Todd Bowden is a thirteen-year-old honors student in a California suburb who recognizes his elderly neighbor, Arthur Denker, as Kurt Dussander, a former Nazi camp commandant living under a false name. Instead of reporting him, Todd blackmails the old man into telling him what happened in the camps in graphic detail. The arrangement feeds something dark in both of them, and as the old man regains his old habits, the boy begins to unravel.
This novella from the collection Different Seasons is for readers who want King's horror without monsters. It is a study of how curiosity about evil turns into participation, short, tense, and uncomfortable in the way it is meant to be.
Balanced in tone; an easy read.
Best for readers like The Story Seeker. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 1982
- Language
- EN
Quotes by Stephen King
More →Books are a uniquely portable magic.
On Writing
The most important things are the hardest to say, because words diminish them.
The Body
