue Steph into a mystery that neither of them would have given to the Globe man. It’s a mystery that’s theirs and, by the end of the books, hers alone.

In King’s own words, this is “a story like the kind of sneeze that threatens but doesn’t quite arrive.” (Chapter 15) It not going to scratch your resolution-loving itch, but then, it’s not meant to. In the closing chapters of the novel, the characters describe “happy news,” those feature pieces in journalism that have a beginning, a middle, and an end. The mystery these journalists discuss in The Colorado Kid wouldn’t work well in a newspaper, they say, because it’s unfinished….for now.

What some might call a bad ending of story, others might consider a great beginning for a character. Stephie exits with an empowerment, a drive for discovery that I for one find refreshing, because the story isn’t about the man found dead on the coastline of Maine, but rather about the young reporter who stands at a crossroads in life. I’ve been there. I can relate.

This book renewed my appreciation for the creativity of Stephen King. I can’t stomach everything he writes, but as a craftsman, he stands a head above many other popular authors out there. This book also reminds me that it’s about time I re-read his book On Writing, which is as much biography as it is a discussion of the craft. If you’ve never read that one either, I highly recommend it as well.

©2021 E.T. 

Read more from Stephen King:

• The Shining by Stephen King (1977)
• The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (2005)