By Richard Chizmar

Cemetery Dance / Hodder & Stoughton, out now

Gwendy Peterson has grown up and gone to Washington, DC – but her heart is still at home in Castle Rock…

The second in what’s now been revealed as a trilogy of stories featuring Gwendy is penned solo by Richard Chizmar after the first book was co-written by him and Stephen King (the genesis can be found in our interview with Chizmar here). Not many people have been allowed to write within the worlds Stephen King created – certainly in print – and Chizmar presents us with a story that fits neatly within the canon of Castle Rock, the small Maine town where things have a habit of going wrong. (Just for clarity, this is the Castle Rock as featured in the books, not the TV series.) He captures the small town vibe that made the Rock so popular, and when Gwendy returns home the story really takes off.

Not, I hasten to add, that Gwendy’s time in Washington is dull – far from it. Chizmar’s version of 1999 gives us a different President from our reality (and one whose traits seem, shall we say, a little ahead of his time!), but much of it is instantly recognisable. And it’s there that the button box, central to the first book, makes its reappearance.

Chizmar juggles the emotional beats around Gwendy’s family and friends with a Castle Rock-appropriate plotline that hearkens back to stories such as Cujo and The Dead Zone, without overpowering the narrative. The family drama is at the heart of the tale but we never lose sight of the other events. And, at the back of everything, is the button box…

Verdict: A welcome return for Gwendy, in Chizmar’s capable hands. 9/10

Paul Simpson

Click here to order Gwendy’s Magic Feather