Dolores Claiborne - Stephen King - 4.5 stars

This was the first book I chose to read for the Spookfest Read-A-Thon and one of the few I have not read of Stephen King's works. Let me first say that this is not a horror book as I first thought it would be come from Stephen King. It is, in a way, a mix of historical fiction and mystery. I loved that and I have to say that it was very engaging, very fluid and easy to read. King tells a very powerful tale with this book.

In this book we have a woman named Delores Claiborne whose husband died 30 years ago, and is now being questioned for the death of Vera Donovan, a woman that she worked for as a housekeeper. This story is her account of the time spent with Ms. Donovan up till her death. Since the people of Little Tall Island have been waiting for 30 years to find out what really happened when her husband had died, she felt she had no choice but tell everything she knew and give her own testimony to these events.

I really enjoyed this story a lot but I did have a couple of issues with the book itself. I did not enjoy the style of writing for this one because it was wrote in a way that Dolores was flashbacking as she shared her account of everything to Andy Bissette, the detective handling this case. So there was not much dialogue to the story. Thankfully it did not hinder the fluidity all that much. Also there were no chapters to this book so really no markers or divisions in the story at all. Other than that I loved the premise of the story, the imagery and the characters. I also loved the historical elements to the book as well. Taking us back to the 1960's where women were not really viewed as the stronger sex and had to be 'taught' certain lessons in their homes and kept in line. Hard to believe things were like that and I think King did well with bringing these issues to light.

I really found that I loved Delores, and to me she is one of the most unforgettable ok King' characters. She did not live a simple life at all. She had a drunk as a husband and she had to work hard her entire life just to make ends met. She makes horrifying discoveries within her family and has to deal with that as well. Despite these issues she deals with, she is still very strong. She also learned from mistakes, she stood up for herself and her children, and she told it how it was most times. She had a great love for her children, and had great family values until things would go a bit far and then she was hell on wheels. I find that she was probably the only character that I really liked in this story even if her actions were sometimes questionable.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a bit of history, mystery and a little thriller thrown in. Stephen King is so diverse I am convinced that he can write anything and this book is sure to please just about anyone. I am giving this book a 4.5 stars.