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30/11/1989

The Dark Half by Stephen King

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The symbolism depicted in this novel is familiar to all of us. Just like The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde, we all have a dark half that we try to keep buried. In this book, the dark half will not stay buried of course. 
It is a story about an author who uses a pseudonym to write a different genre of novel, just as King did, but the pen-name takes on a life of his own.

The novel is full of suspense as well as violence, murder and horror, but ultimately it is a tale about facing one's own demons. It is how I imagine anger, fear and frustration to be if they were personified, and in this book they do exactly that. In effect, this is an allegory. Just as in Jekyll and Hyde, two opposite forms contrast, blur and amalgamate - family and solitary, light and dark, fact and fiction, alive and dead.

As in all of King's books, the characters are well fleshed out and we see the writer not as some kind of romantic creative sort but as a man who writes for a living. The writing process in all its mundane formats particularly appeals to me. Such a great insight and reminder that writing actually is not glamorous at all.
​

This is a visceral, gripping story told with such insight we know that this is about King himself. Often jagged and uneven, The Dark Half is not classed as one of his greatest works: even so, it is one of my favourite Stephen King novels probably because of that. Dark fiction in every sense.
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Published by Hodder & Stoughton on 30 November 1989. Other editions are available.

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    Anthologies and Collaborations 
    Andersen, Knausgaard, Lagerlof, Hjorth A Scandinavian Christmas
    Bloomsbury Yearbooks Writers' & Artists' Yearbook
    Brownlie, Woolf Why Do People Fight Wars?
    Collins Michelin I-Spy Guides I-Spy Castles: Spy It! Score It!
    A
    Abbott, Rachel The Sixth Window
    Abdullah, Kia Truth Be Told
    Adams, Max The King in the North: The Life and Times of Oswald of Northumbria, In the Land of Giants: Journeys Through the Dark Ages
    Adams, Richard The Plague Dogs, The Ship's Cat
    Alexander, Claire Meredith, Alone
    Almontaser, Threa The Wild Fox of Yemen ​
    ​Andrews, Jessica Saltwater
    Asquith, Kate Louder! A Guide to Finding Your Voice and Changing the World
    B
    ​Baldacci, David The Christmas Train, Walk the Wire
    Banks, Ian The Wasp Factory
    Banville, John April in Spain, The Lock-Up
    ​Barker, Pat The Ghost Road
    ​Barstow, Stan A Kind of Loving
    ​Benchley, Peter Jaws
    ​Benedict, Alexandra Murder on the Christmas Express
    ​Bennett, Robin Fantastic Football
    ​Bilston, Brian 50 Ways to Score a Goal and other poems
    ​Blatty, William Peter The Exorcist
    Bolton, Sharon Little Black Lies
    ​Boyd, Douglas Plagues and Pandemics
    ​Boyne, John A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom
    ​Bradbury, Ray Fahrenheit 451
    ​Bradley, Nick The Cat and the City
    ​Brandon, Nathaniel The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem
    ​Brittain, Vera Testament of Youth
    Brolly, Matt The Running Girls
    ​Brown, Michael A Guide to Medieval Gardens: Gardens in the Age of Chivalry, Medieval Plants and their Uses
    Burgess, Anthony A Clockwork Orange
    Burns, Anna Milkman
    Butterworth, Nick One Snowy Night: A Percy the Park Keeper Story
    C
    Campbell, Michele A Stranger on the Beach
    ​Camus, Albert The Outsider
    ​Carle, Eric The Very Hungry Caterpillar
    ​Carrisi, Donato The Whisperer's Game
    Carver, Martin Sutton Hoo: Burial Ground of Kings?
    ​Christie, Agatha And Then There Were None
    ​Cleeves, Ann The Heron's Cry
    Cline, Ernest Ready Player One
    ​Coben, Harlan The Innocent, The Boy From the Woods, The Match, I Will Find You,
    ​Coeur, James Dance of the Rainmakers
