Riding the Bullet 
asked by skywalker on November 7, 2006 9:24 PM
A Stephen King ghost story in the grand tradition, Riding the Bullet is the ultimate warning about the dangers of hitchhiking.
A college student's mother is dying in a Maine hospital. When he hitches a ride to see her, the driver is not who he appears to be. Soon the journey veers off into a dark landscape that could only be drawn by Stephen King.
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Stephen King first published "Riding the Bullet" as an online e-book in 2000. This was the first time a story by a top-selling author was first published electronically, and only later in traditional media, and because of this it got a lot of publicity at the time.
Since then "Riding the Bullet" has been released as an audio book on CD or cassette, and as an audio download. It is also included in "Everything's Eventual", a collection of 14 short stories in print form.
In his introduction to "Everything's Eventual" Stephen King bemoans the fact that "Riding the Bullet" got a lot of attention just because it was the first e-book-only publication by a major author, but absolutely no attention based on the merits of the story itself. So now I'll focus on the story, just in case Mr. King happens by - wouldn't want to disappoint him, right?
"Riding the Bullet" is a ghost story about a young guy who is hitchhiking home to visit his sick mother and gets picked up by a dead man driving a Ford Mustang. The dead man gives him a simple choice: either you or your mother die, and you get to choose which one!
The young guy in the story has to make a choice. You, the reader, also have to consider what you'd choose if you were in this situation. Come on, now, be honest, who would you choose?
There's a flashback to when the young guy was a 12-year-old boy visiting an amusement park together with his mother. He pestered his mother to stand in line with him to ride the scariest attraction, "The Bullet", but when they finally got to the head of the queue he chickened out. He made his choice then, not to ride The Bullet.
What will he choose now?
The story is not too complicated or sophisticated, but it is well told. In particular, the characters seem very real, even the ghost, and the story is told in a way that makes it believable and entertaining.
The audio version is read by Josh Hamilton who has just the right youthful voice to make it sound correct. It is only 1 hour and 33 minutes. (The cassette and CD versions say "approx. 2 hours" on the packaging, but this is deceptive marketing.)
Recommended, although the audio version is over-priced compared to buying "Everything's Eventual" as a book and getting an additional 13 stories.
Rennie Petersen
Since then "Riding the Bullet" has been released as an audio book on CD or cassette, and as an audio download. It is also included in "Everything's Eventual", a collection of 14 short stories in print form.
In his introduction to "Everything's Eventual" Stephen King bemoans the fact that "Riding the Bullet" got a lot of attention just because it was the first e-book-only publication by a major author, but absolutely no attention based on the merits of the story itself. So now I'll focus on the story, just in case Mr. King happens by - wouldn't want to disappoint him, right?
"Riding the Bullet" is a ghost story about a young guy who is hitchhiking home to visit his sick mother and gets picked up by a dead man driving a Ford Mustang. The dead man gives him a simple choice: either you or your mother die, and you get to choose which one!
The young guy in the story has to make a choice. You, the reader, also have to consider what you'd choose if you were in this situation. Come on, now, be honest, who would you choose?
There's a flashback to when the young guy was a 12-year-old boy visiting an amusement park together with his mother. He pestered his mother to stand in line with him to ride the scariest attraction, "The Bullet", but when they finally got to the head of the queue he chickened out. He made his choice then, not to ride The Bullet.
What will he choose now?
The story is not too complicated or sophisticated, but it is well told. In particular, the characters seem very real, even the ghost, and the story is told in a way that makes it believable and entertaining.
The audio version is read by Josh Hamilton who has just the right youthful voice to make it sound correct. It is only 1 hour and 33 minutes. (The cassette and CD versions say "approx. 2 hours" on the packaging, but this is deceptive marketing.)
Recommended, although the audio version is over-priced compared to buying "Everything's Eventual" as a book and getting an additional 13 stories.
Rennie Petersen
reviewed by bigchad on November 23, 2006 8:15 AM
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Riding the Bullet is a compact, entertaining short story. Josh Hamilton does a good job narrating the story--performing 5 unique character voices. One of the better books-on-tape I've heard. Thematically, this reminds me of another Stephen King effort--the miniseries Storm of the Century.
The movie adaptation is awful. The story is a little thin on plot so the director added pointless story turns and new characters.
The movie adaptation is awful. The story is a little thin on plot so the director added pointless story turns and new characters.
reviewed by aries on November 29, 2006 5:46 PM
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After wasting 40 minutes of my life messing around registering my Adobe for no readily apparent reason I then attempt to read the "book" (or short story as the case may be) which is when the fun starts... because of course unlike the Earth people who have been making eBooks for years this one has to have some stupid proprietary format and copy protection.
Hopeless.
Hopeless.
reviewed by imtheboss on November 29, 2006 6:29 PM