A heartbroken college student takes a summer job at an amusement park haunted by an unsolved murder
A summer at the amusement park
In 1973, college student Devin Jones takes a summer job at Joyland, an old-fashioned amusement park on the North Carolina coast, partly to forget the girlfriend who is drifting away from him. He learns the carnival slang, works the rides and even performs in costume as the park's mascot. He also hears a story: years earlier, a young woman was murdered in the park's Horror House, and some say her ghost is still there.
Who will enjoy it
Readers who enjoy nostalgic, character-driven mysteries with a touch of the supernatural, including readers who do not usually read Stephen King.
What you will get
A warm, nostalgic and bittersweet mystery about first heartbreak and growing up, with a touch of the supernatural and a gripping hunt for a killer.
Joyland Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Mystery & Thriller · Amusement park · Ghost story · Coming of age
Length
320 pages · ≈ 9 h
More about this book
Devin is narrating as an older man, looking back with humour and tenderness on the summer when he grew up. He makes friends with fellow workers Tom and Erin, earns the respect of the old carnival hands, and becomes a local hero after saving a little girl from choking. When the summer ends, he decides to stay on at the park instead of returning to college.
In the autumn, he befriends Mike, a bright, funny boy who is seriously ill and uses a wheelchair, and Mike's protective mother, Annie, who lives in a big house on the beach. Meanwhile, Erin helps him investigate the Horror House murder, and they discover that it may be one of a series of killings by someone still free. The ghost story elements are subtle, and the mood is gentle and nostalgic until the tense, frightening climax. There is violence near the end, but the book is more touching than scary, and its ending is bittersweet.
Short, moving and memorable, one of Stephen King's most tender books. About 320 pages in the Hard Case Crime mass-market paperback.
11/22/63
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