    Coleman, Keith J. The Afterlife of King James IV
    ​Cowper, Frank Christmas Eve on a Haunted Hulk
    ​Cummins, Fiona When I Was Ten
    D
    ​Dean, Abigail Girl A
    ​Dean, Will First Born
    ​Delaney, J.P. Playing Nice, My Darling Daughter
    ​Denzil, Sarah A.  Silent Child
    ​Dickens, Charles The Signalman, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth
    Ditlevson, Tove The Trouble with Happiness ​
    ​Dolman, Gary The Eighth Circle of Hell
    E
    Eastham, Kate The Liverpool Nightingales
    ​Edwards, Mark The Magpies, What You Wish For, Follow You Home, The Devil's Work, The Retreat, Killing Cupid, In Her Shadow, Here To Stay, The House Guest,  The Hollows
    ​Eisler, Barry The Killer Collective
    ​Elborough, Travis Atlas of Vanishing Places
    ​Ellis, Bret Easton American Psycho
    ​Ellwood, Nuala The House on the Lake, The Perfect Life
    ​Esiri, Allie A Poem for Every Night of the Year (editor)
    ​Ewan, C.M. The Interview
    F
    Farrell, Matthew I Know Everything
    ​Feeney, Alice I Know Who You Are, Rock Paper Scissors, Daisy Darker
    ​Figes, Orlando The Story of Russia
    ​Filer, Nathan The Shock of the Fall
    ​Finn, A.J. The Woman in the Window
    Fitzharris, Lindsey The Facemaker
    Flanders, Judith Christmas: A History
    ​Flynn, Gillian Gone Girl, Sharp Objects, Dark Places,
    Foley, Lucy The Hunting Party, The Guest List, The Paris Apartment.
    ​Ford, Richard Sorry For Your Trouble
    Franchetti, Livia Shelf Life
    ​Frank, Anita The Lost Ones
    Frear, Caz Sweet Little Lies, Stone Cold Heart, Shed No Tears
    ​Frech, Steve Nightingale House, Deadly Games
    French, Tana The Searcher
    G
    ​Garcia, Miki The Caribbean Irish: How the Slave Myth Was Made
    ​Galvin, Anthony Death and Destruction on the Thames in London
    Gennoe, Dan All Neon Like Love
    ​Glasfurd, Guinevere The Year Without Summer
    ​Goldin, Megan The Night Swim
    ​Golding, William Lord of the Flies
    ​Gorter, Herman Selected Poems, May
    ​Gray, Daniel The Silence of the Stands
    ​Gray, Philip Two Storm Wood
    ​Gresham, William Lindsay Nightmare Alley
    ​Griffiths, Elly Now You See Them
    H
    Haddon, Mark The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time
    ​Haig, Matt The Midnight Library
    ​Halsall, Rona The Ex-Boyfriend
    Hammad, Isabella The Parisian
    Hanington, Peter A Single Source
    ​Hardinge, Francis Deeplight
    ​Harris, Robert Pompeii, V2
    Hart, Andrew The Woman in Our House
    Hawkins, Paula The Girl on the Train
    ​Healey, Jonathan The Blazing World: A New History of Revolutionary England
    ​Hill, Joe Heart Shaped Box, Horns
    Holmes, Marianne All Your Little Lies
    Horst, Jorn Lier Dregs
    Hurley, Andrew Michael The Loney, Devil's Day, Starve Acre
    ​Hurley, Graham Limelight
    Hutchinson, Gillian Sir John Franklin's Erebus and Terror Expedition ​
    Huxley, Aldous Brave New World
    I
    ​Iggulden, Conn Wars of the Roses: Stormbird, The Gates of Athens
    Ishiguro, Kazuo The Buried Giant, Never Let Me Go, Klara and the Sun
    J
    Jackson, Shirley The Haunting of Hill House
    ​James, Henry The Turn of the Screw
    James, Linh Le #Toots
    James, Maggie Blackwater Lake
    ​James, P.D. The Mistletoe Murder, The Part Time Job
    James, Peter The Secret of Cold Hill, Dead Simple, I Follow You, Find Them Dead, Left You Dead
    ​Jewell, Lisa The Family Upstairs, The Night She Disappeared, The Family Remains
    Jonasson, Ragnar Snowblind, The Girl Who Died, Outside
    Jones, Dan The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings, A Woman's World, 1850 - 1960
    Jones, Terry Terry Jones' Medieval Lives
    K
    Kane, Ben Spartacus, The Arena, The Shrine, Lionheart
    Katz, Ani A Good Man
    ​Kaufman, Andrew E. Twisted
    ​Kawaguchi,Toshikazu Before the Coffee Gets Cold
    ​Kay, Adam Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas
    ​Kay, Susan Legacy
    Keegan, Claire Small Things Like These
