Come on and take a low ride with me, girl, on the tunnel of love

A lightning review of Joyland by Stephen King (New York: Hard Case Crime, 2012). Ebook.

Joyland is written like a memoir: the adult Devin Jones reminisces about the very weird summer he spent at an amusement park. When his relationship with his girlfriend starts to crumble, he finds work at a small North Carolina theme park as a carnie. He meets new friends, Tom and Erin, and learns that he has a talent for "wearing the fur": entertaining children as Joyland's canine mascot, Howie.

The park's resident fortune-teller, Rozzie ("Madame Fortuna") tells Devin he will meet a girl with a red hat and a boy with a dog. Later that summer, as Howie, he saves a girl in a red hat from choking, which makes him a local celebrity. (Does Rozzie have the genuine gift of precognition?)

Devin also learns that years earlier, a woman was murdered on Joyland's haunted-house ride. The murderer was never found, and her ghost supposedly still haunts the park. Just for fun, on a day off, Devin, Tom, and Erin ride the attraction. Tom sees the ghost. While he refuses to talk about it, Devin and Erin continue to look into the mystery.

If Stephen King wasn't so talented a horror author, you could be forgiven for thinking he'd missed his calling as a mystery novelist. Some of the expected supernatural happens, but nonetheless, Joyland is a solid crime novel. It's something like a cross between a whodunit and a Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! episode. Underneath all that, it's a good-hearted coming-of-age story about a wayward student finding his place in the world—even if that place is inside a dog suit.

The ending was a little predictable: I guessed early how the story would pan out. To King's credit, I didn't guess the villain.

Also, I love the retro cover art. John D. MacDonald would approve. The scene depicted doesn't play out in the novel, but at least there is a cute redhead with a little green dress and a press camera.

Joyland is short and easy to read. If you want a fun, lightweight crime novel, pick it up.