A book review written by: Lee Sonogan
(1977) Thriller
“Sanity:
You can go through your whole life telling yourself that life is logical, life is prosaic, life is sane. Above all, sane. And I think it is. I’ve had a lot of time to think about that…
I think; therefore I am. There are hairs on my face; therefore I shave. My wife and child have been critically injured in a car crash; therefore I pray. It’s all logical, it’s all sane.
…there’s a Mr. Hyde for every happy Jekyll face, a dark face on the other side of the mirror… You turn the mirror sideways and see your face reflected with a sinister left-hand twist, half mad and half sane.
…No one looks at that side unless they have to, and I can understand that.
…I’m the sane one.” – Rage
I read this story in The Bachman Books. Four early novels were written by Stephen King under the name Richard Bachman. Recommended from a friend, I finish it a little while ago. The psychological thriller genre book has been something I wanted to review as I finish it. This story is about a school shooting and the psychological thoughts and opinions of the main character Charlie Decker. Stephen King started writing this book as a teenager.
This book was published by Signet Books. Some people have described this book like Catcher in the Rye meet American Psycho. This book was reviewed many times. It has been described as chilling, disturbing, violent, and much more. Even though this book is a hidden gem by King, there are many mixed reviews on it. I would read this story again if I felt like it.
This story does not hold back. Rage is the perfect title for the story because the main character’s unstable understanding of the nature of reality becomes so intense that he infects his ideas/thoughts to his hostages and corrupts them with negative perspectives and personal truths. The only letdown was the ending. I thought the story would end with a confrontation with his father. But that was not the case. I remember reading he was outside or something. Please correct me if I am wrong. I recommend the story to people interested in very early Stephen King books
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