    ​Kent, Anna The House of Whispers
    Kepnes, Caroline You, You Love Me
    Kern, Adam I Am the Secret Footballer
    ​​Kidd, Jess Things in Jars, The Night Ship
    ​King, Stephen Pet Sematary, Misery, The Dark Half, Gerald's Game, Mr Mercedes, If It Bleeds
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    ​Kostova, Elizabeth The Historian
    Kristian, Giles Raven Blood Eye, Camelot, Where Blood Runs Cold
    ​Kwon Yeo-sun Lemon
    Kunzru, Hari Red Pill
    L
    Lanchester, John The Wall, Reality and Other Stories
    ​Lea, Zoe The Secretary
    Lees, Georgina The Girl Upstairs
    ​Lefteri, Christy The Beekeeper of Aleppo
    Leitch, Fiona A Cornish Christmas Murder
    Leky, Mariana What You Can See From Here
    ​Levy, Deborah The Man Who Saw Everything
    ​Lewis, Beth Bitter Sun, The Origins of Iris
    Lewis, C.S. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,
    ​Leyser, Henrietta Beda: A Journey Through the Seven Kingdoms in the Age of Bede
    ​Leyva, Jasmine The Invisible Vegan (documentary)
    Linley, Sarah The Wedding Murders
    ​Logan, T.M. Lies, Trust Me
    ​Lonsdale, Kerry Last Summer
    Lowe, Katie The Furies
    M
    MacDonald, Elizabeth A Matter of Interpretation
    ​Maginn, Simon Sheep
    ​Mahmood, Imran I Know What I Saw, You Don't Know Me, All I Said Was True
    Mark, David Suspicious Minds
    ​Mantel, Hilary A Place of Greater Safety, The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher, Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror and the Light
    Marquez, Gabriel Garcia One Hundred Years of Solitude
    ​Marrs, John What Lies Between Us, The One, The Good Samaritan
    ​Marston, Edward The Railway Detective's Christmas Case
    ​Martel, Yann Life of Pi
    Mayhew, Mickey House of Tudor: A Grisly History
    ​McAllister, Gillian Wrong Place Wrong Time
    McCann, Colum Apeirgon
    McCarthy, Cormac The Road, Blood Meridian, The Passenger, Stella Maris ​
    ​McDonald, Helen H is for Hawk
    ​McEwan, Ian On Chesil Beach, Lessons
    McGowan, Claire What You Did, The Other Wife, The Push
    ​Melville, Herman Moby Dick
    ​Meredith, Harry Marcus Rashford: Football Rising Stars
    Michaelides, Alex The Silent Patient, The Maidens
    ​Miller, Andrew Pure, The Slowworm's Song
    ​Miller, Madeline The Song of Achilles, Circe
    ​Mistry, Liz Last Request, Dark Memories, Blood Games, Dying Breath, End Game
    ​Mitchell, Caroline Silent Victim, Left For Dead
    Moncrieff, Ada Murder at the Theatre Royale
    Moreton, Cole The Light Keeper
    ​Morgan, Sarah The Christmas Escape
    ​Morris, Marc A Great and Terrible King - Edward I and the Forging of Britain
    Morrison, Dorothy Yule: A Celebration of Light & Warmth
    Mosse, Kate The Taxidermist's Daughter
    ​Mulrooney, Greta Never Came Home
    ​Myers, Benjamin The Gallows Pole, The Offing, The Perfect Golden Circle,  Male Tears, Cuddy
    Anthologies and Collaborations ​
    Pride, Piazza We Are Not Like Them
    Rider, McDonald A-Z Liverpool Hidden Walks: Discover 20 Routes In and Around the City
    Sadler, Serdiville Cromwell's Convicts: The Death March from Dunbar in 1650 ​
    Samuels, Olorunnipa His Name is George Floyd
    Shibata, Kawakami, Ito, Murakami, Matsuda, Furukawa, (authors) Goossen, Taylor (editors) MONKEY volume 2
    N 
    Nancollas, Tom The Ship Asunder: A Maritime History in Eleven Vessels
    Napolitano, Ann Dear Edward
    National Geographic [Kids] Everything Anglo-Saxons: Unearth History with Facts, Photos and Fun
    Natsukawa, Sosuke The Cat Who Saved Books
    Nesbo, Jo The Snowman
    Netley, Rebecca The Whistling
    Neuvel, Sylvain Only Human
    O
    ​O'Brien, Anne A Tapestry of Treason
    ​O'Farrell, Maggie Hamnet
    ​Osman, Richard The Thursday Murder Club
    ​Oyeyome, Helen Gingerbread
    P
    Paris, B.A. Behind Closed Doors
    ​Parry, Ambrose The Way of All Flesh, The Art of Dying
    ​Parsons, Tony #Taken
    ​Patchett, Ann The Dutch House
    ​Patterson, James Criss Cross
    ​Paver, Michelle Wakenhyrst
