Publisher

Hodder & Stoughton

Printer

Griffin Press

Year Written/Published

2002

Country

Australia

ISBN

0 340 77069 4

Binding

Hardcover

Pages

403

Genre

Horror

Blurb

Come close, children, and see the living crocodile. A vintage '54 Buick Roadmaster. At least, that's what it looks like...

There is a terrifying secret shrouded in Shed B out the back of the state police barracks in Statler, Pennsylvania. A secret which lures its victims, terrified yet irresistibly tempted to look at is beautiful chrome and exotic exhaust system. None of which works. Because the power of the Buick 8 is not turbo-charged or fuel-injected.

For 20 years, the Buick has lured curious officers to watch its terrifying display – from blinding lightshows to feeding time. Come take a look. Because the Buick is a conduit to a world beyond.

Young Ned Wilcox will be next. Ned has started coming to the barracks, mowing the lawns, washing the windows, shovelling snow. It's the boys way of holding on to his father – recently killed in a strange road accident by another Buick.

And Ned can feel it pulling him, whispering for him to come in and take a look. And so he peers through the windows of Shed B and discovers the family secret.

Like his father, Ned wants answers. He deserves answers. And the secret begins to stir...

My Opinion

This is old-school Stephen King, a riveting tale stuffed with detail and fascinating sidetracks. The alien nature of the Buick is never fully explained, which only serves to make the story more real – no neat, tidy, happy ending here.

The ending we did get was one of those misleading ones, which is usually okay and gives you a sense of relief once you realise things aren't what you thought, but I felt the misleading part stretched out too long (unless I missed something right at the start).

The author notes at the end of the book were just as interesting as the tale, especially as King recounts the fact that he'd written about the accident in which Trooper Wilcox is hit by a drunk driver several months before he was involved in his own hit-and-run.

Date Finished

14/02/07

Rating

9/10