    ​Peers, Chris Offa and the Mercian Wars
    Pert, Rebecca Still Water
    Picoult, Jodie The Storyteller, Small Great Things, The Book of Two Ways ​
    Pinborough, Sarah Insomnia
    ​Pobi, Robert City of Windows
    Post, Andrew Chop Shop
    Postorino, Rosella The Women at Hitler's Table
    ​Price, Rosie What Red Was
    Q
    Quinn, Frances The Smallest Man
    R
    Raisin, Ross God's Own Country
    ​Ramos, Joanne The Farm
    Ramos, Kate Plant Powered Mexican
    Rashford, Marcus You Are a Champion
    Reeves, Alex The Anarchists' Club
    Reid, Iain We Spread
    Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front
    Rendell, Ruth Master of the Moor, A Demon in My View
    Rennison, Nick 1922: Scenes From a Turbulent Year
    ​Robertson, C.S. The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill
    ​Robotham, Michael When She Was Good, When You Are Mine, Lying Beside You
    ​Rooney, Sally Normal People
    ​Roper, Richard Something to Live For
    Rosen, Linda The Disharmony of Silence.
    ​Rosen, Michael Many Different Kinds of Love
    ​Rowling, J.K. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    ​Royce, Deborah Goodrich Finding Mrs Ford
    ​Rudd, Alyson The First Time Lauren Paling Died
    ​Russell, Kate Elizabeth My Dark Vanessa
    S
    ​Sacks, Michelle The Dark Path
    ​Salinger, J.D.  The Catcher in the Rye
    Sapkowski, Andrzej  Blood of Elves.
    ​Scott, Anika Finding Clara
    Sefton, A.J. Growing In Damp Places
    ​Selman, Victoria Truly, Darkly, Deeply
    Sigurdardottir, Yrsa The Absolution
    Simmons, Dan The Terror
    Simms, Laura Looker
    ​Singer, Brett The Petting Zoo
    ​Skalietska, Yeva You Don't Know What War Is
    Slater, K.L. The Silent Ones, The Apartment, The Girl She Wanted, The Evidence
    ​Slaughter, Karin False Witness
    Smith, Scott A Simple Plan
    ​Smith, Wilbur Call of the Raven
    ​Smith, Zadie Grand Union
    ​Stevenson, Benjamin She Lies in the Vines
    Stockham, Alison The Cuckoo Sister
    Stoker, Bram Dracula
    Strang, Em Quinn
    ​Strauss, Barry ​Ten Caesars
    Stuart, Douglas Shuggie Bain
    Swanson, Peter Before She Knew Him, Nine Lives.
    ​Swift, Graham Last Orders
    T
    Tan Twan Eng The Garden of Evening Mists, House of Doors 
    Tartt, Donna, The Goldfinch
    Taylor, C.L. Sleep, The Lie, The Accident, The Escape, The Island
    ​Taylor, Pamela Pestilence
    Thaine, Craig Teaching and Developing Writing Skills
    ​Tolkien, J.R.R. Letters From Father Christmas
    ​Trafford, J.D. Without Precedent
    ​Tudor, C.J. The Burning Girls, A Sliver of Darkness, The Drift
    ​Turow, Scott The Last Trial
    V
    Vatner, Jonathan Carnegie Hill
    ​Vaughan, Sarah Anatomy of a Scandal
    ​Venning, Timothy Royal Mysteries of the Anglo-Saxons and Early Britain
    Vonnegut, Kurt Slaughterhouse Five
    W
    Walker, Nico Cherry
    ​Walker, Rosie The House Fire
    ​Walter, B.P. The Dinner Guest, The Woman on the Pier, The Locked Attic
    Ward, Catriona The Last House on Needless Street
    Ware, Ruth The Tale of Mrs Westaway, The Woman in Cabin 10, The It Girl
    Watson, S.J.  Final Cut
    Whitehead, Colson The Nickel Boys
    Whitehead, Richard The Times World Cup Moments
    Willder, Louise Blurb Your Enthusiasm: An A-Z of Literary Persuasion 
    ​Wilkinson, Kerry What My Husband Did, The Ones Who are Buried
    Williams, C.K. The Woman at No. 13
    Williams, J. T. Portraits and Poison
    Williams, Ursula Moray Gobbolino the Witch's Cat
    Willingham, Stacy A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things
    Wilson, Antoine Mouth to Mouth
    Wilson, Ryan Let That Be a Lesson
    Wimpenny, Jo Aesop's Animals
    Wood, Naomi The Hiding Game
    Woods, Hannah Rose Rule Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain
    Woolf, Virginia A Room of One's Own, To the Lighthouse, How Should One Read A Book?
    Z
    Zusak, Markus The Book Thief
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    Settings in England

    Bedfordshire   My Uncle Silas
    Berkshire   Jude the Obscure; The Wind in the Willows
    Buckinghamshire   Three Men in a Boat
    Cambridgeshire   Tom's Midnight Garden
    Cheshire   -
    Cornwall     Penmarric; Ross Poldark; ​Jamaica Inn
    Cumbria   The Loney;
    Derbyshire   A Place of Execution
    Devon   And Then There Were None
    Dorset   On Chesil Beach
    Durham   Cuddy;
    Essex   The Essex Serpent; The Turn of the Screw
    Gloucestershire   Cider With Rosie
    Hampshire   The Woman in White
    Herefordshire   -
    Hertfordshire   -
    Kent   The Thursday Murder Club; Last Orders
    Lancashire    Devil's Day
    Leicestershire   -
    Lincolnshire   -
    Liverpool   A-Z Liverpool Hidden Walks; The Liverpool Nightingales
    London  A Christmas Carol; Atonement; The Family Upstairs; Portraits and Poison; A Demon in My View; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
    Middlesex   -
    Norfolk   Never Let Me Go;
    Northamptonshire   -
    Northumberland   The Last Kingdom;
    Nottinghamshire  Friday Night, Saturday Morning; The Girl She Wanted​
    Oxfordshire   Three Men in a Boat
    Rutland   -
    Shropshire   -
    Somerset   The Running Girls;
    Staffordshire   Growing In Damp Places
    ​Suffolk   Wakenhyrst; A Dark Adapted Eye;
    Surrey   A Room With a View
    Sussex   Now You See Them
    Warwickshire  - Hamnet
    Wiltshire   Brideshead Revisited
    Worcestershire   -
    Yorkshire   Dracula; The Offing;

    Settings in Other Countries

    France  The Paris Apartment
    Iceland  Outside;
    Ireland  Normal People; The Slowworm's Song; The Sea; Small Things Like These; The Woman at No. 13; The Lock-up;
    Denmark  The Trouble with Happiness
    Germany The Women at Hitler's Table;
    Japan  The Cat and the City; Before the Coffee Gets Cold
    Netherlands  May;
    Russia  Crime and Punishment
    Scotland  Sleep;
    Spain  April in Spain
    USA  Without Precedent; Finding Mrs. Ford; Mr. Mercedes; The Goldfinch;
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